In February 1942, three years after the commencement of the Second World War and a mere two months after Japan forces attacked Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was President of the United States at the time, issued “Executive order 9066” (Foner 692). As per the directives of the document, the President authorized Henry Stimson, the United States Secretary of War at the time, to move West Coast individuals of Japanese descent to relocation camps. Accordingly, the military relocated an estimated eleven thousand Japanese Americans into internment camps in which they were to remain until 1946 (Foner 692). Throughout the four years, detained persons asserted their loyalties to the United States by providing aid where necessary, in particular through information. To that end, while this paper argues that the attack on Pearl Harbor created the foundations on which the federal government interned persons of Japanese descent, it also examines racial tensions and the nature of the internment camps before the eventual release of the people.
Now, the internment of the Japanese-Americans warranted questions on the eligibility of such a move by the federal government. Apparently, as one would expect during a period of war, tensions were high, and any outsider became a suspect of espionage. A perfect illustration of the given claims is evident in the case of Korematsu v. United States where the Supreme Court ruled Executive order 9066 as constitutional just because it sought to protect the American citizens (Ng 84-86). In other words, the individual rights of the Japanese residing on American soil were not the concern of the government.
Foremost, to understand the origins of the apparent disregard with which the American government dealt the Japanese American community between 1942 and 1946, there is a need to consider the relations between the United States and Japan before the latter’s attack. According to Frances Cogan’s Captured, Japan was already at odds with not only the United States but also most of the European nations for its antics in controlling regional trade (110-111). In other words, by the first quarter of the twentieth century, Japan was already on par with the other super powers as it affirmed its position in the global economy. Still, the primary source of tension was Japan’s closing off of the markets in Asia and the hostility with which its army handled the Chinese in the first years of World War II (Cogan 51). In answer, the United States increased military aid to China and restricted the sales of iron, steel, and oil to Japan; naturally, both moves crippled Japan while it was in the middle of the mentioned battles and forced its troops to invade other Asian countries for resources. Subsequently, Japan launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941.
Now, the problems were not strictly nation-based. On the contrary, racial divisions already existed between Asian immigrants residing in the United States: they had been palpable since the nineteenth century. Furthermore, in 1907, the Gentleman’s Agreement between the United States and Japan encompassed the former country requesting the latter not to issue passports for America-bound Japanese immigrants (Ng 10). Anti-Japanese sentiments were solely responsible for the Gentleman’s Agreement and as though to highlight the deep-rooted resentment between the two factions, segregated schools existed for Japanese-American students. In Eric Foner’s views, such conditions were not only expected but also inevitable as white supremacy ideologies governed the social, political, and economic spheres of the United States (693). In other words, Caucasians demanded the best of everything and left anything else considered demeaning to the minority groups. For instance, African Americans and the Asian groups performed menial tasks in the factories while whites occupied managerial positions and other well-paying occupations across all industries (Ng 70). The problem was the discriminatory tendencies did not deter the Japanese Americans. In fact, they propelled them to invest in farms and other personal ventures that went on to secure their place as among the most prominent entrepreneurs in twentieth-century the United States of America. Obviously, when the notions of internment came in the wake of Pearl Harbor, white supremacists were for the idea as it was a solution to the dilemma that was an influx of Japanese immigrants who took over resources that were otherwise the rightful properties of true Americans. After all, the Japanese were too different, and assimilation would have proven impossible just because their cultures and religions did not concur with those of the United States (Ng 12). Government-imposed restrictions were a perfect solution.
After Pearl Harbor, leaders and other prominent individuals within the Japanese American communities became subject to scrutiny and suspicion of connections with the government of Japan. First, the United States Treasury proceeded with the freezing of bank accounts belonging to customers of Japanese origin; although, they were to face legal charges later (Cogan 137). Curfews were next as Japanese-Americans faced unplanned home searches and possible arrest lest they forgot to carry identity cards when leaving their homes (Ng 79). Concurrently, military forces instructed Japanese Americans pack what they were able to take and sell the rest of their possessions at ridiculously low prices: the aim was to lighten the loads, not to enrich espionage suspects. The mentioned steps preceded what Wendy Ng refers to as “voluntary relocation” of the Japanese American populace (22). Under Roosevelt’s Executive order 9066, the unfortunate men, women, and children were to go to unknown locations that would become the internment camps. Notably, Japanese internment took place in all areas in which the United States had influence, including both Canada and some nations in Latin America.
Living in the internment camps, as one would expect, sharply contrasted the lives to which most of the Japanese Americans were accustomed. For example, in a picture depicting the camp at “Manzanar from Guard Tower”, it is possible to see that the people resided in houses that closely resembled barracks with desert patches surrounding the structures (Library of Congress). Barbed wire surrounded the compounds with armed guards standing on all sides. Notably, social buildings gave evidence of hasty construction as the structure materials mainly entailed iron sheets for the walls and the roofs, as opposed to the use of bricks for the same. As a result, the Japanese Americans lived in constant danger of desert animals, such as snakes, finding their way into the makeshift homes and the sand did not make things easier as high winds could easily blow the bothersome grains into the houses (Cogan 218). The government’s apparent disregard for the American-Japanese population went so far as to deny their numbers the necessary medical supplies and access to good hospital care. Of course, the federal government had hoped the camps would become self-reliant and not need any of the taxpayers’ money for sustenance; the funds proved more necessary in the deployment of troops to fight in the ongoing war. Extensively, chances of separation were also high as none of the Japanese Americans could choose an internment camp. It was all a matter of luck as the process was also a method of separation families (Cogan 302).
With the ongoing war, American government officials were beginning to question the need for the continued Japanese internment. On one hand, the detained individuals proved incapable of caring for themselves within the confines of the camps, and the amount of money required for the same was significantly high. On the other, American citizens were still anxious about possible rebellious actions, especially so as they reckoned the Japanese Americans were a bitter lot. The federal government devised methods of screening the internees to discern the loyal persons from those who would pose a possible danger to the nation. Thus, tt was not until 1946 that the government closed the final camp and throughout, none of the released individuals could return to the States at the West Coast (Ng 89). In other words, there was no way that the people could retrieve the possessions lost during the internment process, and there are high chances the government was just protecting the interests of the whites while issuing the order on where the Japanese Americans could reside.
In conclusion, the Japanese American Citizens’ League, in 1978, sought to secure educational funds, twenty-five thousand dollars, and a government-issued apology from the American government for every survivor of the internment process (Ng 135-136). A 1980 Commission under the presidency of Jimmy Carter echoed similar demands with the only difference being the reduction of the sum of money to twenty thousand dollars. It was not until the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that the reparations finally made their way to the Japanese Americans who at one time interned in deplorable camps (Ng 113).
Works Cited
Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar." Manzanar from Guard Tower, View West (The Sierra Nevada in Background), Manzanar Relocation Center, California. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 05 May 2016. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppprs.00200/?co=manz>.
Cogan, Frances B. Captured: The Japanese Internment of American Civilians in the Philippines, 1941-1945. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2012. Print.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th. Vol. II. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
Ng, Wendy L. Japanese American Internment During World War II: A History and Reference Guide. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. Print.
