Japanese Internment Camps And Its Impact On The United States

World War II brought many things to the United States: an end to the Great Depression, a strong sense of nationalism, and a large economic boom. However, it also brought the Japanese American Internment Camps, a dark piece of America’s history. Japanese American Internment Camps relocated many people of Japanese descent to enclosed camps. Immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, any and all Japanese Americans were viewed as suspicious and untrustworthy. Americans were paranoid during this time period, and would do anything to keep their country safe from foreign powers. The Japanese American Internment Camps left an impact on the United States and is an essential part of World War II history.
Background Information
Since Japanese

The majority of Europeans could hide their nationality and religion by disguising themselves as Americans. Asians could not disguise their distinctive facial features, and their customs differed greatly from the white Americans and Europeans. This put a target on them and created tension between the two groups. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacks the naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Tension rose rapidly and Americans became fearful of their Japanese American neighbors. Author Wendy Ng writes, “The government’s first reaction after Pearl Harbor was to ready the country for war by examining the ‘enemy alien problem.’” (Ng 14). The government is a direct reflection of the American population. During this time, the entire nation was fueled by paranoia and patriotism. The government’s actions reflected how caucasians viewed Japanese Americans and gives a motive for placing them in internment camps. Suspicions continued to grow and by 1942, Roosevelt was signing a bill to relocate “suspicious” characters to the internment

As aforementioned, the government reflects the views of the public, so passing this order made an impact on American morals and culture. It made being afraid of a specific ethnicity normal and it was expected. These internment camps displayed America’s fatal flaws. It showed the large scale racism and fear that a strong country should not be displaying. Japanese Internment Camps brought out the nation’s weaknesses right before this country would become very strong after the war. While racism and paranoia show the great importance of the camps, the people evacuated display the bigger impact the camps had on American