In 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt’s executive order 9066 allowed for the abuse of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals on the West Coast. The victims of this decision, the majority of whom were United States citizens, were pulled from their homes, forced to turn over their belongings, and imprisoned. Japanese community leaders were rounded up by the federal government and taken to federal prison, where they waited for months to see a judge and clear their names. Once they had proved they had not committed acts of disloyalty they were taken to join the approximately 120,000 Japanese victims in internment camps across California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. (Roger Daniels, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II (2d ed. 2004).

The victims of these heinous acts by the United States government included Japanese American college students, who were forced to leave their studies before completing the Spring 1942 semester. This group is often referred to as Nisei, which identifies second generation Japanese Americans. The victims included 121 USC Nisei students.

Japanese victims were released in different waves throughout the internment years. A push to release Japanese American college students was led by California university presidents, including University of California President Robert Gordon Sproul. University of Southern California President, Rufus Von Kleinsmid, was not part of this group. The educators sent a letter to President Roosevelt requesting the release of students and stated “unless some special action is taken, the education of those who might become influential leaders of the loyal American born Japanese will abruptly be closed. Such a result would be injurious not only to them, but to the nation.” (Id. at Daniels). President Roosevelt did approve the release of some 4,300 Japanese American college students, but required them to complete their studies at an inland institution. All together the Japanese internment camps lasted approximately three years, with the last victims of Japanese internment being held until March 1946. (Id. at Daniels).

After the internment camps ended, former USC students attempted to rejoin the college to resume their studies, however none of the 121 students were allowed to return to USC. Furthermore, a number of USC departments refused to forward the students’ transcripts to other universities, or claimed the transcripts had been lost, forcing Nisei students to either start their education over or fail to complete a college degree. There is evidence that this effort to punish Nisei students for their Japanese heritage was supported by USC President Richard Von KlienSmid and USC Dental School Dean Ford. Despite this occurring in the 1940’s, USC Nisei students suffered from the impact of losing their education for the rest of their lives. Even decades after the internment camps, Nisei were unable to gain access to their transcripts. One USC Nisei, who had only been one final exam away from graduating before being imprisoned, attempted to return to USC in the 1960’s to complete his degree, however he was not readmitted, and instead attended UC Riverside, which granted him good-faith credit for the courses he had taken at USC two decades prior.
This project tells the story of the forgotten Nisei, exploring what happened in the years after WWII. We outline the steps that have been taken in an effort to get justice for USC Nisei students, illuminate the excuses given and barriers put in place by USC, and the impact of these decades of trauma on the Nisei students and their families. We hope that as a result of this research project the University of Southern California will issue an apology to the Nisei students they have repeatedly abandoned, will award posthumous degrees to the families of the USC Nisei, and provide legacy scholarships to the decedents of USC Nisei.