Council for Democracy Calls for End to WW II Restrictions on Aliens
The Council for Democracy, a centrist human rights advocacy group, on this day wrote to Attorney General Francis Biddle asking him to lift restrictions, such as curfews and travel limits, on loyal aliens.
Thirty-nine prominent figures signed the letter, which specifically cited three groups of aliens who should be freed of restrictions: aliens whose citizenship had been revoked by their home countries that were Axis enemies; aliens who had been cleared by the military for confidential war work; and aliens who had been cleared by enemy alien hearing boards.
The letter was a rare public protest in defense of the rights of aliens during World War II.
On the curfews and travel restrictions on Italian-American aliens during the war, go to October 18, 1942. There were also restrictions on some German-Americans.
For the full story of the tragedy of the evacuation and internment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II, go to February 19, 1942.
Read: Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (2001)
Learn more: Lawrence Di Stasi, Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II (2004)
And about the German-American internment: Stephen Fox, Fear Itself: Inside the FBI Roundup of German Ameicans During World War II (2005)
Learn more about the experience of German-Americans in both WW I and WW II here