Japanese Internment During World War II
A Comparison of U.S. & Canadian
Internment Policy
Historical Context
• Japanese immigration to the U.S. and Canada began in
the 1860s and saw the greatest influx from 1900-1920
• U.S. Japanese immigrants settled in California,
Washington, and Oregon. 90% in California. Most made
their living in farming.
• In 1941, approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals lived
in states along the Pacific. 150,000 lived in Hawaii. 62%
were American citizens
• Canadian Japanese immigrants settled in British
Columbia making their living in fishing.
• 1941, 22,000 Japanese nationals lived in British
Columbia. Over 70% were Canadian citizens.
Racial Tension in the U.S.
• Prior to the attack on Pearl
Harbor anti-Japanese
(Chinese, Korean)
sentiment grew as the
immigrant population
increased. For example:
• U.S., Asiatic Exclusion
Leagues form to prevent
Asians from joining labor
unions
• Webb-Haney Act (1913),
state law denying Asians
the right to own land in
California.
Racial Tensions in the US
• U.S. Supreme Court rules in Takeo Ozawa v.
U.S. that naturalization is limited to "free white
persons and aliens of African nativity,“ i.e. not
Asians.
• Congress passes Cable Act (1922). “…any
woman marrying an alien ineligible for
citizenship shall cease to be an American
citizen.” Repealed in 1932.
• Congress passes Immigration Exclusion Act
(1924), barring all immigration from Japan
Racial Tension in Canada
• Canadian election of 1935 was
marked by anti-Japanese
smears, some candidates
recommending forcing
Japanese into ghettos like
German Jews.
• Some believed that Japanese
rural and coastal patterns of
settlement was proof that they
were part of a Fifth Column of
spies and saboteurs placed
strategically to aid in a possible
invasion.
A fifth column is a
group of people who
undermine a larger
group such as a
nation from within.
Racial Tensions in Canada
• British Columbia began limiting the number of fishing
licenses issued to Japanese
• Prime Minister McKenzie King did nothing to halt the
rising discrimination. A clue to King’s feelings toward
Japanese is quoted in his diary:
– "It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have
been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white
races of Europe."
• Canadian Nisei were not allowed to vote in 1941
Internment in the U.S.
Los Angeles, Santa Fe Station, 1942
Dr. Seuss
• Those of Japanese
ancestry living on the
West Coast were to
be relocated.
• Internment refers to
the forced
imprisonment and
relocation of a group
of people.
People Sent to Internment
Camps
• 62% of the people relocated were Nisei,
American-born with Japanese heritage,
and Sansei, the children of the Nisei. They
were American citizens.
• The rest (38%) were Issei, the Japaneseborn immigrants.
FBI Roundups
• December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor attacked
• Dec. 8th, Congress declares war on Japan. FBI arrests
736 Japanese nationals as security risks
• Dec 11th- 2000 prominent Issei in Hawaii and are
imprisoned by the U.S. government
Pre-9066 Actions
• Lt. General John DeWitt,
head of the Western
Command, requested
approval to conduct
search and seizure
operations to prevent
alien Japanese from
making radio
transmissions to
Japanese ships
• Department of Justice
required probable cause
& warrants
Lt. General John DeWitt
• In congressional testimony, DeWitt
“I don't want any of them [persons of
Japanese ancestry] here. They are a
dangerous element. There is no way to
determine their loyalty... It makes no
difference whether he is an American
citizen, he is still a Japanese. American
citizenship does not necessarily
determine loyalty... But we must worry
about the Japanese all the time until he
is wiped off the map.”
Executive Order 9066
• Signed by FDR on Feb.19,
1942, allowed authorized
military commanders to
designate "military areas" at
their discretion, as
"exclusion zones”
• Exclusion was applicable
to anyone that a military
commander might choose,
citizen or non-citizen
U.S. Internment Camps
Post-9066
March 1942:
• Executive Order 9095 created the Office of the Alien Property
Custodian, giving it authority over all alien property.
• Public Proclamation No.3 declares an 8 pm to 6 am curfew for "all
enemy aliens and persons of Japanese ancestry" in military areas.
