MANZANAR Historic Resource Study/Special History Study

ADMINISTRATION

Following establishment of the WCCA, R. L. Nicholson, then regional director of the Works Projects Administration for the eleven western states, was appointed in mid-March as its Chief, Assembly Center Branch of the Temporary Settlement Operations Division. As the operations of the Works Projects Administration, a large-scale national works program that had been established during the Depression for jobless employables, were being phased out as a result of the emerging war economy, large numbers of its field staff were available for other employment. As a result, Nicholson. who took a temporary leave of absence from the WPA to aid the evacuation program, facilitated the "transfer" of many former WPA personnel, who had considerable experience in federal fiscal, procurement, and administrative policy and procedures, to provide administrative staff for the assembly centers. The responsibility for assembly center operations, however, remained with DeWitt whose "administrative directions were carried into effect through" Colonel Bendetsen, the WCCA director, from the agency's headquarters in the Whitcomb Hotel in San Francisco. [11]

The "executive" organizational structure (A copy of an "Assembly Center Organization" chart may be seen on the following page) in the assembly centers included a manager and assistant manager under whom were an internal relations officer, public relations officer, center cashier, and executive assistant. There were four operating divisions: service, works, finance, and mess/lodging. Caucasian staff were a class apart: their quarters were generally located in a separate, guarded section outside the barbed-wire center enclosure. Even where the staff quarters were not rigidly separated from the rest of the center, they were noticeably better built and furnished than those of the evacuees. Fraternization with the Japanese was forbidden by written rule. [12]

U.S. postal service facilities were operated in the assembly centers by regular, bonded postal employees assigned by postal authorities. They were authorized to carry on normal postal services, such as selling stamps and money orders and handling parcel post packages. They were also authorized to sell war bonds. Evacuees sorted and delivered incoming and outgoing mail. Although such mail was not censored, parcel post packages were inspected for contraband "in the presence of the addressee." Banking facilities were provided in all assembly centers, although banking by mail was encouraged through the assistance of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [13]

The U.S. Public Health Service was responsible for the immediate direction of center infirmaries, hospitals, and outpatient services. Evacuee doctors and nurses were recruited to staff the medical facilities. An evacuee physician in each center was designated as chief medical officer and dealt directly with the management. [14]

Soon after the selection of the assembly center sites, the WCCA issued an Operation Manual to provide administrative guidance for the centers' operation. Periodically updated, the manual, according to DeWitt, "covered all aspects of operations, and prescribed the rules to be observed by evacuees in the interests of public health, morals and order." Regulations were posted for the "information and guidance of those affected. [15]

ASSEMBLY CENTER ORGANIZATION

Figure 6: Assembly Center Organization U.S. War Department, Final Report, p. 223.
(click on the above image for an enlargement in a new window)