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 Coolidge-effectively 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 Army1918

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

LEAVINGHOME

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 Centers-temporary camps from winter to fall of ‘42

• Relocation Centers: permanent camps

• Dry, arid conditions--fit for toxic waste disposal today

Gila River, AZ

Manzanar, CA

Two Issei playing Go atPoston Relocation Center

Nisei US Soldier visiting family

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: CWRIC-Commission

on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

• 1988 Official govt. apology + reparations

• 1990: $20,000 to each internee