http://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp
51e. Japanese-American Internment
Many Americans worried that citizens of Japanese ancestry would act as spies or
saboteurs for the Japanese government. Fear — not evidence — drove the U.S. to
place over 127,000 Japanese-Americans in concentration camps for the duration of
WWII.
Over 127,000 United States citizens were imprisoned during World War II.
Their crime? Being of Japanese ancestry.
Despite the lack of any concrete evidence, Japanese Americans were
suspected of remaining loyal to their ancestral land.
PARANOIA
ANTI-JAPANESE
increased because of a large Japanese presence on the West
Coast. In the event of a Japanese invasion of the American mainland, Japanese Americans were feared as a security
risk.
Succumbing to bad advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942
ordering the
RELOCATION
of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
in the interior of the United
States.
Evacuation orders were posted in
JAPANESE-AMERICAN
communities giving instructions on how to comply with the
executive order. Many families sold their homes, their stores, and most of their assets. They could not be certain their
homes and livelihoods would still be there upon their return. Because of the mad rush to sell, properties and
inventories were often sold at a fraction of their true value.
After being forced from their communities, Japanese families made these
military style barracks their homes.
Until the camps were completed, many of the evacuees were held
in temporary centers, such as stables at local racetracks. Almost
two-thirds of the interns were
NISEI,
or Japanese Americans born
in the United States. It made no difference that many had never
even been to Japan. Even Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to leave their homes.
Ten camps were finally completed in remote areas of seven western states. Housing was spartan, consisting mainly of
tarpaper barracks. Families dined together at communal mess halls, and children were expected to attend school.
Adults had the option of working for a salary of $5 per day. The United States government hoped that the interns
could make the camps self-sufficient by farming to produce food. But cultivation on arid soil was quite a challenge.
Most of the ten relocation camps were built in arid and
semi-arid areas where life would have been harsh under
even ideal conditions.
Evacuees elected representatives to meet with
government officials to air grievances, often to
little avail. Recreational activities were organized
to pass the time. Some of the interns actually
volunteered to fight in one of two all-Nisei army
regiments and went on to distinguish themselves
in battle.
Fred Korematsu challenged the legality of Executive Order 9066 but the Supreme Court ruled the
action was justified as a wartime necessity. It was not until 1988 that the U.S. government
attempted to apologize to those who had been interned.
On the whole, however, life in the relocation centers was not easy. The camps were
often too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. The food was mass produced
army-style grub. And the interns knew that if they tried to flee, armed sentries who
stood watch around the clock, would shoot them.
FRED KOREMATSU
found little sympathy there. In
decided to test the government relocation action in the courts. He
KOREMATSU VS. THE UNITED STATES,
the Supreme Court justified the executive order as a
wartime necessity. 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.
In 1988, Congress attempted to apologize for the action by awarding each surviving intern $20,000. While the
American concentration camps never reached the levels of Nazi death camps as far as atrocities are concerned, they
remain a dark mark on the nation's record of respecting civil liberties and cultural differences.
Japanese-American Internment
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/japanese_internment/internment_menu.cfm
You may wish to view our Digital Story about Japanese Internment During WWII by Sandra
Rodriguez as an introduction to this section.
During World War II, the federal government ordered 120,000 Japanese-Americans who lived on the West
coast to leave their homes and live in 10 large relocation camps (see Internment Map) in remote, desolate
areas, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Two-thirds were native-born American citizens.
Evacuation sale during Japanese Relocation. FDR Library.
Japanese-Americans were interned as a result of an executive order (see Executive Order No. 9066) by
President Roosevelt in 1942. About 77,000 American citizens and 43,000 legal and illegal resident aliens
were affected by the order. The last camp was closed in January 1946, five months after World War II
ended.
It would not be until 1988 that the U.S. government formally apologized, provided compensation to those
who were interned, and created an education fund to preserve the history and to teach the lessons of this
shameful episode. (see Redress for Japanese Internees
Two of the chief backers of a national apology had themselves been interned.
Representative Robert Matsui of California was 6 months old when his family was
interned.
