Internment of Japanese Americans

In December 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor. This stirred a wave of anti-Japanese attitudes across the USA.

Anti-Japanese sentiment in America

Official consistently portrayed Japanese people as cruel and untrustworthy. The US commander John DeWitt showed this anti-Japanese sentiment in a speech:

I don’t want any of them 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.

— John DeWitt speaking in Congress in 1941

The USA’s Japanese population was made up of both Japanese immigrants (Issei) and American-born Japanese people (Nisei). They mostly lived on the West Coast of the USA. Both groups were treated with suspicion, especially after a false government report blamed Japanese Americans in Hawaii for helping with the attack on Pearl Harbor by advising the Japanese armed forces. However, this reaction was not a surprise, as there had been much prejudice and intolerance towards Japanese immigrants for many years. Some Americans were worried about increased competition for jobs and houses on the West Coast.

Internment

Pressure from politicians and the army led to President Franklin D Roosevelt issuing 9066 in February 1942. This allowed people to be removed from areas of military importance if they were seen as a threat to the government.

The executive order led to the eviction of around 120,000 people of Japanese descent from their residences on the West Coast. They were sent to camps.

The camps:

consisted of wooden huts
were surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers
were generally located in the most remote parts of the West Coast

Many of those detained were forced to sell their property to American citizens at low prices. Some lost property and received no compensation. An estimated $2 billion in property and possessions was taken away from Japanese Americans.

A photograph showing a crowd of Japanese Americans stood behind barbed wire. They are waving to other Japanese people on a train. — Image caption,
Japanese Americans at Santa Anita internment camp

Roosevelt’s executive order allowed for the removal of any people who might be a military threat. However, there was little internment of German or Italian Americans, despite the fact that Germany and Italy, like Japan, were at war with the USA. Some historians have suggested that racism was at the heart of this policy rather than military threat.

Japanese patriotism

A photograph showing President Harry Truman and others saluting four Japanese American soldiers. — Figure caption,
President Harry Truman saluting a Japanese American combat unit

In the camps, conditions were poor. Those who were detained were not allowed to speak their own language, yet they showed their patriotism by raising the American flag each morning. There were education facilities for children but they lacked teachers and equipment. Despite the conditions, Japanese people responded with acts demonstrating their patriotism and resilience. The camps produced food for the American war effort as well as materials for other internment camps, including mattresses and clothing.

In 1943, Congress allowed Japanese Americans to join the army. Around 33,000 Japanese Americans volunteered and 18,000 served in military units. These units, made up of only Japanese American troops, were segregated this meant that the troops were kept separate from the other military units. One such unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, became the most decorated unit in American military history.

The impact of World War Two on the US people - OCR AInternment of Japanese Americans