The Order inflicted destitution on more than 120,000 Japanese who resided in the West Coast. “Of this number 70,000 of them were American Citizens” (The Immigrant Experience: The Japanese Americans, 54). Furthermore, General DeWitt expressed his exposition for the internment program by his infamous statement “A Jap is a Jap”. He further emphasized his resentment and ignorance by making the statement “There is no way to determine their loyalty.... It makes no difference whether he is an American; theoretically he is still Japanese and you can’t change him by giving him a piece of paper” (Japanese American Women: Three Generations, 126).
The government’s quick implementation of Executive Order 9066 in reaction to the public’s panic, not only was unconstitutional and violated Japanese American rights, but also resulted in needless effort and attention towards the internment camps, making this an act of racism, not a military necessity. The United States government did not hold the right to intern Japanese Americans because of their ethnic background. People argued that the Japanese immigrants in the United States posed as a threat but fact is, 127,100 Japanese-Americans, about two thirds of whom were American born citizens, were evacuated (Powell). The Japanese-Americans had the same rights as any other American citizen, yet they were still interned. The public went straight to the conclusion that all people of
Author Jan Gross addresses this question in his book Neighbors, in which he argues that the Polish population of Jedwabne and not German Gestapo forces, for lack of a better term, eradicates their 1,600 Jewish neighbors. Polish Society acknowledges the Jewish pogrom and genocide that occurred during WWII, and therefore perhaps rightfully so considers itself as a victim of Hitler’s war time atrocities. What Polish Society does not acknowledge is that on that day in Jedwabne Hitler’s Nazi regime did not carry out the mass murder of 1,600 Jewish inhabitants; it was the Polish inhabitants of the town who turned from cordial neighbors to mass murderers. Gross argues that only Poles, not Germans carried out these heinous acts, and as a result, controversy has ensued amongst Polish society and a majority still refuses to believe Gross’ argument. Their refusal or denial to be connected to such an evil transgression is understandable.
After being relocated from an internment camp in Portland, Oregon to the Minidoka internment camp in the desert of Idaho, Dr. John Sadanaga served in the United States military for nearly 32 years. The camp in Portland was previously a livestock exposition building, demonstrating that the Japanese American Immigrants were viewed as if they were no more than farm animals. The Minidoka internment camp was bleak and depressing, with little to no privacy. In January of 1942, American Immigrants of Japanese ancestry were not allowed to join the army and were classified as “’enemy aliens not desired for the Armed Service.’” In January of 1943 though, the war department announced that they were going to create an all Japanese-American combat unit, the Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After living in the internment camps for two years, Dr. Sadanaga was finally eligible to enlist for the army as a front-line combat infantryman, the only job available for Japanese-Americans.
9066 which called for the evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent from the West Coast. This act based on ethnicity, allowed the military to avoid the constitutional protection of American citizens because it was in the name of national defense. The U.S. government coerced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to remove themselves from their homes, businesses, schools, and, in some instances, family members due to separation throughout the relocation process. The order included all peoples of Japanese ancestry ben if they were american born citizens. However Fred Koresmatsu denied going to the government’s confinement camps and questioned Congress’s and the military’s authority to relocate and detain them which led to his appeal in the Supreme court where many in the jury expressed their opinions of either agreeing or disagreeing with the following detainment of Koresmatsu.
The historians who support Truman, sometimes called the traditionalists, agree that Japan had been defeated but argue that Japan was not ready to surrender and was, in fact, preparing for one last great battle that would have cost millions of lives. Popular opinion tends to side with the revisionists, but I will argue that Truman made the right decision, not only for the United States but also for Japan; in fact, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved Japan. Revisionists argue that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima after Japan’s armed forces and over sixty of its major cities had been already been destroyed. Moreover, historians such as Howard Zinn argue that Truman knew that the Japanese were trying to surrender but that he ignored them because he wanted to use the Bomb (23). Gar Alperovitz, another revisionist, says that Truman’s main purpose in dropping the bombs was to demonstrate its power in order to intimidate the Russians (127).
Go For Broke Soon after the Japanese army bombing of pearl harbor in 1941, American joined into the world war 2. Japanese American were called to 4-C which was also named “Enemy Aliens”, and were not allowed to join U.S. Military anymore, even though they did not have any bad record such as spying. The American government soon forced them including many who were American citizens and mainly lived on the west coast transferred to internment camps which located various western wasteland areas of the country, even though the Japanese Americans who lived in Hawaii was a significant portion of the local work force and relocated them would make a negative effect on the local economy. However, in 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt and the war department of American government decided to allow American Japanese to voluntary join an army which only composed by American Japanese which called the 100th Infantry Battalion. Finally, this battalion composed in Hawaii, the most of units were from Hawaii and mainland and wanted to show their loyal, conscientious to prove their devotion to their country.
The forced relocation and incarceration has been determined to have resulted more from racism and discrimination among whites on the West Coast, rather than any military danger posed by the Japanese Americans. The case eventually made it to the U.S. Supreme Court; a year earlier, the court had upheld the constitionality of curfews for Japanese-Americans in Yaqui v. United States and Hirabayashi v. United States. The cases served as the foundation for the Korematsu case, with the justices ruling 6-3 to uphold his arrest and internment. A majority of people feel that the Government acted upon the Japanese Canadians unfairly using segregation, discrimination and prejudice, to separate them from the rest of Canada. Many people have observed that even before the war the Government treated the Japanese unfairly, by not granting them citizenship even though they were born there.
In August of 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Heroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Both cities were destroyed and approximately 200,000 people were killed. Japan surrendered just six days after the bombs were dropped on August 15, 1945. The use of the atomic bombs were not necessary to end World War II, however using the bombs ended the war much faster and saved the lives of many soldiers and civilians. Even after the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8th, the war against Japan continued.
Thesis: World War II affected the lives and Civil Liberties of Japanese Americans. The relocation of the Japanese during WWII was a big part of American history because by putting American citizens into internment camps that had not been tried by a court and a jury meant that the government was taking away their civil liberties, which is what the United States was founded upon. It was founded upon the belief that all people whether they were a man or woman were innocent until proven guilty. The Japanese were put into the internment camps not because they were proved guilty but because of their race and the possibility that they could be part of the Tokyo Rose/ Tokio Rose. Tokio Rose was a name given by the Allied forces to about a dozen female broadcasters of Japanese Propaganda.