Download Japan`s imperialistic aggression in China brought the United States

Japanese Relocation Centers
On February 19, 1942, soon after the beginning of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066. The evacuation order commenced the round-up of 120,000 Americans of
Japanese heritage to one of 10 internment camps—officially called “relocation centers”—in California,
Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Why Were the Camps Established?
Roosevelt's executive order was fueled by anti-Japanese sentiment among 1) farmers who competed
against Japanese labor, 2) politicians who sided with anti-Japanese constituencies, and 3) the general
public, whose frenzy was heightened by the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. More than 2/3 of the
Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States.
Conditions in the U.S. Camps
The U.S. internment camps were overcrowded and provided poor living conditions. According to a 1943
report published by the War Relocation Authority (the administering agency), Japanese Americans were
housed in “tarpaper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking
facilities of any kind.” Coal was hard to come by, and internees slept under as many blankets as they
were allotted. Food was rationed out at an expense of 48 cents per internee, and served by fellow
internees in a mess hall of 250–300 people.
Leadership positions within the camps were only offered to the Nisei, or American-born,
Japanese. The older generation, or the Issei, were forced to watch as the government promoted their
children and ignored them.
Eventually the government allowed internees to leave the concentration camps if they enlisted in
the U.S. Army. This offer was not well received. Only 1,200 internees chose to do so.
Legal Challenges to Internment
Two important legal cases were brought against the United States concerning the internment. The
landmark cases were Hirabayashi v. United States (1943), and Korematsu v. United States (1944). The
defendants argued their fifth-amendment rights were violated by the U.S. government because of their
ancestry. In both cases, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. government.
Over
Closure of the Camps
In 1944, two and a half years after signing Executive Order 9066, fourth-term President Franklin D.
Roosevelt rescinded the order. The last internment camp was closed by the end of 1945.
Government Apologies and Reparations
Forced into confinement by the United States, 5,766 Nisei ultimately renounced their American
citizenship. In 1968, nearly two-dozen years after the camps were closed, the government began
reparations to Japanese Americans for property they had lost.
In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that awarded formal payments of $20,000 each to
the surviving internees—60,000 in all.
Other Groups in the Camps
While Japanese-Americans comprised the overwhelming majority of those in the camps, thousands of
Americans of German, Italian, and other European descent were also forced to relocate there. Many
more were classified as “enemy aliens” and subject to increased restrictions. As of 2004, the U.S.
Government has made no formal apology or reparations to those affected.
This is a summary of Lt. Gen. J.L. DeWitt's letter to the
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, June 5, 1943, of the Final Report;
Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast 1942.

The evacuation was driven by military necessity.

The security of the Pacific Coast required the exclusion of Japanese from the West Coast.

The surprise attack at Pearl Harbor by the enemy crippled a major portion of the Pacific Fleet and
exposed the West Coast to an attack.

More than 115,000 persons of Japanese ancestry resided along the coast.

They were significantly concentrated near many highly sensitive installations essential to the war
effort.

Intelligence services records reflected the existence of hundreds of Japanese organizations in
California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona which, prior to December 7, 1941, were actively
engaged in advancing Japanese war aims.

These records also disclosed that thousands of American-born Japanese had gone to Japan to receive
their education and indoctrination there and had become pro-Japanese and then had returned to the
United States.

Emperor-worshipping ceremonies were commonly held and millions of dollars had flowed into the
Japanese imperial war chest from the contributions freely made by Japanese here.

The continued presence of a large, unassimilated, tightly knit racial group, bound to an enemy nation
by strong ties of race, culture, custom and religion constituted a menace that had to be dealt with.

Their loyalties were unknown and time was of the essence.

It is better to have had this protection and not to have needed it than to have needed it and not to
have had it – as we have learned to our sorrow.

Over a period of less than ninety operating days, 110,442 persons of Japanese ancestry were
evacuated from the West Coast.

This organized mass migration was conducted under complete military supervision.

It was completed without major incident in a time of severe national stress.