Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation: What's Up With the Opening Lines?

    Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation: What's Up With the Opening Lines?

      Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104); (5)

      This isn't going down in the annals of famous first lines anytime soon. In fact, E.O. 9066's intro sentence is clunky, to say the least.

      However, while it seems like a bunch of bureaucratic filler language, it's really performing a super important job. Clearly not concerned with being charming or eloquent, the first sentence states the purpose of the executive order, why it's being issued, and how it's legally possible.

      In this case, FDR is issuing E.O. 9066 in the name of national protection against espionage and sabotage. He aligns the order with two previously existing laws that apply to war and American defense in order to make it lawful and legal. In this way, the document becomes official and justified, even if it's not justifiable in retrospect.