Japanese Internment Research Paper

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

The decision to imprison Japanese Americans was a popular one in 1942. It was supported not only by the government, but it was also called for by the press and the people. In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, Japan was the enemy. Many Americans believed that people of Japanese Ancestry were potential spies and saboteurs, intent on helping their mother country to win World War II. “The Japanese race is an enemy race,” General John DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command wrote in February 1942. “And while many second and third generation Japanese born in the United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are

Was the internment of Japanese Americans a compulsory act of justice or was it an unwarranted, redundant act of tyranny which breached upon the rights of Japanese Americans? During World War II thousands of Japanese Americans were told by government officials that they had twenty-four hours to pack their things, get rid of any belongings of theirs, and to sell their businesses away for less than retail value. Although many people thought the Japanese American internment was needed to ensure U.S. security during the war against Japan, these relocation centers were unnecessary violations of Japanese Americans’ rights. These concentration camps are unconstitutional because they infringed upon the Japanese Americans’ first, seventh, and eighth

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

February 21, 1942, Executive Order 9066 was put in order. It clearly states that the military “as deemed necessary or desirable” to remove or relocate any or all persons in the entire West Coast. The majority of the Japanese-Americans live on the West Coast. The United States need all the protection she can have, to prevent “espionage and sabotage”. Instead of not

Despite the papers supposedly claiming Japanese American sabotage, the internment of US citizens of Japanese descent following the bombing of Pearl Harbor was not justified, resulting into violation of the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth amendments.

Americans were afraid that Japanese would sabotage the U.S in any way. Like if Japanese were in society it could be easier to sabotage the U.S. So they decided that it was safer to put Japanese in camps and try to avoid attacks (Japanese Relocation Video). Americans were also afraid that Japanese would attack by espionage, and be able to get the U.S easier than with bombs (Japanese Relocation Video). “ I recommended to the War Department that the military security of the Pacific Coast required the establishment of broad civil control, anti-sabotage and counter-espionage measures” (L.T DeWitt 1). The meaning of this quote was to state that the military had to make sure that there were no anti-sabotage or counter-espionage, so it was just easier to put the Japanese in camps. It was to hard to make sure that there were no possible Axis agents since there were ⅓ “alien” and ⅔

Eric Muller 's American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II tackles a dark episode of American history: the internment of Japanese Americans in the early 1940s. Muller examines the tragically flawed reasoning of the American government and makes the unpleasantly valid point that, even as we denounce today the previous actions of our government, we have failed to abolish the sentiments that led to such oppressive and misguided acts.

In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066 to allow the internment of more than one hundred thousands people of Japanese heritage living on the west coast of the United States. In the midst of World War II, F.D.R. instituted this order following popular opinion and poor advice from his cabinet. This dismal decision was made in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as Anti-Japanese paranoia was increasing. This terrible event left a scar on the rather spotless-at least to the public eye- profile of the United States. There were many factors that led to this rather severe course of action. Unfortunately, history has the tendency to repeat itself and the current political climate predicts such harsh precautions to be reproduced. Internment has a chance to reappear once more considering the current political climate especially around Muslims and Terrorism against the U.S.

The Japanese were not liked by Americans, even long before the Pearl Harbor incident. Americans who lived in California had a stronger feeling of aversion towards the Japanese since they “...had found

During the Imperialist Japan’s bombing of pearl harbor, struct fear for Americans and created a misconception that Asian, main centralizing on the Japanese, are worried that one might be a double agent or a traitor. The American government initiated a temporary legislation to arrest people from Japan for the the safety of the greater good for the United States of America. Victims who are prosecuted and arrested to undergo in a highly surveilled internment camps start to question their social title and what it really meant to be a citizen in the United States of America. They devoted and took oath of the American flag in order to become a citizen of the United States, but the loyalty and their trust to their country ended up stabbing them in the back. Frustrated and livid Japanese Americans protested and fought against these unlawful act of illegally captivating Japanese People without an unreasonable doubt that they are traitors to the country. The act that the United States took upon themselves without any second thought to the interned the Japanese is immoral and unjust. Fred Korematsu, fought the legislation and took up to the supreme court in hope to free his people. Korematsu taught and believed that “in school they taught us that all people are equal in this country, regardless of race and religion. I’m an American interning people just because of their race is simply wrong” (Chandler37). Fred Korematsu protest and resistance again the federal government and they legislation against the Japanese community incriminates and entire race due to a terrorized act of another company doesn't mean it is just to label the entire

On December 1944, President Theodore Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which would soon send Japanese to internment camps around the states. The attack on Pearl Harbor made the sentiment against Japanese flare up to where farmers and other citizens complained to the government about “safety issues” with Japanese that were still loyal to Japan, and that led to the Executive Order being signed. This executive order allowed the United States government to copy the cruelties of Nazi concentration camps. The Japanese were taken from their homes and jobs and got placed in camps where they were asked not to do anything that they did not permit.

The Japanese Americans move America to be free, acquire a job and a chance to start a new life. However, after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, The US believes Japanese-Americans were disloyal and were helping the enemy. Because of this, many Japanese-American were sent to internment camps. This was better than the concentration camps that Hitler formed for the Jews, but it still was harsh. The camps is not a place you want to live in. It was often too cold in the winter and too hot in summer. This shows us we accused the Japanese Americans because

Over one hundred and ten thousand Japanese individuals were forced into exile in the United States, when Executive Order 9066 was signed. With that, their basic civil liberties were stripped from them. However, in spite of these immense difficulties within the internment camps, the durability and conviction of the human spirit are evident in the former internee Kazuko Itoi and those who had surrounded her. A variety of issues that these people faced ranged from inadequate housing and food, to the inability to keep certain items such as, books written in Japanese which were considered contraband. The Japanese had dealt with living in captivity by means of focusing on religion, creating activities like, calisthenics, and in general attempting to bring a sense of normalcy. For example, building furniture or obtaining jobs like working as a stenographer or hospital help. At their services, their minister Everett Thompson had helped the internees “build the foundation for a new outlook” (Sone, 186), one that was defined by the understanding that their outlook on life had been characterized by bitterness and hostility.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, government officials feared that the Japanese Americans would support the Japanese war effort. Unfortunately, in 1942, over 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were forced to live in internment camps for nearly four years of constrained imprisonment. The head of the family and young men were obligated to honestly fill out a form of allegiance, Statement of United States Citizenship of Japanese American ancestry, with primary focus on questions twenty-seven and twenty-eight in which the individual must state if they are willing to serve in the United States Army and to blindly follow and defend America from any foreign attacks especially if another attack from the Japanese should occur.