World War II and Japanese-American Internment

The Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 and the Start of Internment

When the U.S. joined the allies in World War II after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, xenophobia against Asians turned from the Chinese and focused on the Japanese. In this case, Japanese-Americans were also targeted. The attack on Pearl Harbor launched a fear about national security. In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. This order is what led to the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans and immigrants. The order authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders the ability to evacuate anyone that was considered a threat into internment camps. These camps were then called by the U.S. Government “relocation centers.”

Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.

merriam-webster

Before World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would identify German, Italian, and Japanese immigrants who were suspected of being potential enemy agents, according to the U.S. National Archives. These immigrants were kept under surveillance. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the government’s suspicion arose not only around immigrants that came from enemy nations, but even those of Japanese descent. This included Japanese-Americans born on U.S. soil. Representatives of the Department of Justice would raise logistical, constitutional, and ethical objections during congressional committee hearings. The task ended up being turned over to the U.S. Army as a security matter. The U.S. West Coast became a military area and was thus divided into military zones. Executive order 9066 allowed military commanders to exclude civilians from military-based areas. The order did not include ethnicity-based language, but that did not stop Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt from announcing curfews for Japanese Americans. By March 29, 1942, DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 4, which forced the evacuation and detention of West Coast residents of Japanese-American ancestry on a 48-hour notice. This was only a few days after Congress had passed Public Law 503 on March 21, 1942. This law made any violation of Executive Order 9066 a misdemeanor punishable up to one year in prison and included a $5,000 fine. This “public danger” claim by the government targeted all of those of Japanese descent from the Pacific coast. If they were unable to make arrangements for the care of their property within a few days, “…their homes, farms, businesses, and most of their private belongings were lost forever” (U.S. National Archives).

“In the internment camps, four or five families, with their sparse collections of clothing and possessions, shared tar-papered army-style barracks. Most lived in these conditions for nearly three years or more until the end of the war. Gradually some insulation was added to the barracks and lightweight partitions were added to make them a little more comfortable and somewhat private. Life took on some familiar routines of socializing and school. However, eating in common facilities, using shared restrooms, and having limited opportunities for work interrupted other social and cultural patterns. Persons who resisted were sent to a special camp at Tule Lake, California, where dissidents were housed.”

U.S. National archives

The End of the Internment Camps

Internment camps were slowly evacuated as the war began to end. Some people of Japanese ancestry returned to their hometowns. Others sought different surroundings and moved to other states. For example, Japanese Americans from Fresno went to Manzanar and only 80% returned to their hometown (U.S. National Archives). The internment of Japanese U.S. citizens during World War II sparked not only constitutional debates, but political debates as well. Three Japanese-American citizens challenged the constitutionality of the relocation and curfew orders through legal action while they were kept in these facilities. These people were Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Mitsuye Endo (U. S. National Archives). Mitsuye Endo was the only one of the three that was determined to be “loyal” to the U.S. and was allowed to leave the Topaz, Utah facility. After Congress passed the Public Law 100-383 in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed and publicly acknowledged the injustice of internment and apologized for it. The U.S. government provided a $20,000 cash payment to each individual that was interned.

Voices of Famous Japanese-Americans that were Detained in the Incarceration Camps

Two well-known Japanese-American actors, George Takei and Pat Morita, were forced into the Japanese internment camps with their families when they were children. According to George Takei, of Star Trek fame, “I remembered some people who lived across the street from our home as we were being taken away. When I was a teenager, I had many after-dinner conversations with my father about our internment. He told me that after we were taken away, they came to our house and took everything. We were literally stripped clean” (Biography). Pat Morita, of Happy Days and The Karate Kid fame, stated in an interview with Biography, “Uncle Sam and we Americans like to use euphemistic words or invent words if we think certain other words are too harsh, so they called them ‘relocation centers,’ but they were America’s version of concentration camps.”

Continue Reading: The Resurgence of Nativism and the Codification of Detention in Law

Last edited April 23, 2021.