U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The act apologizes on behalf of the people of the U.S. for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The Act also authorizes $1.2 billion for payments of $20,000 to each of the roughly 60,000 internees still alive and for the establishment of a $50 million foundation to promote the cultural and historical concerns of Japanese Americans. The act also includes the Aleut Restitution Act, formally apologizing for forcibly evacuating Aleutian Islanders after a series of Japanese attacks in World War and interning the evacuees in southeastern Alaska, where many of them died. The U.S. also pays compensation of $12,000 to each of the few hundred survivors.
