[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16846-16851]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 1357) recognizing the significance of the 20th 
anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 by 
President Ronald Reagan and the greatness of America in her ability to 
admit and remedy past mistakes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1357

       Whereas President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed 
     Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which authorized 
     the forced exclusion of 120,000 Japanese Americans and legal 
     resident aliens from the west coast of the United States and 
     the internment of United States citizens and legal permanent 
     residents of Japanese ancestry in confinement sites during 
     World War II without the benefit of due process;

[[Page 16847]]

       Whereas no person of Japanese ancestry, who was confined 
     during World War II under the authority of Executive Order 
     9066, was convicted of espionage, treason, or sabotage 
     against the United States;
       Whereas Japanese American men proved their loyalty to the 
     United States with battlefield valor serving in the 442d 
     Regimental Combat Team, the 100th Infantry Battalion, Army 
     Air Corps, and the Military Intelligence Service, and 
     Japanese American women served with distinction in the 
     Women's Army Corps and Army Nurse Corps;
       Whereas President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive 
     Order 9066 on February 19, 1976, in his speech, ``An American 
     Promise'';
       Whereas Congress adopted legislation which was signed by 
     President Jimmy Carter on July 31, 1980, establishing the 
     Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians 
     to investigate the claim that the incarceration of Japanese 
     Americans and legal resident aliens during World War II was 
     justified by military necessity;
       Whereas the Commission held 20 days of hearings and heard 
     from over 750 witnesses on this matter and published its 
     findings in a report entitled ``Personal Justice Denied'';
       Whereas the Commission's report concluded that the 
     promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by 
     military necessity and that the decision to issue the order 
     was shaped by ``race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure 
     of political leadership'';
       Whereas the Commission also discovered that the United 
     States Government expanded its internment program and 
     national security investigations to conduct the program and 
     investigations in Latin America;
       Whereas according to the Commission, the United States 
     Government financed relocation to the United States, and 
     internment, of approximately 2,300 Latin Americans of 
     Japanese descent, for the purpose of exchanging the Latin 
     Americans of Japanese descent for United States citizens held 
     by Axis countries;
       Whereas some of these Latin Americans of Japanese descent 
     were deported to Axis countries to enable the United States 
     to conduct prisoner exchanges;
       Whereas during World War II, the United States Government 
     deemed as ``enemy aliens'' more than 600,000 Italian-born and 
     300,000 German-born United States resident aliens and their 
     families and required them to carry Certificates of 
     Identification and limited their travel and personal property 
     rights;
       Whereas during World War II, the United States Government 
     arrested, interned, or otherwise detained thousands of 
     European Americans, some remaining in custody for years after 
     cessation of World War II hostilities, and repatriated, 
     exchanged, or deported European Americans, including 
     American-born children, to European Axis nations, many to be 
     exchanged for Americans held in those nations;
       Whereas Congress enacted, with bipartisan support, the 
     Civil Liberties Act of 1988, in which it acknowledged the 
     ``fundamental injustices'' resulting from Executive Order 
     9066, apologized on behalf of the people of the United States 
     for those injustices, and vowed to ``discourage the 
     occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil 
     liberties in the future'';
       Whereas President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties 
     Act of 1988 into law on August 10, 1988, proclaiming that 
     ``Here we admit a wrong. Here we affirm our commitment as a 
     Nation to equal justice under the law''; and
       Whereas the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil 
     Liberties Act of 1988 provides an opportunity for all United 
     States citizens to appreciate the greatness of our Nation in 
     having the willingness to admit and remedy its past mistakes 
     and for political leaders to learn from those past mistakes 
     by not adopting racially motivated governmental policies: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) reaffirms our Nation's commitment to equal justice 
     under the law for all people in celebration of the 20th 
     anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988;
       (2) continues to support the congressional goal embodied in 
     the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that all persons living under 
     protection of the United States Constitution have a right to 
     enjoy freedom and equality without the constraint of 
     prejudice and discrimination or the lack of due process; and
       (3) shall review the wartime treatment of Latin Americans 
     of Japanese descent, German Americans, and of Italian 
     Americans, to determine whether they should also receive an 
     apology and reparations similar to that provided in the Civil 
     Liberties Act of 1988 for Japanese Americans interned during 
     World War II.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CONYERS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Born of war hysteria and racial prejudice, Executive Order 9066 would 
come to represent a stain on America's reputation for fairness and 
justice.
  128,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to leave behind their entire 
lives and property and bring only the bare necessities to an unknown 
place with an unknown future, and they spent 3 long years in internment 
camps in Arizona, Northern and Central California, Wyoming, Utah, 
Colorado, and Arkansas. At the conclusion of World War II, they 
attempted to return home, but many found that their houses were looted 
and destroyed. They could not find jobs to feed and shelter their 
property. And, sadly, it took our government nearly 50 years to 
formally apologize for this serious Constitutional mistake and offer 
compensation to those who suffered through internment.
  On February 19, 1976, President Ford rescinded Executive Order 9066. 
On July 21, 1980, Congress established the Commission on Wartime 
Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the internment of 
World War II. A few years later the Commission reported its finding and 
recommendations, and on August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act was 
signed into law authorizing reparations to each person wrongfully 
interned.
  Although there is hardly anything that can replace 3 years lost to 
internment, an official apology and compensation provided some solace 
to those who suffered, and helped heal a Nation stained by this 
terrible mistake made during the Second World War. One of the leaders 
in that effort was the late Robert Matsui of California.

