Public Management of Big Data: Historical Lessons from the 1940s

Abstract

This article examines the use of Census Bureau data in 1942 to remove Japanese Americans to internment camps for the duration of World War II. Census data constituted the largest collection of data on Americans at that time. The article traces the extra-constitutional use of what we now refer to as "Big Data." It draws on newly located documents showing Bureau transfer of information on Japanese Americans to the Army. This episode raises questions on confidentiality of information the protection of data, especially in times of national emergency.

Keywords

• Big Data
• Census Bureau
• Japanese American internment
• Franklin Roosevelt
• Executive Order 9066