This investigation aims to assess the extent to which Japanese-American internment from 1942 to 1946 was a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which declares that, “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The question must be asked in order to examine the legality of the actions taken by the U.S. government in opposition to American citizens of Japanese extraction (Nisei) and their immigrant parents (Issei). To determine this, the scope of this investigation will concentrate on the reasons for internment and the conditions in which the Japanese people lived during 1942 and 1946, particularly in a camp called Manzanar. One method applied is to explore an oral history interview
Oscar Deolarte Social Studies:3, English:2 2/22/16 Relocation Camps Unjustified On December 7, 1942 the Japanese attacked an American naval base on Hawaii called Pearl Harbor. This surprise attack on the Pacific fleet left the West Coast open to a potential attack which could have no retaliation due to the decimated fleet numbers. The U.S government then issued Executive Order 9066, which required the relocation of the Japanese and anyone of Japanese descent living in the U.S. That leads us to the controversy surrounding the evacuation. Was the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II justified?
As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese.
There was profound racism against the American Japanese both from the society and some government policies. White farmers in the West Coast were highly prejudicial against their Japanese counterparts and the attack on Pearl Harbor offered them an opportunity to condemn and take away the farms owned by people of Japanese descent. Such groups instigated and fully supported the internment camps to enable them reach their objectives.(Trowbridge, 2016) After receiving contradictory advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942 authoritatively mandating the Relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to what would become known as Internment Camps in the interior of the United States. Evacuation orders were posted in JAPANESE-AMERICAN communities giving instructions on how to comply with the executive order.
Akiko Kurose, who was 16 and attending a Seattle high school at the time, described when, after the Pearl Harbor attack, “one of the teachers said, ‘You people bombed Pearl Harbor’”, referencing Akiko’s Japanese heritage (Document 1). If, indeed, this was the general feeling of all non-Japanese Americans, than it is easy to see how amassed public hatred could lead to the internment of the hated. The government was even aware of the minimal threat posed by the interned—The Munson Report, delivered to President Roosevelt by his Special Representative of the States Department, Charles Munson, has such a statement as follows, “There is no Japanese ‘problem’ on the Coast. There will be no armed uprising of Japanese” (Document 4). And Mary Tsukamoto, who was an American of Japanese heritage, was forced in 1942 to an internment camp with her husband and child, leaving their strawberry farm behind, described her shock, “We couldn't believe that they would need all of us to quit our work to produce our fruit, food for victory... and then be put away”(Document 3).
Jayna Marie Lorenzo May 23, 2023 Historiography Paper Professor Kevin Murphy Historiography Final: Japanese Internment “A date which will live in infamy,” announced President Roosevelt during a press conference after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Due to the military threat by the Japanese on the West Coast, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering for the incarceration of all people of Japanese descent. The Order forced about 120,000 Japanese Americans into relocation centers across the United States where they remained in captivity until the war ended.
From 1941 to 1946 Japanese- Americans were incarcerated and kept in internment camps strictly because of their race. Document E is a passage taken from a newspaper that promotes civil rights. The newspaper tells its readers that, “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps,” (Document E). Japanese- Americans were being incarcerated and it was mainly because of the prejudice against their race. Racism was a contributing factor in the decisions that surrounded the incarceration, therefore, Japanese- American internment was unjustified.
The Japanese Internment Camps were United States controlled concentration camps during WWII for the accused Japanese-Americans, urged on by the paranoia citizens and ended by the Nisei’s loyalty. The establishment began by the relocation order, also known as Executive Order 9066. All of the American citizens of Japanese descent were relocated in a short period of time and endured the conditions of the war camps. An intern based army on the Allied side and two major court cases made the US reconsidered the Executive Order and shut down the internment camps. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December, the citizens of America were terrified and blamed the Japanese-Americans.
The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.
Imagine having to leave your home to be forced to go to a prison like place. This is what the American citizens with Japanese descent had to go through during World War II (WWII). 110,000 Japanese-Americans from the west coast were forced to go to an internment camp which was completely unnessaccary and racist. The United States(US) was worried that there were Japanese spies after the attack on Pearl Harbor and wanted to be more safe than sorry. Some of the reasons I believe that it was awful because it was racist, unnecessary, and paranoia.
Just shortly after the Pearl Harbor, an order was issued that became the foundation for the large remotion and interment of those of Japanese ancestry in American whether citizen or not. With internment being defined as detaining a person or group, many were forced to leave farms and homes, close businesses, and so forth. Although some had the opportunity to return to Japan, others moved outside the exclusion zones, but some had to endure the hardships of those internment camps. In addition, the media took it upon themselves to depicted the Japanese as being the enemy during this time especially in sketches, books (This is the Enemy), and in cartoons. The whole intent was to change Americans minds and how they overall felt about the Japanese period.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 which forced somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese-Americans, 70% of which were born in America, to be taken away from their homes and thrown into camps. These camps were originally called “relocation centers” as to make them sound more appealing. This order was one of many stepping stones that lead to American citizens viewing Japanese citizens as spies and criminals. People like Lt. Gen. John DeWitt wrote to FDR saying “The Japanese race is an enemy race,”(Medoff 2014). Internment camps were made to detain and hold people captive, so during World War II the American government put Japanese-Americans in these internment camps, fearing they might be loyal to Japan.
Imagine being stripped of your life’s business, your home and all of your personal belongings, just because you are of Japanese descent. To some, this might sound unrealistic, but to Japanese Americans this was a real life horror of 1942. The evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans into internment camps has been a long since fight for justice due to the violation of civil liberties and basic human rights of the American people, and how people's lives were personally affected. After the Bombing of pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, Japan had become America's biggest threat.
Japanese Americans were interned during WWII due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, racism, and as an attempt to protect America’s military secrets. It is gathered that the bombing of Pearl Harbor stunned the Americans. They never thought they could be hit. This lead to racism in the states, which is what the article mainly mentions.
During World War II, over a 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced from their homes to live in hastily put together internment camps. These internment camps were unsanitary and inhumane. In an excerpt from “Remarks on Signing the Bill Providing Restitution for the Wartime Internment of Japanese American Civilians”, paragraph 1 states, “More than 40 years ago, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in makeshift internment camps. This action was taken without trial, without jury. It was based solely on race, for these 120,000 were Americans of Japanese descent.”
