Registration and the "loyalty questionnaire"

To help administer the military draft and work release program, the U.S. Army and the War Relocation Authority (WRA) produced "loyalty questionnaires" for all Japanese Americans seventeen years of age and older. The questionnaires contained two questions that caused confusion and controversy. Despite serious problems with the wording and meaning of the questions, government officials and others generally considered those who answered "no" to these two questions to be "disloyal" to the United States, and they were transferred to the Tule Lake concentration camp which was designated a segregation camp. "Yes" answers to these questions made Japanese Americans eligible for service in the U.S. Army, and some became eligible for release and resettlement in areas outside of the West Coast exclusion zones.

World War II (283)
Administration (228)
Registration and the "loyalty questionnaire" (294)

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294 items

doc Letter to Saburo Kitagawa at Topaz camp from Haj at Heart Mountain (ddr-densho-539-41)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-539-41/

doc Letter to a Nisei man from his brother (ddr-densho-153-47)

Excerpt: "We've been receiving yours letters steady and as you mentioned in your last letter, we will send you more letters and much steadier." Sent from Manzanar concentration camp, California, to Chicago, Illinois.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-153-47/

img Issei man completing registration (ddr-densho-122-761)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-761/

img Nisei women filling our required registration (ddr-densho-122-753)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-753/

doc Blank copy of "Statement of United States Citizen of Japanese Ancestry" (ddr-densho-122-852)

With questions #27 and #28 highlighted

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-852/

doc Community Analysis Report: Registration at Heart Mountain (ddr-densho-122-423)

Including addenda

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-423/

img Young Nisei man completing questionnaire before enlisting (ddr-densho-122-755)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-122-755/

av Loyal American (ddr-densho-1024-119)

Keige Kaku was a U.S.-born citizen who served in the U.S. Army. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he was abruptly discharged and sent to Poston. Outraged by the betrayal, Keige refused to answer the infamous “loyalty questionnaire” and was sent to Tule Lake. He ultimately renounced his citizenship and was deported to Japan, where Henry …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1024-119/

av From a Silk Cocoon (ddr-densho-1024-54)

Documentary film recounting the wartime story of a Kibei couple, Itaru and Shizuko Ina and their two young children as reconstructed by their daughter Satsuki Ina. Ina and co-directors Emery Clay III and Stephen Holsapple tell the story largely through the couple's own words in the form of Shizuko's diary and letters to each other when …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1024-54/

doc Asian American Community: The Internment Camps and My Family: Part 4: Mae (ddr-densho-560-20)

Narrative of Mae Horiuchi's experiences at Tule Lake and Topaz camps and Pinedale assembly center

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-560-20/

av Interview with Frank Emi, part 4 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1795)

Emi discusses the importance of the Fair Play Committee winning their case, the lasting impact of his imprisonment, the loyalty questionnaire, the beginning of the draft resistance movement, why the story of the draft resisters doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, and why the JACL and Japanese American newspapers did not support draft resistance. …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1795/

av Roger Daniels interviewed by Kent Hori, part 3 of 4 (ddr-densho-1007-1758)

Daniels discusses what may have happened if the Japanese American community resisted evacuation en masse, how Japanese Americans were placed under 4C (enemy alien, undraftable) status and the military's eventual interest in Japanese Americans (particularly Kibei) for intelligence work, the importance of the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the loyalty questionnaire, the persecution …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1758/

av Interview with Barry Saiki, part 4 of 5 (ddr-densho-1007-1705)

Saiki discusses the loyalty questionnaire given to Nisei in camp, visiting his father in New Mexico, being drafted, being recruited for intelligence work, moving to Japan in 1967, his work in international business, and the formation of the Military Intelligence Service Language School Association and other such organizations. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1705/

av Interview with John Kaneko, part 2 of 3 (ddr-densho-1007-1760)

Kaneko discusses arriving at Tule Lake, his first impressions of camp, his difficulty meeting people in camp, draft registration/the loyalty questionnaire and the conflict it caused, his father encouraging him to register for the draft, his refusal to register, his arrest and interrogation, and being sent to a CCC camp and forced to work. Interview starts …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1760/

doc Letter to Yuri Domoto from Yoshito Shibata (ddr-densho-356-259)

Letter to Yuriko Domoto Tsukada from Yoshito Shibata in which he talks about the difficulties of writing on a train by candlelight, his recent assignment to a Marine unit, responses to a letter Yuri wrote to him, facts about trains in Australia, his feelings on question 28, and inquires if the Domoto family has plans to …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-356-259/

doc Message from the President of the United States on the Segregation of Loyal and Disloyal Japanese in Relocation Centers (ddr-densho-356-1037)

Formal message from President Franklin Roosevelt to the Senate regarding Senate Resolution 166 on the segregation of loyal and disloyal Nikkei in camps.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-356-1037/

doc Letter to Yuri Domoto from Sadame Nomi (ddr-densho-356-356)

Letter to Yuriko Domoto Tsukada from Sadame Nomi in which Sadame details her life in Denver include her work as a translator for the WRA loyalty questionnaire interviews. Item tied together with all objects between ddr-densho-356-321 and ddr-densho-356-413.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-356-356/

vh Akio Hoshino Segment 10 (ddr-densho-1000-26-10)

Discussion of so-called "loyalty questions" and the decision to resist the draft

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-26-10/

vh Nobu Suzuki Interview I Segment 39 (ddr-densho-1000-84-39)

The so-called "loyalty questionnaire," brothers volunteer for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to prove loyalty

References are made to several of Nobu Suzuki's personal papers, which are currently available for public perusal at the University of Washington's Manuscripts and University Archives.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-84-39/

vh Tsuguo "Ike" Ikeda Interview I Segment 19 (ddr-densho-1000-123-19)

The difficulty of responding to the so-called "loyalty questionnaire"

As a teenager prior to World War II, began keeping scrapbooks with newspaper articles and memorabilia, a lifetime habit.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-123-19/

vh Tsuguo "Ike" Ikeda Interview I Segment 20 (ddr-densho-1000-123-20)

Graduating from high school in camp, deciding whether or not to volunteer for military service

As a teenager prior to World War II, began keeping scrapbooks with newspaper articles and memorabilia, a lifetime habit.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-123-20/

vh Hideo Hoshide Interview I Segment 46 (ddr-densho-1000-184-46)

Thoughts on the so-called "loyalty questionnaire"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-184-46/

vh Hideo Hoshide Interview I Segment 45 (ddr-densho-1000-184-45)

Printing information about the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" in the camp newspaper

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-184-45/

vh Marianne West Interview Segment 6 (ddr-densho-1000-120-6)

Controversy over the so-called "loyalty questionnaire": "I know my civil rights were denied"

This interview took place at the 2000 Tule Lake Pilgrimage in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-120-6/

vh Art Abe Interview Segment 22 (ddr-densho-1000-206-22)

Coping with sudden death of father, volunteering for the army

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-206-22/