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Japanese Internment During World War II World War II was one of the most horrific episodes in the history of modern civilization. It changed the lives of millions of people. One of the most profoundly affected groups were the Japanese-Americans, otherwise known as the Nisei and the Issei. Once the United States and Japan declared war on each other, Americans decided that they had to control the Nisei and the Issei (Japanese living in the United States who were not full citizens of the United States), or The Yellow Peril. (Fremon 13). In the United States resentment grew strong about the Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. American s felt it necessary to remove the Japanese threat.
It was decided to relocate the Japanese-Americans from the West Coast in a process that has become known as Japanese Internment. Camps located in the mid-west were constructed in order to house the relocated Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were illegally removed from their homes and detained because of the notion that they were a military threat to the United States. One must ascertain the mindset of the American public prior to World War II, to comprehend why America would take the drastic measure of removing thousands of Japanese-Americans from their homes and placing them in camps.
There was a strong negative sentiment against the Japanese-Americans in the United States. The following quote illustrates the harsh views of Americans toward the Japanese-Americans: Japanese are not bona fide citizens. They are not the stuff of which American citizens can be made Personally we have nothing against the Japanese, but as they will not assimilate with us and their social life is so different from ours, let them keep a respectful distance. (Daniels 9). Japanese-Americans were not viewed as real Americans. They were isolated from mainstream America. This separation from American society made the Japanese-Americans an easier target for intolerance and fear.
Americans living on the West Coast commonly shared the opinion that Japanese-Americans were not truly American citizens (Smith 50). It is painfully clear that there was a deep hatred of the Japanese before World War II. Besides the separation of the Japanese-Americans from the general public, there was also imbedded racism against them: There was a considerable degree of hypocrisy as well, one suspects, as a substantial measure of outright racism. The Japanese, after all, did not belong to the Caucasian Club. They were yellow and yellow was, not entirely incidentally, an American word for cowardly. (Smith 46). By using the word yellow as a derogatory remark, it shows that Americans did not think too highly of their Japanese counterparts.
Taking into account the factors of separation and racism, it makes the United States decision to intern the Japanese-Americans clearer. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, pre-war hatred of the Japanese was a factor that helped enable the United States to make the controversial decision to remove the Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States. There was much debate among members of government before Executive order 9066 was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Irons 63). With this order being passed, the rights of more than a hundred thousand Japanese Americans to remain on the West Coast became subject to military edict. (Irons 63). Executive order 9066 has been referred to as a day of infamy as far as the Constitution is concerned (Daniels 46).
Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast had to now leave their homes and live in concentration camps in the mid-west. In a country that values freedom, like the United States does, it is difficult to fathom that a segment of our population would ever be forcibly removed from their homes; let alone be relocated to armed camps. The rationale the United States government used to justify the signing of Executive order 9066 was that the Japanese-Americans posed a military threat by living on the West Coast (Daniels 46). It is apparent that the overwhelming majority of Japanese-Americans were not dangerous. The following quote shows the Nisei and the Issei s efforts in being loyal Americans: Anxious to prove their loyalty, Japanese-Americans donated blood to the Red Cross and volunteered to serve as air raid wardens. The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) sent a telegram to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt pledging its fullest cooperation in the war effort and worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to identify people suspected of disloyalty. (Ging old 1). It is clear that the decision to remove the Nisei and the Issei from the West Coast had a deeper meaning than merely for national security. Oddly, There were, in fact, more Italian and German aliens than Japanese living in areas considered critical to the national defense. (Hosokawa 272). If the United States really wanted to perform a thorough job of removing dangerous elements, it would have been more practical to remove the German and Italian threats as well.
The fact that only Japanese-Americans were removed signals that there were deep racial biases that caused only the Nisei and Issei to suffer. The responsibility for removing the Nisei and the Issei from the West Coast became the task of the Tolan Committee. This committee set out to find possible relocation sites for the Nisei and the Issei which was not an easy task. The difficulty they encountered is best expressed in the following quote: Tolan Committee surveyed the intermountain states for possible voluntary resettlement sites for the Japanese American community.
It found that all the governors except Ralph Carr of Colorado refused to permit the West Coast Japanese into their states except under armed guard and behind barbed wire. (Gesenway 42). The findings of the Tolan Committee sealed the reality of armed camps in the United States. The Japanese-Americans, who were to be removed from their homes, would now have to be placed in concentration camps because otherwise no state would allow them in. States were so against having Japanese-American residents that it prompted the Governor of Wyoming to say this: If you bring Japanese into my state, I promise you they will be hanging from every tree. (Fremon 35).
To accommodate the 112, 000 Nisei and Issei, the American Government quickly constructed armed camps, which they called Assembly Centers. The Assembly Centers were designed to be temporary living quarters for the Japanese-Americans who would spend between one and six months in them (Nakano 138). After living in Assembly Centers the Nisei and the Issei would be sent to more permanent relocation camps. Living conditions at the Assembly Centers were very poor and most of them were made from race tracks, fairgrounds and livestock exhibition halls, workers hastily devised living units out of existing structures, like horse stables. (Nakano 137). It must have been a very difficult change of life for the Japanese Americans. They went from living comfortably in their own homes to living in old horse stables.
