Transcript Internment

From Pearl Harbor to Manzanar
This is No Drill
•
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese Imperial
Navy bombs Pearl Harbor, home of
the Pacific fleet
•
Japanese navy only 450 kilometers
from Hawaii
•
Dec. 8, 1941: FDR asks for a
declaration of war from Congress
•
Congress gives vast war-making
powers to the President
•
“day which will live in infamy”
•
result of poor communication and
underestimation of the Japanese
military capability
Public Response to Pearl Harbor
• Shock, indignation: Pearl
Harbor deemed a sneak
attack-not war by
“gentlemen’s rules”
• How did we let this one
get by?
• In addition to patriotism
and unity, rioting, looting,
harassment, propaganda,
anger, hysteria
Demonizing the Enemy
Propaganda Methods
• Stereotyping
• Substitution of names
• Transfer: connection between something
valued/hated and idea being discussed
• Selection of simple facts
• Repetition
• Assertion
• Appeals to values: authority, patriotism
Did racism make internment
possible?
• Pre WWII racism toward people of Japanese
descent made internment possible
• 1905: Asiatic Exclusion League--SF
• Japanese farm laborers often deported from towns
by vigilante groups-Turlock, CA 1921
• 1922 Ozawa Case in USSC: Issei can’t become
naturalized citizens on basis of race: ban lasts
until 1952
• 1924 anti-immigration signed by Coolidgeeffectively ends Japanese immigration
The Nikkei
• Nikkei--Four generations of
people of Japanese ancestry
living in America
• Issei-1st generation-born in
Japan
• Nisei---2nd generation, raised
in the US for the most part-Japanese and American in
culture (Kibei--Nisei who
return to Japan)
• Sansei--3rd Generation, some
born in the internment camps,
but too little to remember--have
tried to reetablish link with this
tragedy
• Yonsei--children of the Sansei
Issei Volunteer for US Army
1918
FDR and Japanese-Americans
• Executive Order 9066-Feb. 19,
1942
• Executive Order 9102-Mar.
18-establishes WRA
• FDR declares West Coast a
“war theater”
• 110,000 forcibly “interned” to
10 locations in 7 states
• families given 48 hrs. to dispose
of belongings
• if sold, most received only
about 5% of value of
possessions
• 1/3 Issei, 2/3 Nisei
Internment Camps
LEAVING
HOME
Japanese Farms in California and
Internment Policy
Life in Manzanar
Attitudes about Internment
• FDR: Oct. 1942--refers
to “relocation centers” as
“concentration camps”
• Relocation
deemed“necessary” as
states refused to accept
Japanese
• Military/Society
– Japanese-Americans
seen as potential spies
• Entertainment: “Little
Tokyo, USA”-20th
Century Fox--all Issei and
Nisei are seen as
“volunteer spies”
• Japanese are the only
ethnic group singled out
for internment during
WWII in America--not
Italian or German
Americans
• Business/labor:
– opportunity to take out
the competition
Internment and the Constitution
• Korematsu vs. US
• Supreme Court rules
internment
Constitutional
– Court could not second-guess
military decisions
– but once loyalty was
established, then you couldn’t
hold the person
– (by then, the camps were being
closed down)
The Camps up Close
• Assembly Centerstemporary camps from
winter to fall of ‘42
• Relocation Centers:
permanent camps
• Dry, arid conditions-fit for toxic waste
disposal today
Nisei US Soldier visiting family
Manzanar, CA
Gila River, AZ
Two Issei playing Go at
Poston Relocation Center
What were the results?
• Greatest violation of civil
liberties on the homefront
• $105 million of farmland lost
• $500 million in yearly income,
plus uncalculated personal
savings
• No act of sabotage proved
• March ‘46: camps closed
• 1981-83: CWRICCommission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of
Civilians
• 1988 Official govt. apology +
reparations
• 1990: $20,000 to each internee