Japanese Detention Camps During World War II - Outline Example

and Number of the Teacher’s California Dreams and Realities JAPANESE DETENTION CAMPS DURING WORLD WAR II Outline This paper will investigate the issue of Japanese concentration camps during World War II. These camps were used by the United States of America for incarcerating Japanese Americans, more than half of whom were citizens of the country by birth. The Issei were immigrants who were born in Japan and settled in the U.S. by 1915, the Nisei were chidren of the Issei, born before World War II, second generation Japanese immigrants, and American citizens by birth. The Sansei were third generation Japanese Americans, born during or after the second world war (Houston: xv). Thus, most were American citizens and were illegally removed from their homes, and relocated to live in detention, in extremely inhuman conditions. They lost their livelihoods, their property and way of life, and many lost their lives due to the adverse living conditions. The timeline of this essay starts from 1869, when the first Japanese arrived on America’s shores in the west, mainly in California. They were successful at making a living in various occupations, chiefly farming, but were the target of racism. Further, the Japanese Americans got caught between their host country and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. They faced America’s suspicion regarding their loyalty to the U.S. The social and political circumstances behind President Roosevelt’s decision to incarcerate the Japanese Americans without prior trial or charges against them, will be identified. Introduction The state of California has been a leader in setting trends which initially take root in the state, before spreading to the rest of the United States of America. The state has extensive influence both nationally and internationally, based on its outstanding economy, cultural and technological developments and its huge population of activist and affluent people. Hence, the issues that concern California also have an influence on the rest of the United States. In the early 1940s, during World War II, for nearly thirty months incarceration of great numbers of Japanese took place, since they were not allowed American citizenship, and were considered to be disloyal to the country. These Japanese endured extreme hardships in the detention camps (Maasik & Solomon: 1). Thesis Statement: This paper will be a factual report and critical analysis of the literature available on the history of Japanese detention camps during World War II. The major points to be covered will pertain to the social and political circumstances behind the creation of the concentration camps. This topic would be of interest to students exploring the history of California with impacts both on the state and on the country. Discussion The evacuation and detention of Japanese Americans during World War II is “the most widely reported single episode” (Simpson: 1) among crimes on entire populations. However, in the history of the nation which has carried out several other gross injustices on humanity such as the perpetration of slavery and the unfair treatment and massacre of vast numbers of native Indians, this detention in concentration camps of Japanese Americans is another example of the high-handedness shown by those in power. It is impossible to comprehend how the key principles of the Constitution could be ignored, in the nation where citizens salute the flag and pledge to whole-heartedly support the principles of “liberty and justice for all” (Maki et al: 1). The incarceration of 1,20,000 people with Japanese ancestry in the United States was done after forcefully removing them from their settlements. Nearly two-thirds of them were American citizens by birth, with nothing more than a mere suspicion of what the U.S. government considered as ‘disloyalty’. In the last sixty years of American culture, the interest expressed in the Japanese American internment is evident in all the different disciplines and genres. The main reason for the incarceration was professed to be the so-called problem of the identity of the Japanese Americans. Several governmental reports and scholarly articles based on the incarceration, provide extensive information for researchers on the issue (Simpson: 1). Houston (p.xvii) quotes Henry Steele Commager in Harper’s Magazine, 1947: “It is sobering to recall that though the Japanese relocation program, carried through at such incalculable cost in misery and tragedy, was justified on the grounds that the Japanese were potentially disloyal, the record does not disclose a single case of Japanese disloyalty or sabotage during the whole war...” (Houston: xvii). The Japanese Americans suffered extensive damages through loss of property, income and psychological impacts. Though the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Office of Naval Intelligence reported to the contrary, military leaders expressed suspicions regarding special dangers of espionage and sabotage, which necessitated restrictions on travel, compliance to curfews, later followed by evacuation and detention in concetration camps (Nash: 743). Without indictment or inquiry about loyalty, the detention of Japanese Americans was carried out, on the grounds of lack of time. On the other hand, on the east coast, “Italian and German Americans there were given individual loyalty hearings, not incarcerated en masse” (Nash: 744). The Social and Political Background for the Detention of Japanese Americans The main reasons for this heinous injustice are believed to be racism, wartime hysteria and a lack of strong political leadership (Maki et al: 1). Racial or ethnic differences are believed to make white European Americans more superior as compared to those who are colored (Randall, 2009). “Fear and hatred