Japanese- Americans’ history during World War II Part 1 by Valerie Etienne-Leveille World War II started with the German dictator Adolf Hitler invading Poland on September 1st, 1939 (1). A few days earlier, Poland signed a formal treaty of mutual assistance with Great Britain in anticipation to Adolf Hitler’s ambitions to invade and conquer other territories. As allies to Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3rd, 1939 and World War II began (2). At the beginning of World War II, the United States’ involvement was limited to supplying Great Britain and its European allies with munitions. On December 7th, 1941, after the Japanese bombed the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the United States entered the war. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor created a huge sentiment of fear about national security with a greater emphasis on the West Coast. In 1941, there were about 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry living on the U.S. mainland, with the majority living along the Pacific Coast (3). Within 48 hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, quiet discussions on the Japanese- American incarceration program were undergoing with the intent to protect the West Coast of the United States (4). The FBI arrested 1,291 Japanese- American community and religious leaders without any evidence of wrongdoing and froze their assets (5). This initial wave of Japanese- American detainees were transferred to prison camps in Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota in January of 1942 with most of them remaining in these prison camps for the duration of World War II. In January 1942, a Naval intelligence officer in Los Angeles reported that “fewer than 3 percent of Japanese-Americans might be inclined toward sabotage or spying” (4). The Naval intelligence officer also shared that the Navy and the FBI already knew who most of the suspected individuals were. Despite the unfounded perceived security threat posed by the Japanese- American communities, on- going false reports by journalists continued to fuel these harmful assumptions (6).
A store owner’s response to anti-Japanese sentiment in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack in Oakland, California (1942). Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Courtesy of the National Archives, Washington, D.C.(5).
Government suspicions targeted all individuals of Japanese descent, whether they were foreign born (also called in Japanese as Issei) and American citizens (also called in Japanese as Nisei) (2). The entire West Coast was declared a military area and was divided into military zones. On February 19th, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 authorizing military commanders the ability to exclude civilians from military areas. Military zones were created in states with large population of Japanese- Americans such as California, Washington, and Oregon (5). Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt of the Western Defense Command initially encouraged the voluntary evacuation of Japanese- Americans from these areas in which seven percent of the Japanese- American population from these areas complied (2). On March 29th, 1942 Lieutenant General DeWitt issued Public
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Proclamation No.4 and began the forced evacuation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to concentration camps on a 48-hour notice (2)(7). With the rush to comply with the evacuation orders, some families sold their homes, businesses, and other assets at a fraction of their true value while others were forced to abandon millions of dollars in property.
Posting of evacuation orders. Photo Courtesy of UShistory.org (7).
Picture of the Mochida family who was evacuated to one of the prison camps. Photo Courtesy of History.com (5).
Almost two-thirds of the evacuees were Japanese- Americans born in the United States (also referred to as Nisei) and it was of no significance to the American government that many of them had never been to Japan (7). Japanese- American veterans of World War I were also forced to leave their homes. The United States is a nation built from a diverse group of people and it is crucial that we do not let our fears destroy our humanity.
References
1. Royde-Smith, J. Graham and Hughes, Thomas A. (2021, April 27). World War II: The Campaign in Poland, 1939. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II/The-war-in-Europe-1939-41#ref53536
2. National Archives. (2020, March 17). Japanese-American Internment During World War II. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation
3. The National WWII Museum New Orleans. (n.d.) Japanese American Incarceration. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration
4. Frail, T.A. (2017, February). The Injustice of Japanese-American Internment Camps Resonates Strongly to This Day. The Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/injustice-japanese-americans-internment-camps-resonates-strongly-180961422/
5. History.com Editors. (2021, April 27). Japanese Internment Camps. A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/world- war-ii/japanese-american-relocation
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6. National Park Service. (2020, May 12). Japanese Americans At War. https://www.nps.gov/wwii/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans- at-war.htm
7. UShistory.org. (2021). Japanese-American Internment. U.S. History Online Textbook. https://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp
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