Over one hundred thousand United States citizens were imprisoned and relocated during World War II because they were of Japanese ancestry. Because of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting declaration of war against Japan, many Americans worried that Americans of Japanese descent would act as spies, allowing another attack or, even worse, an invasion to occur on American soil. This fear and paranoia drove President Franklin D. Roosevelt into signing the Executive Order 9066 and Congress into issuing statues that allowed the relocation, exclusion, and limiting of rights for Japanese Americans throughout the duration of WWII. Questions over the legality of these acts would be brought up and decided upon in a series of court cases two of which were: Hirabayashi v. United States 1943 and Korematsu v. United States 1944. By looking at these court opinions we can learn the reasoning for certain rulings and how these rulings could show the fear and paranoia that ran rampant in American during the 1940s.
Court opinions follow a certain formula which needs to be understood first before someone could just jump into a case. First piece of information you will see on a court case opinion is the title of the case. It tells us which party brought the lawsuit to the court and which party is being sued. The next bit of information would be the history and facts of the case along with the laws and legal principles associated with it. This would be followed by the main ruling or the “majority opinion” of the court. Justices’ issue opinions of the court to explain what the case is about, discusses the legal principles that are relevant to the case, and then explain how those principles were applied to the facts of the case in order to reach ...
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...t to prevent other cases about the legality of Executive Order 9066 and the corresponding congressional statues from coming up again by stating that during times of war the United States has the authority to restrict rights of individuals in order to secure national defense.
What we cannot learn from these rulings and court cases was how these cases would affect the lives of the Japanese Americans after the war had ended. They can however tell us about the views of what was constitutional during that time period. It can give us an idea of what that time was like…
When the order was repealed, many found they could not return to their hometowns. Hostility against Japanese Americans remained high across the West Coast into the postwar years as many villages displayed signs demanding that the evacuees never return. As a result, the interns scattered across the country.
Fear is the typical human emotion. Some people live their lives full of satisfaction, hope, happiness, but no one escapes the struggle of fear and fears torture. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. He then signed the Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, and called for the removal and incarceration of all Japanese Americans. The way people were treated in Japanese Internment Camps and in the Salem Witch Trials are similar because of the conditions they were put through, persecution of numerous innocent people, and outbreak of hysteria. The way people were treated in Japanese Internment Camps and in Salem Witch Trials are similar because of the conditions they were put through, persecution of numerous
Okihiro, Gary Y. Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were regarded as a threat to the U.S. President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, also know as the Exclusion Order. This Order stated that any descendents or immigrants from enemy nations who might be a threat to U.S. security will report to assembly centers for Internment. There were no trials or hearings. They were forced to evacuate and many lost their homes and their businesses. Fred Korematsu refused to go. He was a U.S. citizen. Fred Korematsu was grabbed by police, handcuffed, and taken to jail. His crime -- defying President Franklin Roosevelt's order that American citizens of Japanese descent report to internment camps
I wish I could say that I would have been against the internment camps, but had I lived during that time frame, I probably would have agreed with society’s fear of Japanese-Americans. Currently working in an assisted living facility, I spoke with many of my residents about this subject. Although they are somewhat ashamed of their actions made by the government, they reminded me that they all had anxiety and concern about immanent invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army attacking the west coast of the United States.
During 1941 many Americans were on edge as they became increasingly more involved in WWII. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese decided to take matters to their own hands. They attacked the naval base Pearl Harbor and killed 68 Americans in order to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with their military. After this surprise attack, the Americans officially entered the war, which caused many people to become paranoid (Baughman). Many people feared the Japanese because they thought they were spies for Japan, and because of this the Executive Order 9066 was signed and issued by FDR which sent many Japanese Americans to live in internment camps (Roosevelt). 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
Anyone wishing to argue that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional must be prepared to explain the purpose of article I, section 8 of the Constitution (Carter). Article I, section 8 clearly states that Con...
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.
In 1942 Roosevelt signed the Executive order 9066 which forced all Japanese-Americans to evacuate the West Coast. They were forced out no matter their loyalty or their citizenship. These Japanese-Americans were sent to Internment camps which were located in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. There were ten camps all-together and 120,000 people filled them (2009). The immigrants were deprived of their traditional respect when their children who were American-born were indorsed authority positions within the camps. 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.
23 .Roger Daniel, Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in the World War II 1993, Hill and Yang.
Nevertheless, Japanese were resented and disliked by whites. Due to pressure from state leaders near the west coast, President Roosevelt, on February 19, 1942, signed Executive Order 9066. This resulted in the which resulted in the violent imprisonment of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry. When the government gave its internment order, whites rounded up, imprisoned, and exiled their Japanese neighbors. In 1942, 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States were relocated to ten internment camps. More than two thirds of those sent to internment camps, under the Executive Order, had never shown disloyalty and were also citizens of the United States. In April 1942, the War Relocation Authority was created to control the assembly centers, relocation centers, and internment camps, and oversee the relocation of Japanese-Americans. It took another forty years for the US government to recognize the violations of this population's constitutional rights.
That purpose is just as important today as it was in the days of Thomas Jefferson. The purpose is to allow the individual to defend his freedom.
Many, as I had said before, did not want to leave their homes willingly off the coast. Most claimed it was racist because the Germans and Italians were not moved because they were “white”. Harry Paxton Howard stated in his article Americans in Concentration Camps “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps. Anyway, there are no Italian-American or German-American citizens in such camps” as a way of spreading the truth that the government was being racist with their decision to put the Japanese-Americans in camps. The community did not approve the Japanese internment for tons of
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
...itizens would know the truth about what happened to the Japanese in America. Jeanne told people in an interview, that in her book “It tells a story about America. For the first time in the history of our country, all three branches of the government violated the constitution. They rounded up a group of people because of their race and because of the potential to be dangerous. They rounded them up and imprisoned them in these camps from one to three years, and no one knew about it. This was a great violation of democratic values of this country.’’
Throughout Americas history, there has been prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. The prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of African-Americans and Native Americans are well known and often portrayed in movies. The group that is less exposed in movies is the prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of Asians. Mine is about a minority group that has seen prejudice, discrimination, and segregation that is now recognized universally deplorable the Japanese American. The incarceration of the Japanese by the United States during World War II is now considered unjust. After “Executive Order 9066 the army moved 40,000 long-term immigrants, and 77,000 United States citizens of Japanese descent.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 212) Although, at that time “Most people thought internment of enemy aliens was a normal precaution in wartime situations.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 211) “The practice of internment of enemy aliens is normal practice in Canada, Australia, United States, and European countries.” (Miksch and...