Japanese American Internment Camps Essay

After the devastating attack by the Japs in the Pearl Harbor located at Hawaii, it triggered the tension furthermore between Japan and United States. With this tension, United States believed that they had to apprehend the Japanese Americans, mainly because they wanted to protect their national security. As stated by Justice Hugo Black “because of “military dangers” and “military urgency”—fear that people of Japanese ancestry would carry out sabotage during a Japanese invasion of the West Coast”, this quote explains how United States were afraid of Japanese Americans espionage, and in order to prevent that they had to imprison the Japanese Americans. Furthermore, the president established the Executive Order 9066, in order to protect their

On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3

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

Immediately after the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan. In the days that followed, there were many presidential proclamations that declared strict restrictions on German, Italian, and Japanese residents in the U.S. In the months that followed, the restrictions for aliens from Japan continued to increase, while they were substantially relaxed for German and Italian aliens. This was most likely due to the false negotiations and the unexpected attack from Imperial Japan causing the government to become concerned with the loyalties of Japanese citizens. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government came to the conclusion that it was a very real possibility that Imperial Japan could attempt a full-scale invasion of the United States starting from the West Coast. General John L. DeWitt, commanding officer of the U.S. Army's Western Defense Command, pursued to remove all “enemy aliens” from the West Coast, due to being deemed the most susceptible area to be attacked. General Dewitt recommended the government’s evacuation of all Japanese from the coastal areas of California, Oregon, and Washington state. DeWitt's recommendations were accepted by both the Army and the civilian heads. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the Army to "designate military areas" from which "any persons may be excluded." The words "Japanese,” or "Japanese Americans" never appeared in the Order, but the order was primarily used with intent

“Herd ‘em up, pack ‘em off, and give ‘em the inside room in the badlands”(Hearst newspaper column). Many Americans were feeling this way toward people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The feelings Americans were enduring were motivated largely by wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership. The Japanese-Americans were being denied their constitutional rights, they were provided poor living conditions in these relocation camps, and by the time apologies and reparations were paid to the Japanese, it was too late.

Internment: the state of being confined as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons.

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

     For over a century, the United States has been one of the most powerful and influential states on the globe. However, every nation has made mistakes in its past. Throughout our country’s history, certain groups have had to endure horrible injustices: the enslavement of African-Americans, the removal of Native Americans, and discrimination against immigrants, women, homosexuals, and every other minority. During World War II, the government crossed the line between defending the nation and violating human rights, when it chose to relocate Japanese residents to internment camps. The actions taken by the U.S. government against Japanese Americans and Japanese living in the

Imagine what it would be like to be told at a moment’s notice that you must pack up and be relocated from your home all because of your ethnic background? It doesn’t seem possible that it happened, but it did. And it is still happening to specific ethnic groups. During World War Two and the bombing of Pearl Harbor the United States Government, President Roosevelt and many American citizens did not trust the Japanese. They needed to be in internment camps like the one at Newell California that is shown above. The Japanese people could be monitored and watched to prevent any underground activities. My husband and I live 55 miles from an old Japanese Internment Camp, called The Tulelake Relocation Center or the Tule Lake Segregation Center.

Japanese Internment Camps the closest the U.S. came to doing what the Nazi did to the Jews. Except they did to wipe out their kind and the U.S. did these Internment camps to secure the country and stop any violence from within the country caused by Japanese Americans because they were not to be trusted because at the time the U.S. was at war with Japan and some people thought that these Japanese Americans living in the U.S. would stay loyal to their motherland and bring riots from within the nation, making the nation vulnerable to any outside attacks. Japanese Internment Camps was not a “witch hunt”, it was necessary because the Americans feared nationalism and that Japan would stay loyal to the country we are fighting. The day was February 9th, 1942 when the first Japanese Americans were put into “check” and were brought into the Internment Camps.

In WWII the Germans killed over 6 million Jews while in the United States Japanese-Americans were put into camps but are they the same thing? Maybe but there is still more to know. The German Government put people that were Jewish or did not support the new government into Concentration camps and most died from being worked to death or being gassed. Meanwhile in the United States government officials were relocating Japanese-Americans because they were a “threat” to the government. Some people believe that the Concentration camps are the same thing.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor around 1941, the United States government took control over 110,000 Japanese Americans. In 1942 till 1946 the government relocated all those Japanese Americans to ten internment camps around Colorado, California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas. The camps were created to not let any information about the United States leak to the Empire of Japan and protected the Japanese Americans from the harsh cruel racisms that was happening. The condition in the Colorado relocation camps gave these people just the basic needs in life. Later on when some tension was gone the camps, became more of a community than confinement.

One may ask, why would someone move innocent US citizens, force them to live in terrible camps, and force them to leave their homes selling all their personal belongings. Well, the answer to that is, because rumors spread that Japanese-Americans were planning to sabotage the US after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Following the bombing every Japanese-American was viewed as if they had been the one who bombed Pearl Harbor. There was racial prejudice spread that was anti-japanese. Although many people thought the Japanese American relocation was needed to keep the United States security during the war against Japan, these relocation centers were violations of Japanese-Americans’ rights.

The Japanese-American placement in internment camps was wrong and unconstitutional. The Japanese-American people had been living in the United States without question until the uprise of racial prejudice brought on by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Japanese-Americans had been born in America and lived an American life, integrated into American schools, speaking with American accents, and enjoying American culture. But, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese were suddenly seen as threats that needed to be controlled. Without any consent, these Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps with poor conditions and treated as if they were ticking time bombs themselves.

In the 1940’s The Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, had a plan to annihilate an entire religion. He did this by taking Jewish people from their homes and taking them to concentration camps to kill them. This event is known as the Holocaust. Soon after the holocaust began to take full effect on December 7, 1941 The Japanese army Attacked Pearl Harbor. More than 2500 Americans died and over a 1000 wounded (Maranzani, 2011). Following The events of Pearl Harbor, Japan declared war on America. Soon after President Franklin d. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066.