In some areas, such ailments as diarrhea affected nearly the whole camps population (Nakano 138). Life in America s concentration camps was not easy. The Japanese-Americans moved into permanent relocation centers after living in the assembly centers. The camp designs are described in the following quote: There were no toilet or bath facilities in the rooms- these could be as much as 200 feet distance. The recreation hall was an un partitioned barrack building and unequipped except for heating stoves. The camp site and family apartments, crowded as they were, were much roomier than those of the Assembly Centers but overall the WRA camps provided only for the most Spartan type of living. (Hosokawa 342).
As a whole, the living conditions were meager and inadequate. The living quarters had no bathrooms, which must have been an incredible nuisance to the inhabitants. To have to walk 200 feet to use the toilet is almost unimaginable in a country as rich as ours. The Issei and Nisei were treated as if they were common criminals. The conditions described in the camps mimic living conditions found in many prisons in the United States. Practically everything offered to the Japanese-Americans at the concentration camps was inadequate.
The food at the camps was meager at best; it consisted of: edible offal pork liver, beef hearts, tripe. What red meat was available was so tough and stingy that the chefs had no choice but to throw it into stewarts. (Hosokawa 351). The food descriptions do not appear to be very appetizing or healthy. Not only were there the food problems, but the weather also posed a burden on the camp s residents. At some camps the temperature plunged below zero degrees. The Nisei and the Issei were forced to prepare their own living quarters for winter by shoveling dirt up against the sides of their homes, so they would not topple over when there were wind gusts (Hosokawa 351).
It appears that in most camps the inmates had to really take care of themselves because the United States was not offering much assistance. Most Japanese-Americans obeyed the laws regarding Japanese Internment, however there were a few that challenged the laws in court. One of the most famous cases involved a man named Gordon Hirabayashi. Hirabayashi was a student at the University of Washington. He did not want to have to act differently than all his other classmates. So one day, he challenged the curfew laws that had been imposed on the Japanese- Americans.
He decided to behave like an American, like the rest of my dorm. (Fremon 91). Hirabayashi was arrested and placed in jail. When his case came to trial in the lower courts he was found guilty. On appeal his case went to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court found Hirabayashi guilty as well.
Hirabayashi had this to say: I expected us to lose at the lower court level. But when the case reached the Supreme Court, I some how felt that those nine men up there were different, that they were objective, . Their job was to uphold the constitution. I couldn t see how they could approve this order. (Fremon 92). Although Hirabayashi tried, he could not overturn the curfew laws.
His case shows us that justice cannot always be had when the country is in turmoil like it was during World War II. Another important court case regarding Japanese Internment was brought by Fred Korematsu. Korematsu was a welder at a ship yard but he lost his job after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Korematsu did not primarily decide to bring a case against the government as a principle of law, it had more to do with his love interests (Hosokawa 426). Korematsu was in love with a Caucasian girl.
He hoped to evade capture and marry his girlfriend. He was arrested for failing to report to authorities after the relocation order had been given. When his case reached the Supreme Court, Korematsu was found guilty for remaining in a restricted military area (Hosokawa 427). Like Hirabayashi, Korematsu ultimately failed in his efforts to fight Japanese Internment. Most court cases involving Japanese Internment were not successful, but there were a few exceptions.
One of the most famous cases that fits this description is the Endo Case. Endo was a California resident who lost her job because she had Japanese ancestry. She was ordered to relocate to the Tule Lake camp which she did without resistance. Endo contacted the JACL and through this organization her case was taken to the Supreme Court.
Endo was viewed as the perfect example as to why Japanese Internment was wrong (Fremon 94). She was a loyal citizen who had never been in trouble with the law. Surprisingly, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Endo. The court ruled that Loyal citizens could not be imprisoned indefinitely. (Fremon 95). The implication of this ruling showed that Japanese Internment was not right if it facilitated the imprisonment of loyal American citizens. Japanese Internment during World War II was one of the saddest chapters in our illustrious history.
In a country that values individual freedom it is terrifying to realize that approximately one hundred thousand people had their rights taken away from them without ever committing a crime. The American Government tried to mitigate the apparent injustice committed against then Japanese-Americans. It took forty years for the American government to apologize to Japanese-Americans for interning them during World War II. During the 1980 s, former inhabitants of the camps received some financial compensation for their hardships. It is hard to actually take into account the Nisei and Issei s losses because of Japanese Internment. The Congress of the 1980 s tried their best to solve the situation.
Perhaps the most serious problem with regard to Japanese Internment was the behavior of the Supreme Court. Our highest court is a place where the Constitution will be defended vigorously. Hopefully the United States has matured enough so that an episode such as Japanese Internment will never occur again.
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