Year’s prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor; the United States Government was intercepting and decoding secret messages from the Japanese Islands and the Japanese Government. During that time the relationship with the Japanese Government and the rest of the world, especially the United States, was extremely tenuous. To avoid a war, which had began to loom in the waters of the Pacific, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, a territory of the United States, Great Britain, the United States and other countries of the world called for all trade to the Japanese Islands be halted and assets to be frozen, which ultimately caused a near collapse of the Japanese economy. In the early Fall of 1941 the U.S. Government, knowing a possible war approached, secretly requested that those Japanese immigrants and the large population of Japanese- Americans (those born in the United States) be questioned as to their loyalty. “The President of the United States ordered a special intelligence finding investigation to be conducted” (Armor and Wright, 13-14). According to our reading of Shea, the President of the United States used his prerogative power to appoint a Representative of the State Department to conduct such an investigation (Shea, 259). “ The investigator provided a report to the President, which later became know as “The Munson Report”, which certified a remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty among this generally suspect ethnic group” (Weglyn, 34). Due to this investigation and the information provided it indicated the Japanese were loyal and they were not a problem or threat, however with the concealment of this document pro-internment hysteria ran ramped throughout the West Coast and the remainder of the country. “Proclamati... ... middle of paper ... ...Concentration Camps USA: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Print. Gesensway, Deborah and Mindy Roseman. Beyond Words, Images from America’s Concentration Camps. New York: Cornell University Press, 1987. Print. Grodzins, Morton. Americans Betrayed: Politics and the Japanese Evacuation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. Print Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki and James Houston. Farwell to Manzanar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1973. Print. Myer, Dillon S. Uprooted Americans: The Japanese Americans and the War Relocation Authority During World War II. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1970. Print Shea, Daniel M. Living Democracy. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. Print Weglyn, Michi. Years of Infamy The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1976. Print.
Shields, Jacqueline. "Concentration Camps: The Sonderkommando ." 2014. Jewish Virtual Library. 20 March 2014 .
The racial conflict with Japanese-Americans began when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a military naval base located in the state of Hawaii. “Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes, and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships” (“Attack” 1). The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on the Empire of Japan. The fear that resulted from the attack on Pearl Harbor caused many white Americans to hate the Japanese-Americans. Many Japanese were accused of being spies and were arrested without proof. “Rabid anti-Japanese American racism surfaced the first days after Pearl Harbor. The FBI and the military had been compiling lists of "potentially dangerous" Japanese Americans since 1932, but most were merely teachers, businessmen or journalists” (Thistlethwaite 1). In February of 1942, all of the Japanese on the West Coast of the United States were sent to internment camps.
This caused the Japanese to become a scapegoat of America’s fear and anger. The Issei and Nisei who once moved to this country to find new opportunities and jobs were now stripped of their homes and businesses and were forced to live in poor living conditions (DISCovering). Although many Americans believed that Japanese American internment was justified because it was used to protect us from attacks by Japanese Americans, it was very unlikely that they were ever going to attack us in the first place. For example, in Dr. Seuss’ political cartoon, many Japanese Americans are lined up to get TNT and waiting for a signal from Japan to attack (Seuss).
Marsh, James H. "Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. .
December 7, 1941 was a military accomplishment for Japan. Japanese Bomber planes had flown over the island of Hawaii and bombed the American naval base Pearl Harbor. After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, many Americans believed that the Japanese Americans, were disloyal and were sabotaging the United States Government. There were rumors that most Japanese Americans exchanged military information and had hidden connections with Japanese military. None of these claims were ever proven to be true but believed by many at the time. The United States Government became concerned about National Security and demanded action. On Thursday, February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066, which called for an evacuation of Japanese Americans on the west coast with the excuse of a “military necessity.” The government’s enforcement of Executive Order 9066 in reaction to the public resulted in the creation of internment camps.
John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."
In 1945 Japanese-American citizens with undisrupted loyalty were allowed to return to the West Coast, but not until 1946 was the last camp closed. The government of the U.S. tried to blame the evacuations on the war, saying they were protecting the Japanese by moving them. The government made statements during this time that contradicted each other. For example, Japanese-Americans were being called “enemy aliens” but then they were encouraged by the government to be loyal Americans and enlist in the armed forces, move voluntarily, put up no fight and not question the forced relocation efforts (Conn, 1990). Stetson Conn (1990) wrote “For several decades the Japanese population had been the target of hostility and restrictive action.”
21 . Robinson, Greg By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans,2003, Harvard University Press
World War II was a time of heightened tension. The entire world watched as fascism and dictatorships battled against democracy and freedom in the European theater. The United States looked on, wishing to remain neutral and distant from the war. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, officially drawing the U.S. into the war. Thousands of young sailors died in the attack and several U.S. Navy vessels were sunk. The attack marked the beginning of the United States’ involvement in World War II as well as the beginning of the persecution of Japanese Americans in the U.S. Hysteria and outrage increased across the country and largely contributed to the authority’s decision to act against the Japanese. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to place anyone of Japanese lineage in restri...
Vardon, Ken. "Read the Chilling Proposition from Teper Et." AMERICAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. APFN, 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 May 2014.
It was no secret that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, countless Americans were frightened on what will happen next. The attack transpiring during WW2 only added to the hysteria of American citizens. According to the article “Betrayed by America” it expressed,”After the bombing many members of the public and media began calling for anyone of Japanese ancestry။citizens or not။to be removed from the West Coast.”(7) The corroboration supports the reason why America interned Japanese-Americans because it talks about Americans wanting to remove Japanese-Americans from the West Coast due to Japan bombing America. Japan bombing America led to Americans grow fear and hysteria. Fear due to the recent attack caused internment because Americans were afraid of what people with Japanese ancestry could do. In order to cease the hysteria, America turned to internment. American logic tells us that by getting the Japanese-Americans interned, many
World War II was a grave event in the twentieth century that affected millions. Two main concepts World War II is remembered for are the concentration camps and the marches. These marches and camps were deadly to many yet powerful to others. However, to most citizens near camps or marches, they were insignificant and often ignored. In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak introduces marches and camps similar to Dachau to demonstrate how citizens of nearby communities were oblivious to the suffering in those camps during the Holocaust.
Thousands of people were sent to concentration camps during World War Two, including Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel. Many who were sent to the concentration camps did not survive but those who did tried to either forgot the horrific events that took place or went on to tell their personal experiences to the rest of the world. Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi wrote memoirs on their time spent in the camps of Auschwitz; these memoirs are called ‘Night’ and ‘Survival in Auschwitz’. These memoirs contain similarities of what it was like for a Jew to be in a concentration camp but also portray differences in how each endured the daily atrocities of that around them. Similarities between Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi’s memoirs can be seen in the proceedings that
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. “Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan.” Taking Sides: Clashing View in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras & James SoRelle. 15th ed. New York, NY. 2012. 289-298.
One historical event that shows the general attitude of anti-Japanese feeling that was so prevalent in the 1940 to 1955 time period is an article from the Tuesday, March 24, 1942 edition of the New York Times. The article is written in Manazar, California, the same place where the Japanese people of the novel were sent. The article's title "Japanese Begin Evacuation Trek" is a show of prejudice itself ("Japanese" 21). The fact that the wholly unconstitutional relocation of not only aliens but American citizens is called a "evacuation" is laughable. This event was the forced relocation of people who reminded some other people of the tragic events of Pearl Harbor. To do this nowadays would be like gathering up all Arab-Americans ...