John L . DeWitt John Lesesne DeWitt ( January 9 , 1880 – June 20 , 1962 ) was a general in the United States Army , best known for his vocal support of the internment of Japanese - Americans during World War II . General DeWitt believed that Japanese and Japanese Americans in California , Oregon , and Washington were conspiring to sabotage the American war effort , and recommended they be removed from coastal areas . President Roosevelt agreed with DeWitt ' s recommendation and issued Executive Order 9066 , ordering the internment . The president ' s executive order affected 110 , 000 Japanese men , women and children . Seventy five percent of the affected Japanese Americans were American - born citizens . Although the removal of the Japanese Americans was technically called an evacuation , it turned out to be internment in detention camps , euphemistically called resettlement camps . In the course of carrying out the policy , he issued military proclamations that applied to American men , women and children of Japanese ancestry , most of whom were American citizen s , directing that they be moved from their homes to government created and operated internment camp s . Military career . DeWitt was born at Fort Sidney , Nebraska on January 9 , 1880 . On October 10 , 1898 , he was appointed as a second lieutenant with the U . S . Army infantry . He would go on to serve nearly fifty years of his life ( from 1898 to 1947 ) within the U . S . Army in various posts . World War I . In 1918 , he set out with the 42nd Division to the battlefields of World War I . At this time , he was already a lieutenant colonel , and continued duties as a quartermaster in the General Staff Headquarters . In July 1918 , DeWitt was promoted to full colonel , and continued quartermaster duties for the First Army . He received the Distinguished Service Medal at the end of World War I . Post World War I . Between 1919 and 1930 , DeWitt served in various quartermaster positions at posts such as assistant commandant of the General Staff College , Chief of the Storage and Issue Branch , and the Supply Division . In 1930 , he was promoted to the rank of major general , Quartermaster General of the U . S . Army . As well as his regular duties as Quartermaster General , DeWitt also assumed control of the Gold Star Mothers ' Pilgrimage . General DeWitt was responsible for all logistics involving this Congressionally - approved event . After returning to the infantry , DeWitt assumed control of the Philippine Division . In July 1937 , he became commandant of the Army War College . Two years later , in December 1939 , General DeWitt was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general , and then assumed command of the Fourth Army as well as the Western Defense Command of the United States Army , with responsibilities for the protection of the West Coast area of the United States from invasion by the Japanese . World War II . From December 5 , 1939 to June 15 , 1943 , DeWitt was assigned command of the IX Corps Area and its 1942 successor , the Western Defense Command , both headquartered at the Presidio of San Francisco . DeWitt was in San Francisco on the evening of December 8 , 1941 , one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , when air raid sirens were sounded . An estimated 35 Japanese warplanes were supposedly sighted above San Francisco Bay on a reconnaissance mission . DeWitt was furious at the lack of blackout precautions during the air raids . He blasted city leaders at a Civil Defense Council meeting the next day , saying , " Death and destruction are likely to come to this city at any moment . . . The people of San Francisco do not seem to appreciate that we are at war in every sense . I have come here because we want action and we want action now . Unless definite and stern action is taken to correct last night ' s deficiencies , a great deal of destruction will come . Those planes were over our community . They were over our community for a definite period . They were enemy planes . I mean Japanese planes . They were tracked out to sea . " At the Civil Defense Council meeting , DeWitt suggested that it might have been a good thing if the planes had dropped bombs to " awaken this city . " He said , " If I can ' t knock these facts into your heads with words , I will have to turn you over to the police and let them knock them into you with clubs . " DeWitt acknowledged that some people had asked why he didn ' t give orders to fire on the planes . " I say it ' s none of their damn business , " he responded . " San Francisco woke up this morning without a single death from bombs . Isn ' t that enough ? " DeWitt recommended that the 1942 Rose Bowl football game , normally played in Pasadena , California , be moved . DeWitt feared that the large crowd of spectators would be too tempting a target for Japanese warplanes . For the first and only time in its history , the 1942 Rose Bowl game was moved to North Carolina . In February 1942 , DeWitt reported to President Roosevelt that no sabotage by Japanese - Americans had yet been confirmed — but commented that this only proved " a disturbing and confirming indication that such action " will " be taken . " He recommended the evacuation of all Japanese from the coastal areas of California , Oregon , and Washington state . The president agreed , issuing Executive Order 9066 , and DeWitt then began implementing a plan for classifying , rounding up , and removal of " undesirables " . On March 2 , 1942 , DeWitt issued " Military Proclamation No . 