World War two is remembered as the Good War, but like most wars, mobilization of the patriotic public opinion is necessary . Advertisers came up with a series of mottos to help sell World War Two to the people: One of the major words being “freedom” . The war was supposed to protect Americans freedom, use honorable means, and bring freedom to foreign nations but that’s not exactly what it did. When people think of WW2 as the Good War, many memories of the war are being left out. World War Two was not a Good War in the least bit. The Good War was supposed to be a war that both acknowledged and protected American freedom, however this did not apply to all Americans. During World War 2 more than 100,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of …show more content…
The government forced the Japanese-Americans at the camps to swear to a loyalty oath program that swore alliance to the government and enlisted them in the war . Around 20,000 people joined the war from the camps, and about 200 men were sent to prison for refusing to swear to the loyalty oath and enlist in the army . One of the Japanese Americans who was forced to move to an internment camp was Gene J Takahashi . Him and his family were thrown into chaos after the Pearl Harbor attack, and given only a week to dispose of all of their material possessions . They were pushed and shoved onto a small packed train, where all the windows were boarded or covered up with blankets so they wouldn’t know where they were being taken . They ended up in an internment camp called Poston, in South Phoenix, Arizona . Gene and his family were assigned a living space in a small dimly lit room with hardly any furniture, and no running water. Gene compared the internment camps to a run-down town : having schools with no books or desks, and small dark churches . Gene and his family were there for three years until 1944 when they were given permission to leave the camp . It wasn’t until 1988, with only two survivors left, when Congress apologized for the internment camps, and provided $20,000 to the surviving victims . Japanese-Americans were sent to the internments camps without any court hearings, showing a primary example of how WW2 undermined the basic freedom of some of American
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.” (Senate Document No. 148) This speech would echo through history as the moment the United States officially entered the most costly five year period in all of human history. President Roosevelt continued stating multiple islands and American
In 1942 the evacuation of the Japanese Americans from the West Coast was mainly because the FDR believed that after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Americans were inherently disloyal to the United States. This caused the President to issue evacuation of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast War zones, and they were forced to live in the internment camps. This caused much loss for them, and caused the Japanese Americans to have to fight for their freedoms. It is important for us to understand the historical event of Japanese Internment Camps, because it helps us understand why equality of races is so important, along
War is a conflict that destroys countries, lives, and alliances. The occurrence of the Second World War was a lesson unlearned, it happened despite the fact that the First World War had caused so many casualties and hardships to countless countries and families. After WW2 had started, the United States of America decided to stay neutral based on how they were trying to get out of previous economic troubles from the Great Depression and the World War I. United States foreign policy allowed us to supply to the Allies while still remaining neutral, however, our oil embargos on the Japanese prompted their attack on Pearl Harbor. America’s outrage over this infamous event brought us into the Second World War with all our might and anger. America’s
When Pearl Harbor was hit they removed 5,000 Japanese-Americans from the U.S. army on December, 19412. They army took away Japanese-American rights as citizens, by not allowing them to be apart of the United States Army. The selective services renamed them “enemy aliens” and stopped the draft of Japanese-American citizens. Military officials denied Japanese-Americans citizenships. December 7th, 19412, FBI arrested selected Japanese-American nationals on the West coast, they never returned home. They never got to say goodbye to their family until after six years, when the war was over.
