During the early stages of World War II (1939-1945), the Japanese Empire attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor; this atrocity that the Japanese committed caused an increase in distrust and resentment towards the Japanese who lived within the United States. Such agitation leads to the creation of internment camps where the United States government placed individuals of Japanese descent for the remainder of the war as a preemptive method to isolate and contain the Japanese—limiting the possibility of another attack on American soil. Through these internment camps, the United States government was able to question and determine the loyalty of the Japanese as a method of identifying non-loyalist amongst the internment camp …show more content…
Throughout these interrogations, opinionative questions were asked, such as: views on the Pearl Harbor attack and if there would be any resistance in recruiting and drafting their children, for instance, Papa’s children, to help the United States and effort to stop Japan (QUOTE). These interrogations serve two purposes, apart from identifying one’s loyalty, it also served as, a method to dispose of those who did not align with the United States objective—stopping Japan. For Papa, throughout the interrogation process, Papa expressed neutrality on both sides—showing both equal remorse and pain for the acts each side has committed. However, although being primarily neutral, in regards to military recruitment via his children, Papa is highly against this. Justifying such statement on the grounds that: due to his consistent neutrality in relation to the war, if Papa were to agree with his children being drafted, it aids the U.S. military and simultaneously surrendering his loyalty to the United States. Therefore, although Papa showed negativity in response to military drafting, the United States determined that Papa is no threat to the United States, and has no allegiances to the Japanese Empire—allowing for him to be released.
Although to the United States Papa is no longer deemed as a threat and is released, this
Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, racial tensions increased in the United States, especially on the West Coast (Divine 898). The anti-Japanese sentiment led to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which gave military officials the power to limit the civil rights of Japanese Americans (Danzer 802). The order also authorized the forced relocation of all Japanese Americans to concentration camps (Divine 898). These camps were located in desolate deserts and flatlands in the interior of the United States (Sato 67). Two thirds of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forced to relocate were “Nisei”, or native born American citizens (Divine 898).
The Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The following day the United States declared war on Japan. Automatically the American spirit and propaganda began to change. Starting in 1942, Japanese internment camps opened in mid-western America to imprison people of Japanese descent. The United States had declared Japan and the Japanese race as the enemy. The States were forced to do this to form better moral and get
After the attack at Pearl Harbor the U.S. declared the West Coast a military zone. This led to the evacuation of Japanese and Japanese Americans from the West coast. Thousands of Japanese nationals cooperated, waiting to be transported by the military to their new home or the “camps”. There are three sources “Camp Harmony by Monica Sone” This is an autobiography about a Japanese American child going to an internment camp. The next one is “The Japanese-American Internment camps” The author is giving us information about the subject. Lastly, “War Relocation Work Corps” lastly it was a letter to America by M.S. Eisenhower he was testing the loyalty of Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Each source gives us information about Japanese internment
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the
World War II was a very influential time for the minorities in America. Army soldiers, industrial workers, rangers, paratroopers, marines, sailors, nurses, pilots, and civilians contributed to the war effort made up not only by white men but included women, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, Native-Americans, and African-Americans. This not only disproved that minorities were inferior; it had a huge impact on racial segregation and stereotypes. World War II was not only waged in the Pacific and European territories, it was also being tackled by the home front where war industry and industrial labor was needed to supply our armed forces. In a time when women were still not equal to men and definitely not accepted into the Army, women could perform delicate jobs and fill in for other industrial jobs while the men were off in other countries.
Despite the fact that an attack on the US mainland would have been extremely difficult with being so far away and not very technologically advanced, “public opinion in 1942 thought otherwise” (Document 14). This is even confirmed by Attorney General Biddle, who in 1942 stated that “The present military situation does not at this time require the removal of American citizens of the Japanese race” (Document 6), and shows the deep rooted racism in the reasoning for removal. Despite the facts, the public panic caused by the media caused Japanese internment to become “military necessity”, causing a lack in their loyalty to the United States (Takaki). The assumption of disloyalty played a large role in the Japanese internment, even though the Japanese that were in Hawaii, closest to the attack, were actually extremely helpful and essential to the rebuilding of Hawaii after the attack (Fraser). The claim for “military necessity” is undermined with the fact that the Attorney General Biddle opposed the relocation for the very fact that it wasn’t actually necessary (Takaki). Since “there (was) no evidence of planned sabotage”, then the relocation of Japanese during the 1940s was unnecessary and unjust, without any facts to back it up with besides racism, the main root of the
After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that propelled the U.S. into World War II, paranoia causes President Roosevelt to sign an executive order forcing all people of Japanese ancestry; including those born in the U.S. to be moved to concentration camps. Even in the towns where the camps were located, stores would post signs saying “No Japs Allowed”.
Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often
December 7th, 1941 was a day when tragedy struck. Forever known as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, The Hawaiian Naval Base was attacked by a fleet of Japanese bombers while the surprised members of the base scrambled trying to fight back. This is widely suggested to be the beginning of the resentment and fear of the Japanese population. World War II was in full swing and the internment of Japanese-American citizens began. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president at the time, did not know how to approach this fear. The idea Roosevelt and the government came up with was to simply detain all citizens or immigrants of Japanese descent into internment camps to prevent another tragedy such as Pearl Harbor. There was much criticism against the
While the attack on Pearl Harbor was a devastating time in United States history and the attack being conducted by the Japanese government, it didn’t not justify Japanese Americans being put into internment camps. The fear of a Japanese attack on mainland United States soil prompted the United States government to create these internment camps. Such fear lead to innocent Japanese Americans to live in a way that could be considered inhuman. Of the hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans in the internment camps half of them were children. The conditions of the camps where no way of life and Japanese Americans were forced to live in an undignified life that
Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorized “Executive order 9066”. Which made More than 110,000 Japanese in the U.S to relocate to internment camps for reason of “national security”. The United States feared that they’re could have been Japanese spies inside America so the government relocated most Japanese immigrants to camps. It was one of the saddest moments in America that the government of America took actions on innocent people just because their heritage. America’s internment camps are similar yet different to Hitler’s concentrations camps.
After the attack on the Pearl Harbor in 1941, a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy air service, United States was thrilled and it provoked World War II. Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President FDR ordered all Japanese-Americans regardless of their loyalty or citizenship, to evacuate the West Coast. This resulted over 127,000 people of Japanese descent relocate across the country in the Japanese Internment camps. Many of them were American Citizens but their crime was being of Japanese ancestry. They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs and in some cases family members were separated and put into different internment camps. There were ten internment camps were placed in “California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas”(History.com). However, until the camps were fully build, the Japanese people were held in temporary centers. In addition, almost two-thirds of the interns were Japanese Americans born in the United States and It made no difference that many of them had never even been to Japan. Also, Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to leave their homes and relocate in the internment camps. Japanese families in internment camps dined together, children were expected to attend school, and adults had the option of working for earning $5 per day. The United States government hoped that the internment camps could make it self-sufficient by farming to produce food.
The decision to imprison Japanese Americans was a popular one in 1942. It was supported not only by the government, but it was also called for by the press and the people. In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, Japan was the enemy. Many Americans believed that people of Japanese Ancestry were potential spies and saboteurs, intent on helping their mother country to win World War II. “The Japanese race is an enemy race,” General John DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command wrote in February 1942. “And while many second and third generation Japanese born in the United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are
Japanese internment camps from 1942 to 1946 were an exemplification of discrimination, many Japanese Americans were no longer accepted in their communities after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were perceived as traitors and faced humiliation due to anti-Japanese sentiment causing them to be forced to endure several hardships such as leaving behind their properties to go an imprisoned state, facing inadequate housing conditions, and encountering destitute institutions. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 (Why I Love a Country that Once Betrayed Me). This led president Roosevelt to sign the executive order 9066, which authorized the army to remove any individual that seemed as a potential threat to the nation (“Executive Order 9066”) This order allowed the military to exclude “‘any or all persons from designated areas, including the California coast.”’ (Fremon 31). Many Japanese opposed to leave the Pacific Coast on their own free will (Fremon 24) . Japanese Americans would not be accepted in other areas if they moved either.Idaho’s governor stated, Japanese would be welcomed “only if they were in concentration camps under guard”(Fremon 35). The camps were located in Arizona, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and California where thousands of Japanese Americans eventually relocated. (“Japanese Americans at Manzanar”) The internment lasted for 3 years and the last camp did not close until 1946. (Lessons Learned: Japanese Internment During WW2)
After the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, life in the U.S. had changed. It was the first time in a long time that America was attacked on its homeland. This national security threat was a big shock to the people. The Japanese had to suffer the consequences of their attack. Just as the Germans developed concentration camps for the Jewish during World War II, the Americans set up "relocation" programs better known as internment camps to keep all the Japanese. The reason the Japanese were moved into these camps was because they were suspected of being spies. They were forced to live there for up to four years and were not able to continue with their own lives as they were before while they were living in these camps.