Reagan opposed redress over cost and prior-payment adequacy arguments

Evidence

One week before the House vote, the Reagan administration released a “Statement of Administration Policy” that declared unequivocally that his “administration opposes H.R. 442, and the President’s senior advisers will recommend that the President veto the bill, should it be presented to him.” Several reasons were given; chief among them was the belief that the 1948 Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act was in reality a “comprehensive and reasonable program of restitution for injuries brought upon persons of Japanese ancestry who were interned.” The administration also objected to the projected cost “in excess of $1 billion.” It concluded that no “further payments…[were] warranted.” And yet the commission’s report documented how inadequate the payments under the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act had been. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 219

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reagan could not repeal the redress commission and instead enlarged it — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 194; A prominent Japanese American adviser urged Reagan to veto redress. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 225