                              {time}  1530

  And so it is today that this resolution introduced by his widow, 
Doris Matsui, we have come to recognize the significance of the 20th 
anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act and how America 
came to admit and remedy past mistakes. Let's hope that will help the 
Nation remember this mistake and to prevent similar occurrences like 
that from happening in the future.
  We remember others who suffered similar internment or forced 
deportation in exchange for United States citizens held by axis 
countries. In its review, the commission also found our government 
financed relocation to the United States and internment of 2,300 Latin 
Americans of Japanese descent for the purpose of exchanging Latin 
Americans of Japanese descent for United States citizens held by axis 
countries.
  I commend Xavier Becerra, our distinguished colleague from 
California, for working to bring this matter also before us today.
  In addition, serious allegations have been made that our government 
also interned German Americans and Italian Americans during World War 
II. Our distinguished colleague on Judiciary, Robert Wexler of Florida, 
has worked for years to bring to light this forgotten group of people 
who also suffered the plight of internment.
  This resolution also resolves that Congress will review these claims 
to determine whether they too should receive and be eligible for 
similar reparations and apology.
  I, of course, urge strongly the support of this resolution, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I yield myself so much time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I support House Resolution 1357, recognizing the 
significance of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Civil 
Liberties Act of 1988.
  Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt to authorize the tragic internment of Japanese Americans at 
the beginning of World War II. In 1942 President Roosevelt authorized 
the Army to evacuate

[[Page 16848]]

