Nitiwit Jongphiphithaporn

US HISTORY B - 1st Hour

Why were Japanese Americans interned during World War II?

World War II, the global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945 between the Allied, led by

Great Britain, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, and the

Axis, led by Nazi Germany, Italy and Imperial Japan. Started by the rise of nationalism within

the countries and the greed of the leaders, had caused a lot of casualties during the war, more

than 50 million people died, include service personnel and civilians. And that number didnt

count citizens who had suffered from the World War II, for example; the Internment of Japanese

Americans in the United States of America.

The Internment of Japanese Americans in the US began when President Roosevelt signed

Executive Order 9066 that authorizing military authorities to exclude civilians from any area

without trial or hearing on February 19. 1942 and on January, 1943, the War Department

announced the formation of a segregated unit of Japanese American soldiers and on January,

1944, the War Department imposed the draft on Japanese American men, including those

incarcerated in the camps. As mentioned above, those policies and orders were meant to keep the

potential Japanese spies and saboteurs in the places where they were locked up and under

government surveillance, in order to keep the Americans safe which cost by Japanese Americans

civil liberties, freedom and rights.

The Internment of Japanese Americans should not happen at the first place. As in The

Munson Report, the document that showed the loyalty of Japanese Americans said that The

Japanese here is almost exclusively a farmer, a fisherman or a small businessman. He has no

entree to plants or intricate machinery. and this means the Japanese Americans didnt have any
things or power to sabotage the American factories. And also The Crisis, the official magazine of

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) criticized the

internment of Japanese Americans as NAACP said that Color seems to be the only possible

reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese, ancestry are in concentration camps.

Anyway, there are no Italian-American, or German-American citizens in such camps. which the

government will target only Japanese-American but not Italian-American, or German-American

which can be seen as racial discrimination against Japanese-Americans.

Although, there is an counter-argument in this topic, for example; The Korematsu

Supreme Court Ruling said that Korematsu was not excluded from the military area because of

hostility to him or his race. He was excluded because we are at war with the Japanese Empire.

Chief Justice Hugo Black tried to explain his idea that the countrys security must come first, and

he also expressed fear that the Japanese-American might join and provide help to the Japanese

Empire and its acceptable to put Japanese-American in the camps. But this counter-argument is

rejected because Personal Justice Denied, the report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation

and Internment of Civilians, on February 24, 1983 which said that ...these decisions were race

prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.

The Internment of Japanese Americans should not happen at the first place. President

Roosevelts Executive Order 9066 was race prejudice against Japanese-American, created

atmosphere of fear and hatred towards to Japanese-American and it was totally unjustified for

Japanese-American who needed to leave their homes and businesses, and lived in internment

camps. President Roosevelt created climate of fear, fear of Japanese-American. As President

Roosevelt said during his first inauguration Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself.
 Work Cited

The Munson Report, delivered to President Roosevelt by Special Representative of the State

Department Curtis B. Munson, November 7, 1941 .

Harry Paxton Howard, Americans in Concentration Camps, The Crisis, September 1942

Chief Justice Hugo Black, Korematsu v. United States, 1944 .

Personal Justice Denied: The Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment

of Civilians, February 24, 1983.