WWII Japanese Internment

WWII Japanese Internment

The American government enacted a policy during the Second World War where any persons of Japanese descent were forcibly removed and held in specially-built detainment facilities referred to as "War Relocation Camps."

The policy was enacted in the wake of the Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the winter of 1941. And although some two-thirds of those interned were legal American citizens, the policy was justified as a necessity to weed out Japanese spies and the disloyal Japanese-Americans willfully aiding them.

Fast Facts

Began: May 3, 1942
Ended: January 2, 1945
Total interned: 110,000 - 120,000
Approximately two-thirds were legal American citizens
Internment enacted due to suspicion of Japanese spy networks and sympathizers
Camps were run under governmental divisions including the U.S. Army, Department of Justice, the Wartime Civilian Control Agency (WCCA), and the War Relocation Authority (WRA)
1988 Reparations: $20,000

Key Dates

December 7, 1941: Japan launches attacks Pearl Harbor

February 19, 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066

March 18, 1942: The War Relocation Authority (WRA) is formed under Executive Order 9102

March 22, 1942: Manzanar is the first relocation camp to open

April 9, 1942: The Wartime Civilian Control Agency (WCCA) is established to transport and manage internees

January 2, 1945: Exclusion order rescinded

July 2, 1948: The American Japanese Claims Act is passed, allowing applications for compensation due to internment

March 3, 1992: Manzanar is established as a National Historic Site

Detainees

Of the internees, roughly two-thirds were American citizens. These actions were legalized under the terms of Executive Order 9066. The remaining one-third of detainees were chiefly residents who had been denied citizenship under the Alien Enemies Act.

Scattered Camps

The U.S. government established the War Relocation Authority, which operated a total of 10 camps called "Relocation Centers." Camps were built throughout west, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Two camps were also built in Arkansas. The most famous of these was Manzanar, in Inyo County, California, which is currently a National Historic Site.

Categories

History | U.S. History | World War II | Human Rights

| View Note History

The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Japanese American Internment
Smithsonian Institute: A More Perfect Union
University of Houston: Explorations: Japanese-American Internment
National Park Service: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites
University of California: JARDA: Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives
University of Washington Libraries: Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project

WWII Japanese Internment Background and Causes

Anti-Asian Racism

Wikipedia: Anti-Japanese Sentiment
Asian Nation: Anti-Asian Racism & Violence
Özge Baykan: Images of Japan in Western World: The Pre-World War II Period
The American Immigration Law Foundation: "The Impact of Asian-Pacific Migration ..." (2004)

War-Time Hysteria

PBS: Civil Liberties in War Time
United States Merchant Marine: World War II Posters
Life On The Home Front: Sabotage, Subversion, and Espionage Lurk in the Shadows
The Future of Freedom Foundation: "Wartime Attacks on Civil Liberties" (2006)
Institute for Historical Review: "Not Just Japanese Americans" (1987)

Pearl Harbor Attack

Mahalo Guide to the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Official Site: USS Arizona National Memorial
Naval Historical Center: Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941
National Geographic: Remembering Pearl Harbor

Japanese-Canadian Internment

Wikipedia: Japanese Canadian Internment
National Association of Japanese Canadians: Map of Internment Centers
CBC Archives: Relocation to Redress: The Internment of the Japanese Canadians
United Settlement: Japanese Canadians v. Attorney-General for Canada (1947)

WWII Japanese Internment Central Figures

John L. DeWitt

Wikipedia: John L. DeWitt
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: John Lesesne DeWitt (1880-1962)
U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum: Major General John L. DeWitt
TIME: "Judge v. General" (1942)

Fred Korematsu

Wikipedia: Fred Korematsu
PBS: The Fred Korematsu Story
New York Times: "He Said No To Internment" (2005)
The Seattle Times: "Fred Korematsu, 86, Fought World War II Internment, Dies" (2005)
US Supreme Court Center: Amicus Brief Filed by Fred Korematsu (2004) (296 KB)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Mahalo's Guide to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wikipedia: Franklin D. Roosevelt | Franklin D. Roosevelt's Record on Civil Rights
Whitehouse.gov: Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR Library: FDR Biography

WWII Japanese Internment Images and Media

PBS: Children Of The Camps
Statesman Journal: Beyond Barbed Wire
Library of Congress: Ansel Adams’ Photographs
University of Washington Libraries: Japanese Internment Camps
Utah State University: Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center
Japanese American National Museum: Jack Iwata Collection | Walter Muramoto Collection
Yahoo! Image Search: Japanese Internment Camps
Google Image Search: Japanese Internment

WWII Japanese Internment Books and Research

Japanese American National Museum: Clara Breed Collection
University of Kansas School of Law: "Raising the Red Flag..." (2006) (717KB)
Boise State University: "A Paradise in Mountains..." (2004) (217KB)
Amazon.com: Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in ...
Amazon.com: Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family
Amazon.com: Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience

Defending WWII Japanese Internment

Amazon.com: In Defense of Internment by Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin Blog: In Defense of Internment
Free Republic: Why the Japanese Internment Still Matters (December 28, 2004)

WWII Japanese Internment Blogs and Message Boards

Axis History Forum: Japanese Internment
Wake Up America: Reclaiming the Power of Hate (December 2, 2007)
Under the Holly Tree: The Meaning of Manzanar (November 18, 2007)
Edublogs: Time of Remembrance (October 21, 2007)

WWII Japanese Internment Timeline

1941: December 7, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
1941: December 8, The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II
1942: February 19, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066
1942: March, 18, The War Relocation Authority is created
1942: May 3, Exclusion Order No. 346 confines people of Japanese descent to Relocation Centers
1944: December 18, Korematsu v. United States judges interment constitutional
1944: December 18, Ex parte Endo rules that loyal citizens may not be detained
1945: January 2, Exclusion Order No. 346 is rescinded
1945: August 14, V-J Day, Japan surrenders
1976: April 19, President Gerald Ford rescinds Executive Order 9066
1980: Jimmy Carter creates the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
1983: The CWRIC issues its findings, stating that the internment was not justified by military necessity
1988: August 10, The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is signed into law by President Ronald Reagan
1998, January: Fred Korematsu receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Related Pages on Mahalo

Franklin D. Roosevelt | Attack on Pearl Harbor | World War II | Japan | Michelle Malkin | Fred Korematsu

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