(Thursday, February 19, 1976, 11:54-11:59 a.m. EST) — U.S. President Gerald Ford President Ford today formally revoked a World War II–era executive order that authorized the internment of Japanese Americans, calling the action a necessary step toward acknowledging a grave injustice in the nation’s history.

In a proclamation signed at the White House, Ford rescinded Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, which led to the arrest and relocation of more than 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, most of them U.S. citizens.

The new directive, Presidential Proclamation 4417, included an apology on behalf of the federal government and an expression of regret over the actions taken during the war.

“I call upon the American people to affirm with me,” Ford said, “that we have learned from the tragedy of that long ago experience — forever to treasure liberty and justice for each individual American and resolve that this kind of error shall never be made again.”

Video: 'Executive Order 9066'

Although the internment camps were closed more than three decades ago, the executive order that made them possible had never been formally rescinded.

Administration officials said the proclamation was intended to mark the anniversary of the original order and to underscore the administration’s view that the internment represented a violation of fundamental American principles.

Leaders of Japanese-American organizations praised the action as a long-overdue acknowledgment of wrongdoing, while noting that efforts to seek redress and compensation for former internees were continuing in Congress.

Ford said the proclamation was meant to serve as a reminder that fear and prejudice must never again be allowed to override constitutional rights in the United States.