On December, 7th, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. As a result the Americans decided to intern those of Japanese descent on the west-coast of the United States. The Japanese were uprooted from their homes and were relocated to internment camps where they would live their lives. Japanese internment was a horrid act put upon those of Japanese ancestry in World War II, only using the common good as evidence to judge why the Japanese should be interned. The Civil liberties of the Japanese on the west-coast were more important than the common good because there was no valid evidence that the Japanese were planning an attack with their homeland.
These feelings of hatred arose when the Japanese began to move into the United States in search for work industries on the West Coast. Upon there arrival, they encountered racist reactions from many Americans. The Americans believed that the Japanese were stealing jobs and lowering wages. Many laws were passed that openly discriminated against Asians, Japanese in specific. Many of these laws stated that Japanese could not become citizens of the United States and could not hold basic rights.
Blaming Montana for the events of one cataclysmic summer would just remove responsibility and imply that such events were acceptable in that environment. In the novel Montana 1948 there is much controversy on who or what can be blamed for such major events. The town of Montana cannot be blamed for events such as Frank Hayden’s rape of Indian girls, his murder of Marie Little Soldier or his suicide at the end of the novel with the constant decision of whether Frank should or shouldn’t be locked up for his actions. It can be argued that the characters of Montana are solely to blame but it can also be said that the town and the insane environment of Montana is at fault. The isolated and barren town of Montana cannot be blamed for such catastrophic events.
The troops also didn’t know about the vast expanse of tunnel systems under the island, because of these tunnels, combat between the Americans and Japanese would not be straightforward. Iwo Jima was claimed to be the most heavily defended island in WW II. When the Americans landed on the shore of Iwo Jima with their amphibious vehicles, there was complete silence, but as soon as they got fifty
They prepared to storm the island on April 1st, 1945. The Japanese were really quite underdressed; they had a lot of gap to try and cover to avoid being absolutely slaughtered by the Americans. The Japanese found a way to keep up with America and even inflict very heavy losses of American lives: the dehumanization of Japanese soldiers’ lives. “Once it crossed the rubicon of accepting state-organized suicides as a legitimate military tactic, the Japanese commanders learned that it might we regain some of it’s lost ability to strike the Americans and perhaps stave off unconditional surrender” (Hanson 36). With all regard for life being dismissed, it now became a simple task of killing as many American soldiers as possible.
No, the US wasn’t justified. Even secretary of war Henry Lewis Stimson was not sure the bombs were needed to reduce the need of an invasion: “Japan had no allies; its navy was almost destroyed; its islands were under a naval blockade; and its cities were undergoing concentrated air attacks.” The United States still had many industrial resources to use against Japan, and thus it was essentially defeated. Rear Admiral Tocshitane Takata concurred that B-29s “were the greatest single factor in forcing Japan's surrender”, while Prince Konoye already thought Japan was defeated on 14 February 1945 when he met emperor Hirohito. A combination of thoroughly bombing blockading cities that were economically dependent on foreign sources for food and raw
After Germany and Italy were defeated, only Japan stood standing. When the Japanese refused to surrender, The United States was not left with many options. They could continue to send men and machines to fight and die, or end the war quickly. It was a smart move for the United States to bomb Japan. During a war, a country has to think of themselves before
Immigrants are the foreigner. They are the intruder. Immigrants are the thieves here to take jobs and wealth from the native people. Its easy to blame immigrants for the problems of the country, its easy to turn immigrants into a scapegoat. In A Tapestry of Hope, author Jeanne Houston describes how Japanese people were placed in internment camps during WWII, and states “There are those in our political leadership who are all too ready to find scapegoats ”(149) and that the situation is such that “More and more, it seems, those scapegoats are immigrants” (149).
This site was created to give researchers access to primary and other hard to find documentation concerning the evacuation, relocation, and internment of individuals of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Much of the information you will find on this site cannot be found anywhere else, except through laborious Freedom of Information Requests or personal visits to various archives around the country. Conventional wisdom concerning this controversial event in American history is that individuals of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and put into American concentration camps in violation of their constitutional rights because the country was overcome with "racism, hysteria and a lack of political will" after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Justyn Millamena Mr. O’Shea US History 31 April 2013 Pearl Harbor Essay As arguably the most tragic event that has occurred on American soil, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a momentous turning point in American history. Japan’s aggression toward the United States was felt throughout the nation, transforming its people from isolationists to belligerents in one day. The short term effects of resentment and sorrow were overshadowed with the long term effects of vengeance and unity. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt originally declared neutrality, these emotions employed him to declare war on Japan, joining in the monumental World War II. While the event of Pearl Harbor may appear a tragedy, its true purpose is revealed in