of the Japanese in the United States had first emerged long before World War II” (Burgan: 15). The Japanese were considered to be dishonest and conflictive by nature and believed that they adopted treacherous ways. This view was strengthened by Caucasian farmers who envied the Japanese their successful farms. More than half the Japanese who were sent to concentration camps were U.S. citizens by birth. The approach of the government towards these citizens belied the principles of the U.S. Constitution. The social and political events related to the Japanese presence in the United States begins in 1869, when the first Japanese to settle in America arrived at Gold Hill, near Sacramento, California. In 1870, the U.S. Congress granted naturalization rights to immigrant whites and blacks, but did not include the Asian races. In 1866, the Japanese government permitted its citizens to emigrate to other countries, lifting its ban. In 1911, the U.S. courts refused naturalization to the Japanese. In 1913, the Alien Land Bill was passed to prevent Japanese aliens from owning land in California (Houston: xiii). Starting from the 1890s, the numbers of Japanese immigrants coming to the United States increased steadily, so that in the first decade there were 1,30,000 Japanese in number. Most of the immigrants settled in California, with some in Oregon and Washington. The increasing numbers of Japanese and their greater success in farming was also considered to be a major reason for their being unaccepted by people in the western United States. Already, the Chinese who had come for the California Gold Rush and to work in mines and railroads, had been the target of racism in the Pacific Coast. The Japanese being Asians like the Chinese, were also targeted in the same manner. In 1907, President Roosevelt worked out a deal with Japan since he feared that white mobs may attack the Japanese (Burgan: 18-20). By 1924, all immigration from Japan was banned by Congress. However, by 1930, the Japanese presence had grown to 1,40,000 people. Anti-Japanese feelings increased in California. The Caucasian farmers resented the high levels of success achieved by the Japanese. While the United States’ control and trade expansion over Hawaii, Philippines, and small Pacific islands grew, so did Japan’s influence in the region. Japan’s leaders believed that they would have to go into war with the United States. In 1934 Roosevelt had a study conducted in the west coast for suspicious Japanese activity or espionage; and the fear of Japanese spying grew after 1939. In September that year, World War II began in Poland with Germany’s invasion of Poland. Japan had conquered a large part of China and had become allies with Germany. The Japanese army was preparing for further attacks especially against colonies owned by Great Britain, which was the United States’ main ally (Burgan: 24, 25). Though initially America did not want to join World War II, by 1940, Roosevelt knew that the U.S. would have to prepare to confront both Germany and Japan. In the next year, the relationship between America and Japan grew worse. The U.S. helped China against Japan, and restricted American trade to Japan. These actions were the reason for Japan’s anger increasing against the U.S. With war between the U.S. and Japan becoming a reality, the Japanese Americans were to get caught betwen them. On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese carried out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor which lasted for two hours, causing immense destruction of ships and loss of thousands of lives. The Japanese Americans thus became vulnerable and helpless due to the betrayal by their own country’s leadership (Burgan: 25, 29). The United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other leaders feared that some Japanese Americans, being aliens or non-U.S. citizens may be disloyal to the United States, and conduct anti-national activities such as spying for Japan, or adversely affect the American war preparations and interventions. This resulted in tens of thousands of Japanese Americans being arrested (Burgan: 15). In February, 1942 President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066, providing authority to the War Department to allocate military areas in the western states including California, and to evacuate from them all the people who would oppose the war effort. On March 25th, 1942, the evacuated refugees arrived at Manzanar Camp in Owens Valley, California, the first permanent camp to open. Within six months, the evacuation was completed with the removal of 1,20,000 people of Japanese origin from the west coast to ten inland camps (Houston: xiv). In December 1944, the first and important step towards closing the camps was taken by the Supreme court which ruled that loyal citizens “cannot be held in detention camps against their will” (Houston: xiv). On August 14th, 1945, Japan surrendered, thereby bringing World War II to an end. In November, 1945 Manzanar camp was officially closed. In June 1952 Congress passed Public Law 414, providing Japanese aliens the right to become naturalized U.S. citizens. The Issei were the first immigrants of Japanese nationality. They were born in Japan, immigrating to the U.S. between 1890 and 1915. The Nisei were the children of the Issei, second generation, American citizens by birth, with most of them born before the second world war. Sansei were the third generation of Americans with Japanese ancestry, and most of them were born during or after the second world war (Houston: xv). The Japanese American evacuation was a highly significant historical event for the people of Japanese origin in the United states. One of the important ways in which the entire episode was documented was through oral history. Social scientists used the interviews of many of the tens of