more than 100,000 Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast States, 
including Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. This grossly 
broad approach to maintaining America's security serves as a continuing 
reminder that the civil rights of American citizens should never be 
lost, even in the midst of the chaos of war.
  President Roosevelt authorized the mass expulsion and incarceration 
of Japanese Americans by signing Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 
1942. He took this ill-fated action, even though, in the words of 
Stetson Conn, a historian with the Army's Office of Military History, 
he said, ``The only responsible commander who backed the War 
Department's mass evacuation plan as a measure required by military 
necessity, was the President himself, as Commander-in-Chief.'' Even 
Attorney General Francis Biddle and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover 
advised against it.
  That tragic misuse of power was met with an equally powerful response 
but, unfortunately, much too late.
  In 1976 President Gerald Ford issued Proclamation 4417, in which he 
said, ``Learning from our mistakes is not pleasant, but as a great 
philosopher once admonished, we must do so if we want to avoid 
repeating them. I call upon the American people to affirm with me this 
American promise, that we have learned from the tragedy of that long 
ago experience forever to treasure, we have learned that we should 
forever treasure liberty and justice for each individual American, and 
resolve that this kind of action shall never again be repeated.
  Congress eventually enacted the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which 
this resolution before us recognizes. It apologized on behalf of the 
Nation for ``fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and 
constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry.''
  President Ronald Reagan signed that action into law on August 10, 
1988, proclaiming it a great day for America. 20 years later we stand 
here today to renew our Nation's commitment to remember the past, and 
to shepherd its lessons into the future.
  I have in the past, and I would again today, Mr. Speaker, address the 
subject matter of how we should understand history. And quite often I 
find that we, in this Congress, are judging our ancestors with 
contemporary values and trying put their actions into a modern context, 
rather than for us to try to understand the context in which they made 
those decisions.
  And even though I have made the case that J. Edgar Hoover advised 
against and the Attorney General advised against, Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt did go ahead with the Executive Order that began the 
internment of 100,000 or more Japanese Americans here in the United 
States. It was just months after the Japanese had attacked Pearl 
Harbor, very much the same scenario, from a national apprehension 
standpoint, as we had just post September 11, 2001.
  And so I think history should not judge our ancestors harshly. We 
should seek to learn from these examples of history within two 
contexts; one context being looking back upon it, and another context 
would be try to place ourselves into the shoes of the people that had 
to make the decisions in that environment.
  I am convinced that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the best interest 
of America in mind. I think he was very afraid that there would be some 
lost intelligence. That was the mind set of the time.
  But we have come a long, long way since then, Mr. Speaker, and so far 
that one of our most important trading partners is Japan. One of our 
most important strategic partners is Japan.
  We have come so far that my father, who spent 2\1/2\ years in the 
South Pacific and forbid rice to be in our household, this young man 
had dinner with the Minister of Defense of Japan 60 years later. This 
Nation has many times shaken hands across the Pacific with our good 
friends in Japan. And this resolution that is before us today 
acknowledges the history and says that if we had it to do over again we 
would have done it differently. But it also builds upon it so we can 
expand our relationships with our good friends, the Japanese.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I now recognize the distinguished 
gentlelady from California, Doris Matsui, who has picked up the baton 
from her late husband, who formerly represented California from the 
same district, for as much time as she may consume.
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time 
and I rise in support of H. Res. 1357.
  Mr. Speaker, on August 10, 2008, this Nation will acknowledge the 
20th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act. This 
anniversary is an opportunity for all Americans to appreciate our 
Nation's willingness to admit and remedy its past mistakes, and for 
Americans to learn from these past mistakes. We must never forget that 
from past injustice can come great awakening. And today, we remember 
the past to preserve our future freedoms.
  On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 
Executive Order 9066, which led to internment of over 120,000 Americans 
of Japanese descent, including my mother and my father, my 
grandparents, my aunts and my uncles and all their friends. During that 
moment, our government, at all levels, was blinded by war and made 
decisions that are contrary to our Constitution.
  The failure of each branch of government to uphold the rights of 
individuals must be taught so that future generations resist succumbing 
to the politics of fear.
  It took nearly three decades before the government began to 
acknowledge this failure. President Gerald Ford formally rescinded 
Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1976. And shortly after, Congress 
passed legislation which was signed by President Jimmy Carter on July 
31, 1980.
  The bill established the Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
internment of civilians. Its charge was to investigate the internment 
of Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens during World War II.
  After hearing from over 750 witnesses, over 20 days of hearings, the 
Commission published a report entitled Personal Justice Denied. And I 
might say that for many of these individuals, that was the first time 
they ever talked about the internment.
  The Commission concluded that Executive Order 9066 was not justified 
by military necessity. It went on to find that the decision to issue 
the order was shaped by race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of 
political leadership.
  Because of these compelling findings, Congress passed the Civil 
Liberties Act of 1988 with bipartisan support. The bill granted 
reparations for interned Japanese Americans. It also formally 
acknowledged the fundamental injustices resulting from the Executive 
Order, apologized on behalf of the people of the United States for 
those injustices, and vowed to discourage similar injustices and 
violations of civil liberties in the future.
  And today, 20 years later, we can reaffirm this commitment because of 
one of the darkest periods of our Nation's history, we learned of the 
damage that can be done when we let the politics of fear cloud our 
judgment.
  Our efforts to preserve this painful period of our country's history 
continue to this day. Many of my colleagues are working to support 
internment site preservation as a physical reminder of past inequality. 
It is important that future generations will be able to visit the 
internment camps to gain understanding of the burdens of past 
generations that have allowed us to live in a free and just society 
today.
  But there is still work to be done. During the interviews the 
Commission discovered efforts of the United States Government during 
World War II to relocate and intern approximately 2,300 Latin Americans 
of Japanese descent. These individuals were not only taken from their 
country to be interned in another country, but they were also exchanged 
for United States citizens held by axis nations.
  Additionally, the government classified German-born and Italian-born 
immigrants as enemy aliens and required

