Japanese Internment Camps During Ww2 Essay

Japanese-American Internment was the relocation of many Japanese-American and Japanese descendents into camps known as “War Relocation Camps” during World War II (specifically after the attack on Pearl Harbor). In 1942, the United States government relocated and interned approximately 120,000 Japanese-American citizens and people of Japanese descent into relocation camps. This internment lasted for about four years, and was backed by the government as well as the president. The last relocation camp was closed in January 1946, five months after World War II officially ended.

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

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.

While World War II had been ongoing since 1939, Japan had been fighting for the Axis powers, against the United States. In 1941, when Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States government had assumed the viewpoint that the Japanese were not to be trusted, and that the Japanese-American citizens of the United States were much the same. As such, they had resorted to establishing internment camps, or preventive labor prisons, so as to keep them in check and ostensibly to prevent further Japanese sabotage. However, the government’s actions were not fully justified, as several factors had interplayed into the circumstances that directly contradicted the intentions and visible results of the internment of the Japanese-Americans, in the social, political, economical, and cultural aspects. On the whole, the internment camps served as drastic measures which were not wholly without reasoning; contrarily, those factors in support of the internment camps did not override those which had gone against it, since the United States’ own legislation, in the form of the Constitution and other laws, had explicitly prevented the depriving of human rights, privileges, and pursuits, which had doubtless applied in light of the Japanese-Americans’ universal citizenship along the Pacific Coast in the early 1940s. As such, while the internment camps were not completely unjustified and without purpose from the viewpoint of the government, they did not align with standards of law and

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.

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.

Humanity has seen great horrors throughout the course of history, one them being the Holocaust during World War II. As we look down upon the Germans of that time, the U.S. had their very own holocaust. President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order #9066 on February 19, 1942, which allowed the relocation of tens and thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps, stripping them of their rights; the reason being that these U.S. citizens were of Japanese descent. There are other possible reasons Japanese were sent to these camps, such as being secure after the attack on Pearl Harbor; however, social and racial attitudes was most significant because Japan attacked, and there was a war going on, so what chances are there that more Japanese won’t follow, whereas the other two were formed from that discrimination and racism.

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

     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

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

World War II was a war that the United States tried hard to stay out of, acting as the democratic nation they sought to be. But after the U.S. started fighting, and as the war escalated, the nation started using a not-so-democratic tactic that ultimately put down and targeted one specific group of people. The tactic of nationwide internment based on a certain ethnicity or race has never been used again since. Although it can be argued that Japanese Internment was necessary in the U.S. because it was a case of national security, the real truth to the matter is that it was an act of racial prejudice.

Japanese-Americans were forced to evacuate from coastal areas following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A massive amount of Americans who were not of Japanese descent believed that the Japanese community could not be trusted, so the government felt that it was necessary to remove them from their homes and place them in camps located away from militarized coastal regions. This was a controversial decision at the time and still receives criticism today for going against typical American constitutional values centering around citizen’s unalienable rights. Through the research of many letters written during Japanese internment or reflecting on the event, it seems that Japanese-Americans of that time period had mixed feelings about being relocated and the majority of the community was upset that they were viewed and treated differently than other Americans but did acknowledge that the overall treatment they received at camp was fair. Japanese Internment camps were psychologically damaging to Japanese-Americans due to the racist nature of selective forced evacuation, and the Japanese community was more upset about being removed from their homes than how they were treated at camp.

The Japanese-American Internment was a necessary choice, made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It helped to make our nation secure during times of extreme emergency and it also helped the US government to keep their enemy under watch. “The story of how Japanese American soldiers from the war’s most highly decorated US military unit came to be there is just one part of a remarkable saga. It is also a story of one of the darkest periods in American history, one filled with hardship, sacrifice, courage, injustice, and finally, redemption. It began more than a hundred years ago” (Sandler, 2013, p. 6). At the turn of the 21st century began the immigration of the Japanese to America for various reasons, but all with one thing in mind: freedom. “We talked about America; we dreamt about America. We all had one wish – to be in America” (Sandler, 2013, p. 6). The decision by these many people was a grueling and tough decision, but they knew it would benefit them in the long run. “…like their European counterparts, they were willing to risk everything to begin life anew in what was regarded as a golden land of opportunity” (Sandler, 2013, p. 6). When they came to America, they were employed and were able to begin their new lives for the first part of it.

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”.

Like all issues involving race or war, the question of whether or not it was legal and ethical to make Japanese Americans move to relocation camps in early WWII is a difficult and controversial problem. The internment of around 50,000 Japanese citizens and approximately 70,000 Japanese-American people born in the U.S. living in the American West Coast has become known as a tragedy and mistake. The government even set up numerous projects to apologize to the American citizens who were wronged (Bosworth). Still, at the time that the decision to relocate was made, the actions were constitutionally legal and seen by many as necessary. The actions were not based on racist feelings. It was, however,