His family had just 48 hours to relocate. His father was forced to sell their house in
Sacramento for $50 and simply abandon his small produce business.
Learn more about Robert Matsui and the internment of his family at Tule Lake Camp. (see Recalling
the U.S. Internment of the Japanese With Congressman Robert Matsui, John F. Kennedy Library and
Foundation Responding To Terrorism Series, November 4, 2001)
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta of California was ten years old; he
and his family were forced to live, at first, in a converted stables at a racetrack;
later, they spent a year in an internment camp in a forbidding part of Wyoming.
Mineta recalled being given the priviledge of signing the House bill, HR 442, after it
had passed.
"There has never been a moment when I loved this country more," he said. Redress was "the best
expression of what this nation can be and the power of government to heal and make right what was
wrong."
Learn more: Japanese American National Museum
Another sponsor, Democrat Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, who served in the
442nd regiment combat team, made up entirely of Japanese Americans. He lost his
right arm fighting in Italy and was awarded a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
Learn more about the 442d combat team in "21 Asian American World War II Vets
to Get Medal of Honor"
He was first Congressman from Hawaii and the first American of Japanese descent
to serve in either House of Congress.
Learn more about Senator Inouye's combat experience during World War II from his website, Go For
Broke, a condensation of his book, Journey to Washington.
The warning radio suddenly emitted a frenzied cry: "This is no test! Pearl Harbor is being bombed by the
Japanese! I repeat: This is not a test!"
"Papa," I cried, and then froze into stunned immobility. Almost at once my father was in the doorway with
agony showing on his face, listening, caught by that special horror instantly sensed by all Americans of
Japanese descent.
". . . not a test. We can see the Japanese planes . . ."
''Yes, the nation was then at war, struggling for its survival,'' said President Ronald Reagan at the White
House. ''And it's not for us today to pass judgment upon those who may have made mistakes while
engaged in that great struggle. Yet we must recognize that the internment of Japanese-Americans was
just that, a mistake.'' More than a mistake, it was a grave violation of civil liberties and a blot on
America’s commitment to constitutional rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1988 (HR442) awarded redress
to all surviving internees or their relatives.
President George Bush sent this formal apology letter along with a $20,000 check.
Right after Pearl Harbor, the FBI came to our home, and my father just disappeared. I remember the last
words he was saying was, “Oh, let me put my pants on.” That was it. He was put in the Yakima County
[Washington] jail. Then he was sent to a Detention Center in Missoula, Montana…. I didn’t see him until
about a year-and-a-half later. My mother asked me to write a letter to President Roosevelt. I wrote him
about our situation. All of us were still farming, and though my father disappeared in December, come
Spring we put in the crops. The question is what do we do next? So I wrote to Roosevelt saying that it
would be very good if my father came back because we really needed help here. My mother was only
twenty-five years old at the time, and there were five kids. We were farming using horses. It was very
hard if you’re small, and you can’t really hook up a plow. So I told the President that it would help a lot if
my father could return to his family. Of course, I never got a reply…. I was eight years old at the time.
Isao Fujimoto, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 79, 81
On May 16, 1942, at 9:30 a.m. we departed…for an unknown destination. To this day I can remember
vividly the plight of the elderly, some on stretchers, orphans herded on the train by caretakers, and
especially a young couple with four preschool children. The mother had two frightened toddlers hanging
on to her coat. In her arms, she carried two crying babies. The father had diapers and other baby
paraphernalia strapped to his back. In his hands he struggled with dufflebags and suitcases. The Shades
were drawn on the train for our entire trip. Military police patrolled the aisles.
Grace Nakamura, who testified in 1981 before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of
Civilians. Quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 81
Exploration Questions
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Why were Japanese Americans expelled from their homes and incarcerated in internment camps even though not one Japanese American was charged with espionage or sabotage during the war and why did internment last, on average, for nearly three years?
Why were west coast Japanese American citizens relocated - while Japanese Americans in Hawaii
and German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not?
Why were all west coast Japanese Americans interned, citizens and aliens, children and adults, and
why was this policy upheld by the federal courts?
What was the impact of this experience upon the lives of Japanese Americans?