The American government evacuated approximately 120,000 Japanese Nationals, American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II, and placed them in internment camps at the beginning of World War II. Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and businesses, forced into relocation camps in the deserts of California, Arizona, into the mountains of Idaho, and small towns in the southern United States. These were Japanese American people of unquestionable loyalty to the United States. These were citizens denied the rights of normal citizens under the United States Constitution. Americans who had volunteered to fight in the war for the United States, and against the Japan. They wanted to fight for the United
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
Many regard World War II as the best war ever, but why? It seems the one fact that stands out in American minds is that the Allied Powers were fighting against people who were perceived as "evil”, such as Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito. Many disregard all the casualties and hardships and only think about the big picture: victory. Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dissipate all of the misconceptions of the Second World War. Americans came out of the war with a positive view of all the years of fighting. This myth was born from several factors, mainly due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood’s glamorization, and widespread economic
In preparation for vengeance on Japan’s attack that killed hundreds of people, the US needed more soldiers to list into the military. With hopes to prove their worth, Japanese Americans in the camps attempted to enlist in the military and voluntarily wanted to“put on the same uniform as that of [their] guards, leaving their families in imprisonment” (Takei, 10:12). As the brave men and women followed through with devotion, it was found that any Japanese American was not only listed as "non-alien" but an enemy of the United States. After years of hatred, those fighters were denied the right to serve the country that had done them wrong. On their legal records, they were also considered as "non citizen” and they were essentially listed as an
The attack on Pearl Harbor is a day that neither Americans nor Japanese Americans will ever forget. Hours after the attack, FBI Agents were sent into Japanese American homes to search for anything that could have aided the Japanese in attacking Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. Soon after, the Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps, the two most prominent camps being in Rohwer and Jerome, Arkansas. Through the years of the Japanese Internment in America, the Japanese Americans need to help their children through their mantra, the desire to show that they were Americans by signing up for World War II, and the bond that the citizens of the camp formed while running the camps kept the morale alive and showed that these people were prepared
War is often a time of bloody battles and numerous casualties; on both sides of the playing field. World War II was one of the bloodiest wars in history; it not only involved the mass genocide of a specific group of people, but it also brought on major changes in America. As a result of the war, many opportunities would open up for women in the work force. When the men were off fighting the war, there was a need for employees to take over the jobs that the men had to do. The emergence of women in the work field served as a catalyst for major events that would take place later on, like the Civil Rights Movement. The idea of “what it means to be a woman” in American society was put to the test, and throughout the war, women would have to constantly fight for their place in society; and the work force. The question arises, “was World War II a good war?” The previously stated question can be answered in a number of ways; race and ethnicity often had a hand in what jobs women could do, and social class also had an impact on what job position women had and how much money they would earn. To best answer the question, “was World War II a good war”; the different experiences of; African American, Japanese, and White women need to be analyzed in order to better understand whether World War II was a “good war”.
“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.”(Bowen). World War II was a start to a new beginning of what America has become from the impact of the war. Chaos across countries brought hope to America, in the sense that the people of America are coming together in a situation of multiple countries fighting. World War Two brought many positive impacts to the lives of women, the economy, and the lives of African Americans.
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
Shortly after the United States entered into war with Japan, the federal government initiated a policy whereby 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and herded into camps, 2/3 of these people were actually United States citizens. They were incarcerated without indictment, trial, or counsel - not because they had committed a crime, but simply because they resembled the enemy. These were similar to concentration camps that the Germans were using for the Jews, though no one was being killed and Japanese Americans were allowed to work within the camps. Not many Americans knew about the camps at that time, and some still don't know today. Like discussed in class, it was an embarrassing moment for this country. The book that was assigned in class, Desert Exile by Yoshiko Uchida, told the story of a family who lived through these horrible times. As we discussed in class
World War II was a horrible event that will be remembered as one of the darkest Points in human history. With estimates of deaths ranging from 60 to 80 million, it is unthinkable to imagine that this chaos was allowed to grow and erupt as it did. Many Americans in the United States, simply thought the madness in Europe would be contained to that continent. However, a new enemy brought the war to our shores.
The vast majority of Americans supported World War II (WWII) after Pearl Harbor was bombed, recognizing a fascist threat to Western democracy. WWII was a good war. It had the ability to unite America. They united against Nazism and fascism. But even a good War has its bad times. If you look behind what you think happened at what really happened in WWII it becomes clear that the U.S. has nothing to be proud about.