Japanese American Internment Print Culture During World War Ii

ABSTRACT “ALL OF US MUST MAKE SACRIFICES TO HELP TOWARDS UPHOLDING AMERICAN IDEALS”: JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT PRINT CULTURE DURING WORLD WAR II During the World War II internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans, the internees published newspapers in each of the assembly centers and relocation camps. Both the government officials and internees used the center newspapers to disseminate different discourses and rhetoric throughout the interned population. The U.S. government officials in charge of the assembly centers used the newspapers to spread nationalist messages designed to coerce the internees into passive obedience with the relocation orders and used patriotic sentiments to appeal to the Japanese American internees. In the case of the internees, the newspaper articles and editorials published illustrate how the Japanese Americans dealt with internal conflict over their bicultural identity, conflict which stemmed from the disagreement over what tradition would be dominant in the centers, Japanese or American. The newspapers also demonstrate how the internees attempted to reach a delicate balance between these two clashing sides. The center newspapers create a new image of the relocation specifically exemplifying the diverse difficulties, disputes, and administrative oversight the internees dealt with throughout their relocation. This thesis will illustrate this point through articles and editorials from select assembly centers. Tiffany Anne Polfer August 2011 “ALL OF US MUST MAKE SACRIFICES TO HELP TOWARDS UPHOLDING AMERICAN IDEALS”: JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT PRINT CULTURE DURING WORLD WAR II by Tiffany Anne Polfer A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History in the College of Social Sciences California State University, Fresno August 2011 APPROVED For the Department of History We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree. Tiffany Anne Polfer Thesis Author Daniel Cady (Chair) History Lori Clune History Blain Roberts History For the University Graduate Committee: Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER’S THESIS X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship. Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me. Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee: Dr. Daniel Cady, Dr. Lori Clune, and Dr. Blain Roberts for their support and guidance in this journey. Your countless hours and days spent on edits and answering my questions has helped me create this, what I believe to be a, fresh look on an important aspect of American history, thank you. In addition to these three, I would also like to thank other faculty members in the History Department. Thank you for making my three years at California State University, Fresno enlightening, educational, and entertaining. I would also like to thank Special Collections at the Henry Madden Library. Adam, Jean, and Tammy, I can honestly say that I would not have written about internment publications if not for your wonderful Japanese in World War II collection. Thank you for your support and encouragement. I have been surrounded by wonderful graduate students in my years here, but two are worthy of special attention. Stephanie, you have helped me through this arduous process in so many ways, but particularly your ability to encourage me through tough times. Charles, you have been the best peer editor I have ever had. You always read my work and helped me get over my breakdowns and frustrations with my inability to form coherent sentences at times. Both of you have made this process a wonderful trip, thank you. To my wonderful family: Heather Bartell, Stephen, James and Kathy Polfer, you have been a wonderful support system for me and I could not have asked for a better one. Thank you for enduring my freakouts and for faking interest in my historical dissertations. All of you have made me the person I am today and I thank you for sticking with me. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A CITIZEN’S SACRIFICE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................... 1 The Lead Up to Imprisonment: Historical Background to the Internment ....... 3 Center Publications: Internee-Produced Newspapers ....................................... 7 “UNITED WE WIN!” WORLD WAR II MEDIA AND NATIONALIST RHETORIC ................................................................................................. 14 “Our being here is really a small part.” Internee Newspapers and Governmental Discourse ...................................................................... 17 FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER’S FRONTIER THESIS REIMAGINED ..... 24 “TOO MUCH OF A ‘NIP’ PROGRAM.” CULTURAL CONFLICT THROUGH NEWSPAPERS ...................................................................... 30 “Tolerating the Other Side”: Cultural Conflict through Song and Dance ...... 35 “The National Game is the Main Interest.” Cultural Harmony through Sport ..................................................................................................... 38 ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONFLICT THROUGH NEWSPAPERS: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 42 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 45 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 50 APPENDIX A: LIST OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE DETENTION CENTERS ................................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX B: LIST OF ASSEMBLY CENTERS ............................................... 53 A CITIZEN’S SACRIFICE: INTRODUCTION In 1942, by order of President Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. Army rounded up and relocated 115,000 Japanese from the west coast. American citizens accounted for over half of this number, and their interment is now understood as one of the most egregious violations of civil liberties in the country’s history. The U.S. Army forcibly removed Japanese and Japanese Americans from their homes, and in the process, people lost their land, farms, and belongings. It was these interned people who witnessed Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL) President Saburo Kido’s speech in 1942 at the Fresno assembly center, a fairgrounds converted to hold Central Valley Japanese and Japanese Americans. Kido, who routinely promoted Japanese cooperation with internment, in his speech proclaimed, “Although the Nisei are going through trying times, all of us must make sacrifices to help towards upholding American ideals.”1 His audience of 5,344 Japanese internees resided at that time in horse stalls converted into barracks. The majority of the internees previously held farms and owned houses, but they lost everything in the process of relocation. One internee, a child of nine at the time, remembers the center as less than hospitable and “naturally surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.”2 The sacrifice Kido advocated amounted to the confinement of 115,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, without legal recourse and without cause - the largest relocation and imprisonment of non- combatant U.S. citizens in American history. 1 “Saburo Kido Visits the Center,” Fresno Grapevine, 8 July, 1942, http://ecollections.lib.csufresno.edu/specialcollections (accessed March 3, 2010). 2 Tim Taira, interview by author, Fresno, CA, July 23, 2010. 2 This thesis will use center newspapers, published by internees, to illustrate how the U.S. in charge of the internment used these publications to spread different nationalist rhetoric designed to coerce cooperation from the internees. The newspapers also highlight the underlying conflict within the centers between government officials and internees over editorial freedom and administrative oversight. The center newspapers also exemplify the internal conflict within the internees over what tradition, American or Japanese, would be the dominant cultural expression. The newspapers illustrate how conflicts arose and how the editorial staffs attempted to negotiate inter- and intra-cultural contests. These newspapers create a new image of the relocation, one illustrating the diverse and numerous disputes the internees dealt with, and represent a way the internees voiced their apprehension about the unknown relocation process and attempt to navigate between differing factions. More so than previously recognized, camp newspapers illustrate how these conflicts shaped the internee experience in the centers and camps. In addition, newspapers served a dual function for disseminating the pro-government discourse as well as serving as a sounding board for the internees’ cultural dialogue. A close reading of camp newspapers gives historians a better sense of the diverse difficulties internees faced, beyond the physical and economic toll of the internment.3 3 The earliest historical monographs on this topic, written in the late 1940s, begin to tackle the argument that the Japanese internment was not based on military necessity, but rather, was a reflection

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