Was Japanese American Internment Justified

On December 7, 1941, nearly twenty American ships and over 300 airplanes were destroyed, and about 2,500 men were tragically killed in addition to the 1,000 that were wounded. This was the outcome of over 350 Japanese fighter planes who bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. On December 8 following the attack, Congress approved President Roosevelt’s declaration of war against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and America had officially entered the Second World War. Following the assault, Americans soon grew fearful that Japanese-Americans already living in the United States would help Japan with future surprise attacks. Consequently, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed

To begin, the internment of Japanese-Americans was justified because it was the patriotic duty of Japanese citizens to make their sacrifice for the war effort. After the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Americans were afraid that their Japanese neighbors would help Japan by carrying out future surprise attacks. The federal government and the citizens were eager to join the war after the attack and they all wanted to do their part to support America’s involvement. As a result, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was pressured by the military and government to take action. On January 16, 1942, Representative Leland Ford of California was one of the first officials in Congress that argued for the internment of all Japanese civilians in an effort to prevent espionage. In his statement, he explained that if Japanese citizens were truly patriotic, than they would humbly place themselves in these camps as a contribution to protecting the safety and welfare of the nation since “[...] millions of other native born citizens are

Back in the 1940’s, there was a lot of the anti-Japanese sentiment primarily found on the West Coast where the majority of Japanese-Americans lived. Subsequently, when the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the fear of another attack, this time one within the nation, skyrocketed. As a result of the fear, Executive Order 9066 was signed. Many Japanese-Americans were resentful of the Executive Order, such as Fred Korematsu. Korematsu was a Japanese-American who lived in California. Because he refused to go to the internment camps, he was arrested and later jailed. Fred Korematsu took his case to the Supreme Court where he fought on the grounds of his individual rights and challenged Executive Order 9066. The Supreme Court ruled that the Executive Order was, in fact, constitutional. The ruling declared, “To cast this case into outlines of racial prejudice, without reference to the real military dangers which were presented, merely confuses the issue. Korematsu was not excluded from the Military Area because of hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because [the United States of America was] at war with the Japanese Empire” (Document C). The Supreme Court recognized that because anti-Japanese sentiment was common, people though that the internment was a result of this racial prejudice. In their ruling, the Supreme Court acknowledged that