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Biography / Administrative History

The Honorable William M. Marutani (1923-2004) was a second generation Japanese American (Nisei) born in the state of Washington. During the early part of World War II he was interned for six months in Pinedale and Tule Lake. Later during the war he served in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service as a second lieutenant with the Army of Occupation in Japan. In the summer of 1947, Marutani attended the University of Chicago Law School. With a law degree to his credentials he moved to Philadelphia where he practiced law and established a distinguished legal career as a lawyer and judge. In 1975, he was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County making him the first Asian American judge in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. From 1980-1983, Judge Marutani sat as a commissioner for the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC).

The CWRIC was created to conduct an official governmental study of the facts, circumstances, and impact surrounding Executive Order 9066. In addition, the commission also reviewed the directives of United States military forces requiring the relocation and detention in concentration camps of American citizens, including Aleut civilians, and permanent resident aliens of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. From July to December of 1981 the CWRIC held eleven hearings in ten cities throughout the United States. More than 750 witnesses testified before the commission.

On February 1983 the commission released its findings in the report titled, Personal Justice Denied . The major finding of the report stated:

The promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity...The broad historical causes which shaped these decisions were race, prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. Widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan.

Personal Justice Denied also addressed the injustices experienced by the Aleuts and Pribilof Islanders. The CWRIC accepted the U.S. government's reason for the evacuation of the Aleuts, but they could not find any justification for the treatment of the Aleuts in the camps.

Four months after the release of the findings, the CWRIC issued out their recommendations for redress.

For Japanese Americans: 1. Congress should pass a joint resolution apologizing for the injustice done, and the president should sign this resolution; 2. A presidential pardon should be given to those convicted of curfew or exclusion order violations; 3. Congress should direct executive agencies to review with liberality Japanese Americans' applications for "restitution of positions, status, or entitlements lost" during the war; 4. Congress should appropriate money for an educational and humanitarian foundation that would sponsor research and public educational activities; and 5. Congress should appropriate $1.5 billion to provide $20,000 in individual compensation to every surviving evacuee and internee.

For Aleut and Pribilof Islanders: 1. The establishment of a $5 million trust fund to compensate both the Aleut community and individuals for losses and injuries they suffered because of their evacuation; 2. Direct individual payments of $5,000 to those surviving Aleuts who were evacuated from the Aleutian or Pribilof Islands by the federal government during World War II; 3. The government restoration of Aleut village churches that were damaged or destroyed during World War II; 4. The removal of military debris remaining on the Aleutian Islands; and 5. A declaration by Congress that Attu Island is native land and the transfer of Attu Island to the Aleuts Native Corporation.

Commissioner Marutani was a strong supporter of monetary compensation for internees. He felt that, "this society's currency medium of acknowledgment of wrong involves something more than an apology. An apology may be helpful, but the currency medium is money...I think as a group we were torn a little bit between the cultural aspect of an apology, which means a great deal within the Asian culture. But within the western culture, it is money which has significance." (Marutani 1998, 26) As a commissioner of the CWRIC he felt it was important to relinquish any monetary redress payments to ensure his credibility and to avoid any criticism on his participation on the commission.

The CWRIC's findings helped educate and change the public perception about the experiences of camp internees. No longer was there any argument on whether internment was wrong or right. The argument now focused on what the government can do to right the wrong. Personal Justice Denied "dispelled the myth of military necessity and indicated that the exclusion and incarceration were the result of failed political leadership." (Maki, Kitano, and Berthold 1999, 115) The commission hearings and findings helped convince members of Congress to redress the wrong and unjustifiable acts conducted by the government during World War II.

Bibliography Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Personal Justice Denied . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 1982. Maki, Mitchell T., Kitano, Harry H. L., and Berthold, S. Megan. 1993. Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress . Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Marutani, William. Redress Oral History Project (1998-1999) . Mitchell Maki interviews the Honorable William Marutani, Media, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1998. Los Angeles: Japanese American National Museum.