[[Page 16849]]

them to carry identification. They restricted their property rights and 
travel rights during this time period and arrested, interned and 
detained thousands of European Americans.
  All of those who suffered from misguided government policies during 
World War II deserve to have their stories come to light. Their 
experience should be fully recognized and preserved for future 
generations to learn from.
  I hope every American will take this anniversary to reaffirm their 
commitment to our Constitution and the rights and protections it 
guarantees all of us. This commitment is a way to prevent such 
injustice from ever becoming a reality again.
  As you look back on a time in our Nation's history and how our 
country has responded since, we should have hope for the future.
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield as much time as 
he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. 
Lungren).
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support 
of the bill. Twenty years ago I was privileged to be the only Member of 
Congress selected to serve on the commission that was referred to just 
a moment ago, and I served as the vice chairman of that commission.
  I accepted appointment to that commission because, as someone who 
grew up in Southern California, born shortly after World War II, I was 
one of those many Californians who, frankly, grew up knowing very 
little, if anything, about the treatment of Japanese nationals and 
Japanese Americans during World War II.
  And yet I was from an area in which we had a mature Japanese American 
community on Terminal Island prior to World War II. When I grew up, 
Terminal Island was actually part of the Navy complex in the San Pedro 
Bay, the Long Beach part of San Pedro Bay. There was nothing left of 
the Japanese community on Terminal Island at the time I was born and at 
the time I was growing up.
  And while there were many Japanese Americans in our community, there 
was not much discussion of what took place during World War II. On a 
number of occasions, there was an attempt to bring up a Commission, and 
finally, we garnered enough votes to support the commission with the 
idea that it was important for us, not only to acknowledge what went on 
during World War II and have a historic examination of what occurred 
there, but as importantly, if not most importantly, it was a concern of 
mine and other members of the Commission that we have a continuing 
remembrance of that experience, not to sort of wallow in the mistakes 
that were made in the past and to point our finger back at a previous 
generation, but rather to try and extract lessons from that experience 
so that it would provide us an understanding of how we made mistakes 
there, and provide us an opportunity to learn from that, such that we 
would not make similar mistakes in the future.