thousands incarcerated in the ten concentration camps established by the War Relocation Authority (Hansen: 625). The public was aware of the internment, but the press did not report a great deal on the mass movement of mainland Japanese Americans, since this was contradictory to the positive and inspirational deeds and causes of the war. The second world war, “against the tyranny and oppression of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan often necessitated portraying the United States as a virtual paragon of democratic virtues” (Simpson: 9). Implications of the Japanese American Detentions The social, economic and political reasons which formed the basis for the internment resulted in far-reaching socio-psychological implications for Japanese Americans. The ideals of democratic nationalism are challenged by the requirement to remember the event; and ideological significance forms the basis for the historical and cultural narratives about Japanese American identity and incarceration in detention camps. “The manipulation of the United States’ internment of Japanese Americans was, while frequently blatantly racist” (Simpson: 6), also complicated by other issues. The social and political disenfranchisement of Japanese Americans during the late 1940s and early 1950s created national identity and postwar history. When the detention came under focus, it had the potential to undermine the reputation of U.S. democracy and the myth of exceptionalism that American history maintains. In the decade following the world war, the nation had to confront the issue of Japanese American identity, with disturbing outcomes. America’s methods of dealing with other national issues in the early post-war era such as McCarthyism, the atomic bomb, racial integration, and middle-class gender roles, depended heavily on mainstream representations of Japanese Americans’ place in the national order. This was not ostensibly evident due to the changing perceptions of Japanese American internment (Simpson: 6). For all the horrors of incarceration undergone by the Japanese Americans, individualized compensation and redressal was achieved after a long struggle (Nash: 754). This strengthened both the ethnic and national identities of Japanese Americans (Hansen: 639). Starting at the grass-roots level, the Japanese Americans gathered political support and successfully obtained a written apology from the president of the United States, and monetary compensation of $20,000 to surviving Japanese Americans according to the provisions of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act (Maki et al: 192). Conclusion This paper has highlighted the history of Japanese detention camps during World War II. The social and political circumstances leading to the creation of the concentration camps have been discussed. As read in California Dreams and Realities, the state of California has been a leader in several ways, including accommodating most of the Japanese immigrants who had left their own country to start a new life in the United States of America. Their increasing numbers on the west coast, the breakdown of ties between the U.S. and Japan, with the onset of World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the United States joining the world war, have been investigated in this paper. One of the main casualties in the conflict between America and Japan were the Japanese Americans living on the mainland of the country. They were already heavily ostracised due to racism, and resented for their prowess in farming and other methods of livelihood. President Roosevelt and other leaders suspected them of possibly indulging in foul play such as disloyalty towards America, spying or sabotage, and decided to evacuate and detain them in ten concentration camps located in isolated areas and in extremely low conditions. The Japanese Americans’ not only lost their livelihoods, their property and their normal way of life, many suffered and died untimely deaths due to the poor conditions and lack of adequate medical facilities. The detention of the Japanese Americans was without prior trial or any charge against them regarding the issues of loyalty to the host country. This is considered to be against the principles of the United States Constitution. The nation prides itself as an upholder of liberty and justice for all, and such unlawful detentions without provocation cannot be justified, no matter what the social or political environment of that time. Works Cited Burgan, Michael. The Japanese American internment: Civil liberties denied. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books. (2007). Hansen, Arthur A. Oral history and the Japanese American evacuation. The Journal of American History, 82.2 (September 1995): 625-639. Houston, James D. Farewell to Manzanar: A true story of Japanese American Experience during and after the World War II Internment. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (2002). Maasik, Sonia & Solomon, Jack. California dreams and realities: Readings for critical thinkers and writers. 2nd Edition. New York: Bedford/ St.Martin’s. (1999). Maki, Mitchell T., Kitano, Harry H. & Berthold, Sarah M. Achieving the impossible dream: how Japanese Americans obtained redress. The United States of America: University of Illinois Press. (1999). Nash, Philip T. Review: Moving for redress. Reviewed work: And justice for all: An oral history of the Japanese American detention camps by John Tateishi. The Yale Law Journal, 94.3 (January 1985): 743-755. Randall, Vernellia. Institutional racism. The University of Dayton, School of Law. Retrieved on 13th July, 2009 from: http://academic.udayton.edu/race/intro.htm Simpson, Caroline C. An absent presence: Japanese Americans in postwar American culture, 1945-1960. The United States of America: Duke University Press. (2001). Read More