Japanese Internment Camps Ten weeks after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin

Shortly after the first bombs were dropped on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the American people’s fear of the Japanese grew dramatically, especially for those Japanese living in America. Almost every Japanese American was seen as a threat to the country. On February 19th, 1942, Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizing the relocation of Japanese Americans to camps further inland. Over 175,000 Japanese Americans were affected in some way by the order, even though more than 70,000 of them were born in the United States and were American citizens. The common perspective of the American people was shown through their use of the expression “A Jap’s a Jap,” virtually destroying the thought that any

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)

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).

Living in a camp with people only of your race, having to live in a by force and not being able to connect with the outside world. This was life for the Japanese Americans living on the west coast. The internment camps were set up for the Japanese because of the attack on pearl harbor. The government was worried about Japanese people being spies or terrorist undercover. The Government decided to move all Japanese Americans away from the west coast, so there would be no actual threat. The Japanese Americans were all put in internment camps and provided with all the necessities for living such as food and water. The internment of Japanese Americans was an action that was unjustified many of the Japanese Americans were not an actual

     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

“On February 19th, 1942 President Roosevelt signed into effect Executive Order 9066: an authorization for military authorities to exclude any and all persons from designated areas of the country as necessary for national defense (Jones, Par. 11).” This was the first strike in a round of racial exclusion that violated the Japanese's rights, abolished their faith in the American government, and interned them in a camp for up to four years. The Japanese internment camps were unethical and completely barbaric because they violated the Japanese's rights as individuals and as citizens of the United States, it was a violation of the justice system as well, they had no evidence to prove any of the Japanese were plotting against the United States,

During World War Two the lives of thousands of Japanese Americans were destroyed. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed executive order 9066. Executive order 9066 ordered the removal of everyone in military areas. The order affected mostly the Japanese Americans because it sent them to internment camps. I do not believe President Roosevelt was justified in signing executive order 9066.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 allowing the military to exclude “any and all persons” from designated areas of the country as needed for national defense. These “any and all persons” were Japanese Americans, 2/3 citizens and 1/3 aliens, and the designated area was the West Coast of the United States. The Executive Order to place the Japanese living in the United States into internment camps was deemed necessary due to the recent attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, by Japan.

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.

December 7th 1941. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 353 Japanese air force bombers attacked the closet american naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed over 19 aircraft ships, 188 attack airplanes and killing over 2,000 americans resulting in one of the greatest and deadliest sneak attack on american soil ever.

-Fear of Japanese attack on U.S. soil quickly arise, with possibility of American of Japanese descent aiding with this attack.

The Japanese internment of WWII was one of the biggest cases of racial prejudice America has ever committed. During a time when Italian and German Americans were a much bigger threat to our nation's security, we deliberately alienated Japanese citizens in our society. Not only did we restrict the freedoms of American born citizens for three years, but we have also caused long term, irreparable damage to the Japanese people, and their society. While internment may have decreased the odds of Japanese spies in our military and mob violence it is no excuse for the atrocity we put our own citizens through. American citizens, who are granted the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happyness, were robbed of these very rights our country was founded on. Internment camps were often in the middle of nowhere, and in very disatifactory condition for all residing in them. After internment many people, since they could not pay their mortgage loans, lost their homes and life savings causing widespread poverty. These and many other factors are why internment during WWII was unjust and motivated by racial prejudice, not national security.

In the year 1942, two months after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was seen obligated to issue order 9066. Political leaders and press commenters insisted on removing Japanese and Japanese Americans because, according to them, they were a threat to this nation. Executive order 9066 allowed US Military to move people of Japanese descent, or anyone that posed a threat, into “relocation camps”. Military officials managed to relocate 110,000 Japanese, including citizens, into these camps. The internment camps were kept open, up until the year 1946.

Freedom is guaranteed to all American citizens regardless of race or descent. This belief was carried by all Japanese Americans before the news of their immediate relocation to internment camps. Japanese faith in American freedom began in the 1880s when many Japanese immigrants planned come to the United States to find work, raise money, and return to their homeland of Japan. Once they arrived, many never returned home and lived on the West Coast of the United States successfully farming, fishing, and running their own businesses. Japanese immigrants were called Issei, and second-generation Japanese Americans were called Nisei. When Japanese and American tensions rose before the start of WWII, some government officials viewed the Japanese on the West Coast as a threat to the United States security. The government created lists to sort Japanese Americans depending on their risk and disloyalty. On December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, high-risk Japanese Americans were immediately questioned and kept in government camps. Months later Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to Executive Order 9066, which allowed the military to move or hold anyone living on the West Coast of the United States. Shortly after all Americans of Japanese descent, regardless of risk, were ordered to live in government internment facilities. In charge of the relocation was the War Relocation Board, which conducted the interment in two stages: short-term centers relatively