May 1942:
• DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 346, ordering all
people of Japanese ancestry, citizens or non-citizens, to report to
assembly centers, where they would live until being moved to
permanent "Relocation Centers."
FDR’s Decision
• In spite of the FBI reports that found no evidence of Japanese
disloyalty, FDR issued 9066 knowing that it would lead to
internment. Why?
• In his book By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of
Japanese Americans, Prof. of History Greg Robinson argues
– FDR had “unenlightened views of the Japanese” seeing them as
Japanese first, then American & shared the anti-Japanese prejudices of
his age and class.
– FDR was content to leave the “Japanese question” to Lt. Gen. DeWitt
• In, Magic: The Untold Story of US Intelligence and the Evacuation of
Japanese Residents From the West Coast During World War II,
former Assistant Director of the NSA, David Lowman argues
– FDR agreed to remove the Japanese from the Pacific Coast to avoid the
possibility of charging anyone with espionage because, an espionage
trial would require that the government disclose evidence, i.e. that they
intercepted and broken Japanese naval coded transmissions.
• Greed and Racism among California farmers
– “White farmers can take over and produce everything the Jap grows.
We don’t want them back after the war either.” Austin Ansen, head of
the Salinas Growers Association
Internment in Canada
R.C.N. officer confiscating the boat of a Japanese-Canadian fishermen, 1942
Confiscation of Vessels
Boats corralled at mouth of the Fraser river
• Within hours of the Pearl
Harbor attack, the Japanese
also invaded Hong Kong (part
of the British Commonwealth)
• Municipal governments &
newspapers in British
Colombia called for the
internment JapaneseCanadians.
• In spite of Canadian military
assurances to the contrary, the
public believed fishermen were
mapping the coastline for
Japanese Navy.
• Japanese fishing boats were
first confined to port, &
eventually, the Canadian Navy
seized 1,200 vessels.
Internment of Japanese Men
• Jan.1942, a 100 mile
exclusion zone was
established along the B.C.
coastline.
• All men of Japanese
descent ages 18-45 were
removed from the zone
and taken to road camps
in the British Columbian
interior, to sugar beet
projects on the Prairies, or
to internment in a POW
camp in Ontario.
• Canadian Pacific Railroad
& other business fired
Japanese employees.
• The Canadian government
spent 1/3 of $ on internees
than the U.S.
War Measures Act ‘42
• February 24, 1942 the War
Measures Act gave the
federal government the power
to intern all "persons of
Japanese racial origin."
• Under Canadian "Custodian of
Aliens" the government sold
the possessions of Japanese
Canadians without the owners'
permission.
– Auctioned off items, ranging from
farm land, houses possessions sold
at prices below market value.
– Funds raised went towards the fees
of realtors and auctioneers, and
storage/handling charges, and
Japanese owners rarely received
much income from the sales.
Canadian Internment Camps
King’s Decision
• In spite of assurances that there was no evidence of Japanese
disloyalty or Fifth Column activity, King made no attempt to stop
relocation via the War Measures Act. Why?
• In her book, The Politics of Racism: The Uprooting of Japanese
Canadians During World War Two, Ann Sunahara describes Prime
Minister King
– King was an astute politician who often changed positions to suit popular
opinion. Thus he was swayed by the unfounded paranoia from B.C. &
the racism of west coast politicians
– In a quote to Vancouver Sun MacKenzie declared
"It is the government’s plan to get these people out of B.C. as fast as
possible. It is my personal intention, as long as I remain in public life, to
see they never come back here. Let our slogan be for British Columbia:
‘No Japs from the Rockies to the seas.”
Life in the Camps
WRA Relocation Center Manzanar, California
U.S. Facilities
• War Relocation Authority (WRA) directed by Milton
Eisenhower managed the ‘Relocation Centers.. Largest
at Tule Lake, California held over 18,000. The most
distant facilities were in Rohwer & Jerome Arkansas
• The Department of Justice operated ‘internment camps
(aka detention centers’) which held those suspected of
Japanese sympathies, causing trouble at relocation
centers, or Japanese nationals rounded up and turned
over to the U.S. by governments in Latin America (ex.
Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala)
U.S. Facilities
• Eventually 120,000 Japanese were settled into 10 War Relocation
Centers. 2/3 were American citizens. In the largest forced
migration in U.S. history
• Internees were housed in "tar paper-covered barracks of simple
frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any
kind. Facilities met the requirements of Geneva Convention for
POWs.
• Based on designs for military barracks, most of the buildings were
poorly equipped for cramped family living.
• Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming (above) was a
barbed-wire-surrounded enclave with unpartitioned toilets, cots for
beds, and a budget of 45 cents daily per capita for food rations.
Life in Internment Camps
• "In the detention centers,
families lived in substandard
housing, had inadequate
nutrition and health care,
and had their livelihoods
destroyed: many continued
to suffer psychologically
long after their release"
- "Personal Justice Denied:
Report of the Commission on
Wartime Relocation and
Internment of Civilians"
• "In desert camps, the
evacuees met severe
extremes of temperature. In
winter it reached 35 degrees
below zero, and summer
brought temperatures as
high as 115 degrees.
Rattlesnakes and desert
wildlife added danger to
discomfort."
- Personal Justice Denied:
Report of the Commission on
Wartime Relocation and
Internment of Civilians.
Life in Manzanar
Photos taken by Ansel Adams (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage)
U.S. Facilities
• Armed guards were
posted at the camps,
which were all in remote,
desolate areas far from
population centers.
• Internees were typically
allowed to stay with their
families, and were treated
well unless they violated
the rules.
• Some camp commanders
were very lenient with
security
U.S. Facilities
• The phrase shikita ga nai (translated as "it cannot be helped") was
commonly used to summarize the interned families' resignation to their
current condition. Most internees cooperated to prove loyalty to the
U.S.
• Internees were encouraged to form civic organizations within the
camps and given responsibility to manage their communities.
• Activties like baseball leagues, traditional holiday celebrations like
Shogatsu (New Year) were allowed in most of the camps that housed
families.
Camp Manzanar California
Internment Ends
•
December 18 Korematsu v U.S.: the U.S. Supreme Court rules that one
group of citizens may be singled out and expelled from their homes
and imprisoned for several years without trial, based solely on their
ancestry.
•
December 18 In ex parte Endo, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that WRA
has no authority to detain a "concededly loyal" American citizen.
• The Japanese Americans were given $25 and a free
ticket for a train ride back to their homes.
• Some migrated back to Japan, but most stayed to
rebuild their lives.
Aftermath and Compensation of
Internment
• Although compensation was paid for property
losses, the ex-internees were still not able to fully
recover their losses.
• Young Americans started the Redress Movement
in 1960 for an apology.
• The Manzanar Camp was reformed into a
National Historic Site to “provide for the
protection and interpretation of historic, cultural,
and natural resources associated with the
relocation of Japanese Americans during World
War II”
Civil Liberties Act
• In 1988, Under President Reagan, Congress
implemented the Civil Liberties Act, apologizing
on behalf of the nation for the "grave injustice"
done to persons of Japanese ancestry.
• Congress declared that the internments had
been "motivated largely by racial prejudice,
wartime hysteria, and a failure of political
leadership" and authorized $20,000 payments to
Japanese Americans who had suffered
injustices during World War II.
Was the United States
Government Justified in
Interning Japanese-Americans
in 1942?
• Arguments Supporting Internment:
• The United States was suddenly attacked by
Japan.
• These people’s presence on the West Coast
was a “Clear and Present Danger” to the
nation’s security.
• The President as Commander and Chief has
the Constitutional power and responsibility to
defend the nation.
• Citizens may not have all their civil liberties in
wartime.
• It was generally believed that Japan’s attack
on Pearl Harbor was made possible with help
of ethnic Japanese.
• It is not useful to judge the events of that time
with the knowledge we have today.
• Arguments Against Internment
The evacuation of the Nisei was motivated by
racial prejudice.
No evidence was ever uncovered that these
citizens were involved in espionage as a
group.
Executive order 9066 took away the citizenship
of an entire group of people.
German and Italian Americans were not
relocated.
These people were denied due process
guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.