1 " which designated the western parts of California , Oregon and Washington as " military area no . 1 " , further divided into " prohibited zone A - 1 " and " restricted zone B . " In the first phase of the order , a provision was included directing that " any person of Japanese ancestry , now resident in Military Area No . 1 , who changes his place of habitual residence must file a ' change of residence notice ' at his local post office not more than five days nor less than one day prior to moving , " . Days later , DeWitt announced that the army had acquired of land near Manzanar , California , for construction of a " reception center " which he said was " to be used principally as a clearing house for the more permanent resettlement elsewhere for persons excluded from military areas . " . Removal began on March 23 , 1942 , with the resettlement of citizens living in Los Angeles . On that date , General DeWitt issued new orders applying to Japanese - Americans , setting an 8 p . m . to 6 a . m . curfew and banning ownership of firearms , radios , cameras , and other contraband . DeWitt stated , " Let me warn the affected aliens and Japanese - Americans that anything but strict compliance with this proclamation ' s provisions will bring immediate punishment , " . Northern California followed in April , as DeWitt declared that " We plan to increase the tempo of the evacuation as fast as possible . " Citizens in specific areas were required to report to their designated " Civil Control Station " , where they would then be taken to an " Assembly Center " for relocation . All told , DeWitt ordered the removal and internment of 110 , 000 men , women and children of Japanese ancestry ( 75 % of whom were American - born citizens ) from their homes to internment camps . According to DeWitt , " a Jap is a Jap , " whether they were citizens of the United States or not . A federal judge , James Alger Fee of Portland , Oregon , ruled in November , 1943 that American citizens could not be detained without a proclamation of martial law . DeWitt ' s response was " All military orders and proclamations of this headquarters remain in full force and effect " . After the relocation of Japanese - Americans was complete , DeWitt lifted curfew restrictions on Italian - Americans on October 19 , and on German - Americans on December 24 . Technically , the curfew was " inapplicable to the Japanese since all members of this group were removed from the affected zones " . DeWitt had a personal vendetta against one Italian in particular Remo Bosia , which is detailed in Bosia ' s autobiography " The General and I " . Lieutenant General DeWitt ' s orders also regulated other areas of life on the West Coast . A proclamation prohibited deer hunting and the playing of outdoor sports at night . An " Alaska Travel Office " was established to issue permits to anyone seeking to travel into or out of the territory of Alaska . Less known is DeWitt ' s role in supervising the combat operations in the Aleutian Islands , some of which had been invaded by Japanese forces . When houses of prostitution were closed across America , General DeWitt allowed Sally Stanford to continue to operate a high class brothel in San Francisco . At the end of his tenure as head of Western Defense Command , he was appointed as the commandant of the Army and Navy Staff College in Washington . He retired from the army in June 1947 . United States District Court opinions Official notice of exclusion and removal A report by General DeWitt and Colonel Bendetsen depicting racist bias against Japanese Americans was circulated and then hastily redacted in 1943 – 1944 . The report stated flatly that , because of their race , it was impossible to determine the loyalty of Japanese Americans , thus necessitating internment . [ 47 ] The original version was so offensive – even in the atmosphere of the wartime 1940s – that Bendetsen ordered all copies to be destroyed . In 1980 , a copy of the original Final Report : Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast – 1942 was found in the National Archives , along with notes showing the numerous differences between the original and redacted versions . This earlier , racist and inflammatory version , as well as the FBI and Office of Naval Intelligence ( ONI ) reports , led to the " coram nobis " retrials which overturned the convictions of Fred Korematsu , Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui on all charges related to their refusal to submit to exclusion and internment . [ 48 ] The courts found that the government had intentionally withheld these reports and other critical evidence , at trials all the way up to the Supreme Court , which would have proved that there was no military necessity for the exclusion and internment of Japanese Americans . In the words of Department of Justice officials writing during the war , the justifications were based on " willful historical inaccuracies and intentional falsehoods . " Post - retirement . On July 19 , 1954 , DeWitt became a full general by special act of Congress for his services in World War II . General DeWitt died of a heart attack at the age of 82 in Washington , D . C . on June 20 , 1962 , and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery .