[6 pp.20-25]
             The Army commander on the Pacific coast, Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt was acting not only as commanding general of the Fourth Army and Western Defense Command, but also as commander of the Western Theater of Operations. He was then firmly opposed to an evacuation of citizens. During a telephone conversation between Maj. Gen. Allen W. Gullion, the War Department¹s Provost Marshal General, and Gen. DeWitt on December 26,1941, Gen. Gullion remarked that he had just been visited by a representative of the Los Angeles Chamber of commerce, who asked for a roundup of all Japanese in the L.A. area. [8 pp.66]
             In any event, all planning for mass evacuation of either aliens or citizens from strategic areas was deferred pending new arrangements that were in the making with the Department of Justice for more effective control of enemy aliens. While these arrang-
             ements were being worked out; the Provost marshal Gen. proposed that responsibility for the alien program be transferred from the Justice to the War Department in all theaters of operations. He amended his proposal so that, in the U.S. it would apply only to the Western Defense Command. DeWitt opposed the transfer until it became evident that the Department of Justice through the FBI couldn¹t control the situation on the west coast. [5 pp.123]
             Gen. DeWitt also thought that civil control of the evacuation was better than military control of it. Gen. Gullion therefore decided to hold up his proposal until there was better evidence of its necessity. What Gen. DeWitt wanted at this time was the insurance of clear instructions of FBI agents on the west coast that would enable them to take more positive steps to prevent sabotage and espionage. At his urging Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had conferred with the Attorney General Francis Biddle, which speeded up the implementation of the Presidental proclamations of December 7th and 8th. In late December the Department...