From Pearl Harbor to Manzanar

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From Pearl Harbor to Manzanar
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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

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Public Response to Pearl Harbor

• Shock, indignation Pearl Harbor deemed a sneak
  attack-not war by gentlemens rules
• How did we let this one get by?
• In addition to patriotism and unity, rioting,
  looting, harassment, propaganda, anger, hysteria

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Demonizing the Enemy
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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

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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 cant become
  naturalized citizens on basis of race ban lasts
  until 1952
• 1924 anti-immigration signed by
  Coolidge-effectively ends Japanese immigration

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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 Army 1918
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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

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Internment Camps
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LEAVING HOME
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Japanese Farms in California and Internment Policy
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Life in Manzanar
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Attitudes about Internment

• 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

• FDR Oct. 1942--refers to relocation centers
  as concentration camps
• Relocation deemednecessary as states refused to
  accept Japanese
• Military/Society
• Japanese-Americans seen as potential spies

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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
  couldnt hold the person
• (by then, the camps were being closed down)

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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

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Nisei US Soldier visiting family
Gila River, AZ
Two Issei playing Go at Poston Relocation Center
Manzanar, CA
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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