Japanese Internment Case Study

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The Decision for Japanese Internment Chris Ippolito Mr. Dugoni U.S. History 8th period February 16, 2012 The Decision for Japanese Internment On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Navy and Marine Corps suffered a total of 2,896 casualties with 2,117 deaths. Three months after the attack, Executive Order 9066 was signed and issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizing the Secretary of War to assign certain areas as military zones. EO 9066 eventually led to the displacement of Japanese Americans to internment camps (FDR 9066 1). FDR’s military advisers pushed for the exclusion people of foreign decent, including American citizens.…show more content…
The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941, while Executive Order 9066 was signed on February 19, 1942. That was exactly two months and twelve days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in those two months Government officials contemplated the relocation of over a hundred thousand Japanese American Men, women, and children. Roosevelt came under increasing pressure by military and political advisors to contain the nation's fears of further Japanese attack, particularly on the West Coast, where naval ports agriculture were most vulnerable (History.com1). FDR had signed EO 9066 because if he had waited too long there would have been pandemonium in the U.S. in fear of another attack, while putting the Japanese Americans in internment camps would curb peoples fear for the…show more content…
It seemed as though FDR and his military advisors signed EO 9066 in order to settle U.S. citizens fears of the another attack in the United States. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was an act of war, putting Japanese Americans in internment camps was an unjust response because the U.S. Government hastily reacted out of fear of another attack. Even after Japanese Americans were freed from internment camps they could not return home because hate towards the Japanese in white communities had not settled since the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although over one hundred thousand Japanese American men, women, and children were put into internment camps, only three spies were ever caught and they were all
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