At the close of the war most Japanese Americans were eager to forget their ordeal in the camps and set themselves to the task of rebuilding their lives. Naturalization laws were loosened at the close of the war and in 1952 many of the Issei that were interned were allowed to apply for citizenship, which most did. The Japanese American community then settled into the task of rebuilding their neighborhoods as lawabiding citizens. The episode was widely forgotten over the next decades and no mention was made of it in history books.

In 1980, at the behest of the JACL, Congress created the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to review the circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066. The Commission's report, entitled Personal Justice Denied, concluded that the actions taken against Japanese Americans by the military and President Roosevelt were not justified. Moreover, the report stated:

The broad historical causes...