                              {time}  1545

  It was an interesting time to be on that Commission to hear the 
accounts of so many who had gone through that experience and to learn 
that history can be a strange and often an experience that brings you 
surprises.
  For instance, a great civil libertarian in his future years, Earl 
Warren, as Attorney General and Governor of the State of California, 
was probably the strongest advocate for the executive order. In his 
later years, he accepted responsibility for that mistake.
  Among the top counsels of government of the Roosevelt administration, 
there was one individual who stood out from the others who opposed the 
executive order and believed it was unnecessary and, frankly, 
overreaching. That person was, interestingly enough, J. Edgar Hoover. 
J. Edgar Hoover said, ``We don't need to bring all of these Japanese 
nationals and Japanese Americans away from the coastline. We don't need 
to have any camps to hold these people in and their families.'' He 
said, ``We think we have sufficient intelligence for those who may be 
reasonable suspects and we can just concentrate on that.'' And that was 
rejected by the national leadership on a bipartisan basis except for 
one place, Hawaii. The executive order was not carried out in Hawaii 
because the military leader in Hawaii, when he received the order, 
responded back to Washington that it would basically cripple the 
workforce in Hawaii.
  And so in Hawaii we had the only place where they followed the 
suggestion of J. Edgar Hoover not to round up everybody because of 
their ethnicity.
  And the only reason I bring this up is that it is so easy for us to 
look forward and say we will never repeat anything like that and only 
this group would do that, and that group wouldn't do that, and that 
leadership wouldn't do that, but this leadership would. And you will 
find when you go back in history, under the pressure and stress of a 
threat, sometimes we do things that we ought not to do.
  So I appreciate the kindness of the gentlelady from California. In 
fact, it was her husband, among others, who convinced me they ought to 
actually sit on that Commission. And I think that it is extremely 
important for us to not only remember what happened 20 years ago but 
more importantly what happened some 60 years ago and to take lessons 
out of that that will help us ensure that we don't repeat those 
mistakes in the future no matter what our political philosophy, no 
matter what our political identification.
  I think this is a very worthy bill that we have here today. I thank 
the gentleman for his time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to now recognize the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), who at the time was chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Judiciary that first reported out the measure that we 
consider today.
  I yield him as much time as he may consume.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I thank my friend from Michigan who then 
and now has been a leader in the effort to protect the civil liberties 
which are so important to us.
  I had the distinct honor of standing on this floor and presenting 
that bill as chairman of the subcommittee, and I remember today the 
emotion I felt then and feel now when I read the words ``on behalf of 
the Nation, Congress apologizes.''
  The ability to admit a mistake is a sign of greatness, and I felt 
privileged then that we did it.
  People have talked about the lessons, and they are important. And we 
should draw on some of them.
  One is that abandoning your principles in the face of a threat is a 
temptation which ought to be resisted. It's easier for us today than it 
was in 1948 to be very critical of those who locked up our former 
colleagues Bob Matsui and Norm Mineta and many, many other totally 
innocent Americans, Americans of Japanese descent, but we're talking 
about Americans, people born in this country, American citizens.
  But at the time, the notion that the security of the Nation trumped 
everything else looked like a pretty good argument. J. Edgar Hoover was 
right, but he wasn't running for office; Earl Warren was. Franklin 
Roosevelt was. Very few elected officials stood up against that. And 
that's one of the lessons we ought to draw.
  It is much too easy to give in to the temptation to say, ``Well, 
we're in trouble. Protections of individual rights, civil liberties, 
they're for the good times.'' And obviously, there are some analogies 
to today. Now, things are much better today. We haven't done today 
anything like that. But there are lessons still that we have to look 
at.
  Another is that if you are going to try to protect yourself, as you 
have a right to do, don't do it en masse, don't say there is this whole 
group of people, and we're not going to stop and decide whether this or 
that individual did something wrong; we're going to look at some 
essential characteristic of their being, and on that basis we're going 
to penalize them. We're going to restrict them. We're going to 
segregate them.

[[Page 16850]]

