Or, The Triumph of the Racists
Wartime Exile: The Exclusion of the Japanese Americans from the West Coast
Notes: The most remarkable of all the government reports on the Japanese internment, written by a Japanophile and novelist working for the War Relocation Authority. McKee (1905-1972) wrote several historical novels before the Second World War. During the war she was a historian for the War Relocation Authority, and in the 1950s she was in the state department, becoming the Consul at Tokyo in 1958.
It is very hard to imagine how this report ever made it to publication as an official government report. McKee does not sugarcoat her opinions about the Japanese internment. In the preface she sets out her goal: "This study is an attempt to explain how American democracy, at a time when it was engaged in a death struggle against the forces of totalitarianism across the seas, came to deal in this manner with one of its own minorities, a minority composed of two-thirds citizens by birth and one-third aliens denied naturalization under the law of our country."
McKee then traces the history of Japanese immigration to the West Coast of the US, documenting population growth and entrepreneurship. When her history reaches the war years, the chapter titles give away her viewpoint: "The Rallying of the Racists"; "First Round to the Racists"; and "Triumph for the Racists." By racists she meant the members of the West Coast Congressional delegation, which advocated for exclusion; the military leaders who wanted it, particularly General John DeWitt; and much of the press. McKee quotes extensively from public documents and public statements used to justify the Japanese internment. She is not content to state the facts, she is very happy to suggest racist motives.
I don't think there is a more damning account of the Japanese internment written by a White person than McKee's official history of the events leading up to the exclusion order and its aftermath. That it was published by the federal government, makes it all the more subversive.
167 pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A very good or better copy in wrappers. With the ownership signature of Philip W. Baker, who worked at the Heart Mountain relocation camp and, in 1943, chaired the Relocation Committee for the WRA. (See memo from D. S. Myer, "The reluctance of center residents to accept offers...", May 15, 1943).
Publication: Washington DC: United States Department of the Interior, War Relocation Authority, 1946.
Item No: #307828
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