Japanese-Americans During WWII

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

The 1940s, a time where Nisei, Japanese American born in the United States, was hard. After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, in 1941. On February 19, 1942, The president passed the executive order 9066 (Japanese Internment Timeline 6). This order was a forced law, and in this case it was forcing the Japanese Americans into concentration camps, bringing the United States into World War II (Japanese Internment Timeline 6). There was an argument on the West Coast during this time period that had opinions from each side. I believe it was not equitable for Japanese Americans to be taken out of the Pacific Coast and placed into the concentration camps, also referred to as internment, because there

After the raid on Pearl Harbor, there were still about 120,000 Japanese-Americans living in the United States. In order to prevent panic and hysteria against Japanese-Americans, President Roosevelt ordered that 110,000 Japanese pack their things and move to internment camps for the nation’s safety. After this, ordinary Americans turned their backs to their Japanese-American friends. There was a sudden prejudice and fear of these people, who in fact posed a minimal threat. According to Holt McDougal’s The Americans, “about two thirds were Nisei, or Japanese people born in this country of parents who emigrated from Japan” (McDougal). Nisei had American nationalities, many had never stepped foot on Japanese soil, but the American people believed that these true Americans were loyal to a nation they had never even laid eyes on, purely because their President had told them

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

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.

This investigation will explore the question: To what extent was the interment of the Japanese Americans during World War II based on racism? The first source to be evaluated is The Internment of Japanese Americans, which is a book with a collections of chapters, each with a different accredited authors. Often the authors are Pulitzer Prize winners while others are merely professors that have spent their time writing about the subject they teach about. Because of the many different authors used, each chapter is broken down into different viewpoints. The book provides a wide range of insight on the background of the Japanese American internment camps, the controversy over the internment camps and even personal narratives of people’s stories being taken to court. With each chapter a different viewpoint, the book allows a more omnipotent point of view in order to fully determine to what extent the interment of the Japanese Americans during World War II was based on racism.

Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often

After the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, United States officials believed that have Japanese- American citizens posed a security threat. Since there was a great deal of Japanese-American citizens living on the west coast, fear of attack within the nation spread like wildfire. As a result, these people were wrongly imprisoned in a similar fashion to Hitler's concentration camps. Although the camps were not as brutal, the prisoners were given only the necessities. To the families that were imprisoned, internment meant the false accusation of being a terrorist. It also meant that they would be stripped of their rights while detained, and also stripped of their dignity when eventually released. Eventually, the Supreme Court decided

Over 120,000 Japanese were held in internment camps between February 19, 1942, and March 20, 1946. Japanese internment was the result of the Pearl Harbor attack at 8:00 am on December 7, 1941. The Japanese soldiers attacked in fighter planes attempting to obliterate the American naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii, to weaken America’s naval forces so that the United States would not be able to retaliate. Japan was able to destroy 20 American naval vessels and 300 airplanes, but was not able to fully destroy the base in Honolulu. Shortly after the attack on the Pacific Fleet, President Roosevelt asked to declare war on Japan and Congress approved.

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.

     Another factor in the case is racism. Japanese-Americans were subjected to discrimination from the government even before the United States’ entrance into WWII. Five days before the executive order that allowed for removal of Japanese from the west coast, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt speculated the possibility of the Japanese-Americans acting against the U.S., saying that “the very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken” (RTAP, 119). This created a no-win situation for the Japanese-Americans because if they did not act against the U.S., it was still thought that inevitably would. Japanese were denied citizenship before the war, as well (RTAP, 121). Inside the camps, the loyalty questionnaires forced them to either renounce both their allegiance to

In the 1900’s many Japanese came to America in search of a better life. They found a home in Hawaii as well as the main land where they would take up jobs such as fishermen and railroad workers. Economically, they didn't fell very welcome in America, the white workers tried to push them out by making them uncomfortable in their jobs. Politics were also not on their side, laws prevented the Japanese from owning land or becoming naturalize citizens. Suddenly the Immigration Act of 1924 stopped all immigration to the U.S. The next generation, the Japanese Americans attended public schools along side Americans but were still facing discrimination. After Pearl Harbor they were treated even worse than before. Americans were confusing the Japanese

The clearest factor that caused internment was the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In a surprise attack aimed at preventing further American naval presence in the Pacific, native Japanese militants bombed the U.S. naval base stationed in Hawaii, causing thousands of casualties and the destruction of many ships/other military assets. This attack signaled the start of America’s involvement in World War 2, and provoked a fevered panic across the nation. Now faced with enormous political pressure, President Theodore Roosevelt signed what would become Executive Order 9066, 74 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor (Renteln, 2). Besides the obvious influence of the Pearl Harbor attack, a major justification for this internment act included the fact that some Japanese American community leaders had ties to their homeland’s involvement in World War 2, and their presence in the Pacific Northwest raised concern. More generally, at a time of such confusion and fear, immigrants associated with the country who had attacked America without warning were widely considered a potential danger to the public. The reasoning that this seizure of rights was simply a “military necessity” is the shallow answer that many government officials gave, and does not even begin to

Japanese were being interned was because the Americans didn’t want any risk of a spy in them that they didn’t know about. After Pearl harbor, the Americans wanted to test the American Japanese loyalty, and they were rude when they built their homes in the camps. Racism was a big problem in the U.S.

During War World 2, many Americans suspected that the remaining Japanese-Americans were loyal to their hereditary land and would create disorder and anarchy here in the the United States. There was a paranoia about the large Japanese presence in the United States. CONGRESS OR SOMETHING MADE AN ORDER. The United States began an order which included all people of Japanese ancestry so the government had separated them from their families and friends, and had made them live in the camps. . Japanese-Americans were subjected to racial discrimination, sent to concentration camps because of security risks,