  Now, obviously, being locked up in a camp for years is a far, far 
greater wrong than not being able to fly on an airplane. But the fact 
that it was much worse to lock people up doesn't justify us restricting 
people's travel rights because of the ethnic group they belong to or 
because of a mass fear.
  So yes, we should be proud of having realized this mistake. Talk 
about history. I was in college in the 1950s when I read the case, I 
think it was Korematsu, in which the U.S. Supreme Court said it was 
perfectly constitutional to do what was done. And I was appalled. I was 
a college junior, and I said, ``Boy, this is my country. I didn't know 
we did things like this.''
  And I came here eager to participate in its undoing, and I felt I was 
very lucky to be chairman of the subcommittee, along with my colleague 
from California who was then on the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Lungren, 
to be able to bring that bill forward. But I also understand that I had 
the benefit of hindsight. I had the easy decision to make.
  As we legitimately congratulate ourselves today for having recognized 
20 years ago a mistake that we made 65 years ago, let's leave a little 
energy for resolving that we don't do it again. Let's, as we talk about 
the folly of 1943, be very determined not to repeat it even in a 
smaller measure and with fewer people.
  I believe that we have had government policies in the past couple of 
years since the terrible mass murders of 2001 that have also failed to 
live up to our ideals of protecting individuals. Not on the same scale, 
I acknowledge that, and I think it's a mark of progress. But let's do 
what we can from this day forward so that no one 20 years later or 40 
years later has to apologize to any extent because we let our 
legitimate need for self-defense diminish us from our principles.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I appreciate the remarks from the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Frank), and particularly we do have the benefit of hindsight; and I 
don't know that there is a generation that's compelled to apologize for 
a previous generation or its ancestors. And I would question the real 
value of descendents of people who had to make decisions in that 
context apologizing for their actions.
  And I look across at some of these that we've done. I remember 
President Clinton apologizing to Africa for slavery--and we have a 
resolution that's going to come up for a vote a little bit later on 
slavery--and I regret those things. I would point out that if indeed 
these are the sins of our fathers, they're not necessarily visited upon 
the sons and daughters unto the second or third generation and that we 
should learn from history. And we do have the opportunity to be Monday 
morning quarterbacks, to have the perspective of hindsight, as the 
gentleman from Massachusetts said. I definitely agree with that emotion 
that's there and that thought process.
  But I would caution us that I am watching us move down a path of 
apologizing for one thing and another, and I'm not watching us stop and 
give thanks for the wonderful and noble things that this country has 
done. And I think when we look across the globe at the results of that 
great effort of World War II, that wonderful victory of the Greatest 
Generation that this country has ever produced, that we can see that 
millions of people breathe free air today because of the prices that 
were paid. And there's never been a war that's been fought without 
mistakes. There's been mistakes in judgment and in political judgment 
and military miscalculations, and lives have been lost over and over 
again in those miscalculations. But we had to find ways to persevere 
and we have.
  And what came out of World War II was the United States emerged as a 
global power. Our industry was the most powerful industry in the world, 
unchallenged, because ours was not destroyed and the carnage that 
visited the competing ideology, so to speak. And our currency became 
the currency of the world, and American-made products became dominant 
throughout the world. The American culture spread throughout the world. 
And our sense of freedom and our language and our civilization rose up 
to be predominant.
  And it was unchallenged at that time until such time as the Soviet 
Union was quickly formed and came up against the United States. And we 
saw the Cold War begin within years of the Second World War. That 
fought for 40 to 45 years, and our way of life succeeded.
  All of that flowed out of something that had some mistakes along the 
way. And anyone that's ever done anything in life knows that there are 
mistakes, whether you raised a family or fought a war or started a 
business or entered into public life. All of us made mistakes along the 
way, but I do not believe that we carry guilt from preceding 
generations.
  But we do have a responsibility. If we fail to learn, then we would 
carry guilt ourselves if we fail to learn from those actions of our 
ancestors whom today we judge to be wrong. And I do believe they were 
wrong, and I do support this resolution. And I support it with the 
spirit that I have articulated here.
  I would reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, we have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the remainder of our time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I'm going to pass up the opportunity for the last 
word because I have had it. I would urge the adoption.
  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the passage of H. 
Res. 1357, which commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the signing of 
the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This law officially acknowledged the 
``fundamental injustices'' that resulted from Executive Order 9066, 
which authorized the exclusion and internment of Japanese Americans 
during World War II.
  In 1942, some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and 
sent to internment camps by the United States Government--not out of 
military necessity, but as a result of racial prejudice, war hysteria, 
and the failure of political leadership. Families were torn apart and 
property was lost. My family experienced this injustice first-hand, and 
I spent part of my childhood at the Amache internment camp in Colorado.
  Our Government made a mistake when it ignored the civil liberties of 
Japanese Americans during World War II. That is why passage of the 
Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided for a formal apology from 
the Government, along with compensation to the victims, still resonates 
strongly with us today. The significance and meaning of this 
legislation allowed our community to move forward.
  Redress would not have happened without the work of many leaders in 
the Japanese American community. Senator Daniel Inouye, Senator Spark 
Matsunaga, then Congressman Norm Mineta and Congressman Bob Matsui were 
integral to ensuring that the Civil Liberties Act moved forward.
  I would also like to acknowledge the role played by the Japanese 
American Citizens League, the oldest and largest Asian American civil 
rights organization in the United States, and a group I have a long 
history of involvement with. The JACL worked hard towards achieving 
redress, and recently passed a resolution also commemorating the 20th 
anniversary of the passage of redress at their National Convention in 
Salt Lake City. I commend the JACL for their dedication to our 
community.
  Our country draws strength and greatness from our ability to 
acknowledge and remedy past mistakes--a virtue that has not only 
benefited the Japanese American community but has shaped me as a 
policymaker. Despite our flaws, the United States is looked upon as the 
nation with the strongest and fairest form of government.
  Recognizing and commemorating the significance of the 20th 
anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is still 
meaningful and relevant today, as this resolution reaffirms our 
commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1357, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground 
that a

[[Page 16851]]

quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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