# Munson Report

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Munson_Report
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Munson_Report.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munson_Report
> Source revision: 1334814403
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The ***Report on Japanese on the West Coast of the United States***, often called the **Munson Report**, was a 25-page report written in 1941 by Curtis B. Munson, a [Chicago](/source/Chicago) businessman commissioned as a special representative of the [State Department](/source/United_States_Department_of_State), on the sympathies and loyalties of [Japanese Americans](/source/Japanese_Americans) living in [Hawaii](/source/Hawaii) and the [West Coast of the United States](/source/West_Coast_of_the_United_States), particularly [California](/source/California). Munson's report was submitted to the White House on October 7, 1941, exactly two months before the [Japanese](/source/Empire_of_Japan) [attack on Pearl Harbor](/source/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor).[1]

By fall 1941, it was increasingly apparent that Japan and the [United States](/source/United_States) would become enveloped in conflict. [World War II](/source/World_War_II) had broken out with the [Japanese invasion of China](/source/Second_Sino-Japanese_War) in 1937 and the [German invasion of Poland](/source/Invasion_of_Poland) in 1939. In July 1941, the United States, along with [Britain](/source/United_Kingdom) and the [Dutch East Indies](/source/Dutch_East_Indies), had imposed a total [embargo](/source/Embargo) on exports to Japan, including critical [oil](/source/Petroleum) supplies. American [military intelligence](/source/Military_intelligence) had broken [top secret](/source/Classified_information#Top_Secret_(TS)) Japanese military codes, and a September 24, 1941 message indicated that Pearl Harbor was a possible target of a Japanese attack. President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt) immediately designated Munson as a special representative and gave him the task of gauging the loyalty of Japanese Americans, many of whom lived near military bases and important [manufacturing](/source/Manufacturing) facilities.[2]

Munson toured Hawaii and the [Pacific Coast](/source/Pacific_Coast_of_the_United_States) and interviewed [Army](/source/United_States_Army) and [Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) [intelligence officers](/source/Intelligence_officer), military commanders, city officials, and the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/source/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation). Munson found that "There is no Japanese problem on the West Coast,"[3] concluding that there was "a remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty among this generally suspect [ethnic group](/source/Ethnic_group)."[4] The Munson Report was circulated to several [Cabinet](/source/United_States_Cabinet) officials, including [Secretary of War](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_War) [Henry L. Stimson](/source/Henry_L._Stimson), [Secretary of the Navy](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Navy) [Frank Knox](/source/Frank_Knox), [Attorney General](/source/United_States_Attorney_General) [Francis Biddle](/source/Francis_Biddle), and [Secretary of State](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_State) [Cordell Hull](/source/Cordell_Hull).

On February 5, 1942, Stimson sent a copy of the Munson Report to President Roosevelt, along with a memo stating that [War Department](/source/United_States_Department_of_War) officials had carefully studied the document. However [Executive Order 9066](/source/Executive_Order_9066), ordering the [internment of Japanese Americans](/source/Japanese_American_internment), was signed on February 19. It is possible that Roosevelt only read the memo, and not the report itself.[5]

## Notes

1. Schlund-Vials, Cathy J.; Wong, Kevin Scott; Chang, Jason Oliver (eds.) (2017). [*Asian America: a primary source reader*](https://www.worldcat.org/title/959871081). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-19544-6. [OCLC 959871081](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/959871081)

1. Leslie T. Hatamiya, *Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and the Passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988* (1994). Stanford, p. 10.

1. Weglyn, Michi Nishiura (1976). *Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps*. New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 45. ISBN 978-0688079963.

1. Weglyn, Michi Nishiura (1976). *Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps*. New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 34. ISBN 978-0688079963.

1. Nancy R. Bartlit and Everett M. Rogers, *Silent Voices of World War II: When Sons of the Land of Enchantment Met Sons of the Land of the Rising Sun* (2005), p. 143-133.

## See also

- C. B. Munson, "Japanese on the West Coast," published as chapter 6 in *Asian American Studies: A Reader* (editors Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Min Song), Rutgers University Press, 2000.
- "C.B. Munson's "[Report and Suggestions Regarding Handling the Japanese Question on the Coast](https://encyclopedia.densho.org/sources/en-denshopd-i67-00005-1/)," Dec. 20, 1941.." *Densho Encyclopedia*. 17 Jul 2015. <[https://encyclopedia.densho.org/sources/en-denshopd-i67-00005-1/](https://encyclopedia.densho.org/sources/en-denshopd-i67-00005-1/)>.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Munson Report](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munson_Report) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munson_Report?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.