Eric Muller 's American Inquisition : The Hunt For Japanese American Disloyalty Essay

The U.S. internment of people of Japanese descent during the 1940s was a major event in U.S. history, but it is often overlooked by many. It affected hundreds of thousands of people of Japanese descent, whether they were citizens or not. The incarceration of those placed in camps was affected mentally and it caused many of the internees to develop PTSD or otherwise commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder (Potts, 1994, p. 1). The camps affected how the Japanese were viewed in society during the time period of the camps and following the liberation of them. It also changed how the Japanese viewed society. This paper will focus on the cultural and social aspects of the Internal Improvements.

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

Roger Daniels’ book Prisoners without Trial is another book that describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This piece discusses about the background that led up to the internment, the internment itself, and what happened afterwards. The internment and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was an injustice prompted by political and racial motivations. The author’s purpose of this volume is to discuss the story in light of the redress and reparation legislation enacted in 1988. Even though Daniels gives first hand accounts of the internment of Japanese Americans in his book, the author is lacking adequate citations and provocative quotations. It’s

War can be loud and visible or quiet and remote. It affects the individual and entire societies, the soldier, and the civilian. Both U.S. prisoners of war in Japan and Japanese-American citizens in the United States during WWII undergo efforts to make them “invisible.” Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken hero, Louie Zamperini, like so many other POWs, is imprisoned, beaten, and denied basic human rights in POW camps throughout Japan. Miné Okubo, a U.S. citizen by birth, is removed from society and interned in a “protective custody” camp for Japanese-American citizens. She is one of the many Japanese-Americans who were interned for the duration of the war. Louie Zamperini, as a POW in Japan, and Miné Okubo, as a Japanese-American Internee both experience efforts to make them “invisible” through dehumanization and isolation in the camps of WWII, and both resist these efforts.

On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II (Prange et al., 1981: p.174). On February 19, 1942, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War and Military Commanders to prescribe areas of land as excludable military zones (Roosevelt, 1942). Effectively, this order sanctioned the identification, deportation, and internment of innocent Japanese Americans in War Relocation Camps across the western half of the United States. During the spring and summer of 1942, it is estimated that almost 120,000 Japanese Americans were relocated from their homes along the West Coast and in Hawaii and

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”.

On September 1st, 1939 Germany invades Poland as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory, this was single handedly the event that led to World War II. December 7th, 1941 the Japanese navy bombed Pearl Harbor due to the fact that they did not like the fact that America had claimed Hawaii to be a part of the United States. This event led to that US using Japanese Internment Camps because they were afraid of an invasion of the west by the Japanese and were afraid that Japanese immigrants would provide aid to such an invasion. On February 19th, 1942 exactly ten weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive order 9066. This order authorized the removal of any and all people from military areas. The entire West Coast became defined as a military area. This area was home to as vast majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship.

In World War II, 75 years ago devastation occurred to our country. This was the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the start of a war that will forever change our country. After chaos calmed down in the community our government decided to create Internment Camps. These camps were made for the removal of all Japanese descent people in the United States of America. Some people think that this was justice being served. That our own citizens were also traitors, who would betray us at any time. But others, say that this was wrongful, that this wasn’t justice, but pure cruelty. This essay will explain, why these dreadful camps were indeed wrong. Not only because it brought innocent people out of their homes, but because they were treated like America wasn’t their home, because of the internment camps, innocent families and children thought that they couldn’t do anything to stop the things that was happening around them. The war.

Imagine putting yourself in a scenario where extreme racial discrimination was in action and you were being taken into an internment camp, whether you were pleaded guilty or not. This was reality for the majority of Japanese American during the time of world war two. In the memoir Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes the injustice committed against the 110,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry who were interred by America during World War 2.

The Japanese-American internment did not have a logical reason for its doing. “There is no Japanese “problem” on the coast,” (Munson, 3). Munson states there is no problem on the West Coast with the Japanese. As a “rebuttal”, Lt. Gen. DeWitt states in a government report that ”it is better to have had this protection and not to have needed it than to have needed it and not to have had it,” (DeWitt, 1). DeWitt proposes the argument that America did it out of fear of another attack by the Japanese. However,

Japanese Americans during World War II were displaced from their homes and placed in concentration camps (Takaki, 147). “In the War, we are now engaged in racial affinities are not severed by immigrations” (Takaki, 148). Furthermore, Japanese Americans were not citizens due to the exclusion of Asian people

December 7, 1941 Roosevelt said, “A date that will live in infamy.” Japan entered World War II in 1940 alongside the Axis which included Germany and Italy. Hideki Tojo then came to power a year later. The Government saw the Dutch East Indies rich in oil as well as other Asian territories. However the only threat to stopping the Japanese from conquering them was the U.S. Navy. In order for this to happen Japan bombed the Huge Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.The surprise attack killed 2,400 Americans and damaged warships and planes. Congress quickly took action and declared war on Japan. On December 11 Japan’s allies declared war on the United States. Roosevelt signed Executive order 9066 on February 19, 1942. Executive order 9066 forced all the Japanese on the West Coast into internment camps without a trial, (American History 807-811). The internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII was not justified because it was done because of their race, it violated their individual rights, and it did not help the war effort.

“It became routine for me to line up three times a day to eat lousy food in a noisy mess hall. It became normal for me to go with my father to bathe in a mass shower. Being in a prison, a barbed-wire prison camp, became my normality” (Takei). This except from George Takei’s personal account of living in internment, displays the grimness of internment. Just as thousands of other Japanese-Americans, he and his family were forced from their home during World War II, sent to Internment prison, and stripped of their American rights. Many actions and ideas led to the unjust internment and betrayal of over 110,000 Japanese-Americans.

Imagine yourself time traveling back to 1942, it wasn’t the best of times for the United States. The Japanese had recently bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7th 1941. Panic had spread throughout the country with one common fear; Japanese Americans. The government and Americans worried that the Japanese Americans would side with Japan and turn on the United States and it’s citizens. Due to the fear of their ancestry, Japanese Americans were sent to interment camps, where they could be watched.

On February 19, 1942, after Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, a two paged document that was simply designed to give the Secretary of War the power to establish military control over specific areas from which Japanese people could be evacuated as he saw fit. Executive Order 9066 gave lee-way to the exclusion and removal of any person of Japanese ancestry out of the West Coast and into internment camps. This order was put into action by a series of “Civilian Exclusion Orders” which informed people of Japanese ancestry that they were required to pack up, leave their homes and businesses and report to various designated locations. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir, “Farewell to Manzanar,” is a firsthand account that captures what life was like for her and her family before, during and after internment. In this essay, I intend to discuss how Jeanne’s memoir can be analyzed using the Marxist theory.