Feb. 8, 1942: FBI agents lead local law enforcement in the continuing raids on Japanese communities.  “Trunks and storerooms were ransacked, suspicious areas of newly turned earth were dug into and all buildings were carefully investigated,” The Times said. After a night’s work the raiders had seized 18 people, 17 of whom were turned over to immigration. Oh yes, they found a .38 revolver and what they called “war propaganda.”

Kyle Palmer, Richard Nixon’s future cheerleader in chief, looks at reluctance in Washington to calls for removing all Japanese.

“Reasons for the failure of the federal government to make prompt provision for the removal from Pacific Coast defense areas of American-born as well as alien Japanese are based on a feeling here that the citizenship rights of the native-born outweigh the menace to national security which their presence presents.”

I didn’t think it was possible for me to lose any more respect for Kyle Palmer — I figured I didn’t have any left. Whatever vaguely positive feeling  I had was gone.

John Gunther’s “Inside Latin American (nonfiction) and Mary Ellen Chase’s “Windswept” (fiction) lead the bestseller list.

Dwight Franklin, character designer for the studios, is featured in Philip K. Scheuer’s “Town Called Hollywood.” (Jimmie Fidler apparently has the day off).