World War II Essay Example for Free

World War II Essay II (WWII), 120,000 Japanese Americans, US citizens or not, were forced out of the west coast after the attack of Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which allowed local military commanders to establish exclusion zones from which any or all persons may be excluded. Americans of Japanese descent were forcibly interned in different camps in the US. The military felt that this was a necessary action to prevent any espionage and pro-Japanese actions in the west coast. Regardless of the mass evacuation, a number of Japanese Americans served in the military forces. In fact, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) is the most highly decorated unit in US military history. Asian discrimination The discrimination against the Asians in the United States started even way before the incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII. In the late 1900s, laws were passed that explicitly prohibited Japanese to become citizens of the US. They could not have a land of their own and were not allowed to marry outside their race. They could only buy homes in certain areas and were prohibited to work in certain industries. The Immigration Act of 1924 stated that aliens who were ineligible for citizenship would not be allowed to immigrate to the United States. When Japan had been establishing its colonial rule in the 20th century, news of brutality of Japan came into the US. In particular, Japans colonization of China was widely condemned by the US government. As a result, prohibitions on oil and supplies were placed on Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 further strengthened the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Americans especially when eyewitness reports of violence reached the country. The anti-Japanese sentiment reached its peak when the appalling attack on Pearl Harbor transpired on December 7, 1941. This impelled the United States to wage war against the Japanese Empire. This anger was further fuelled by how Japanese treated American and other western prisoners of war, the Bataan Death March, and the Kamikaze attacks on American ships. Internment Executive Order 9066 Starting 1939, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been compiling information on prominent members of the Japanese community. These data in the Custodial Detention Index (CDI) were used to classify the persons according to their possible danger to the country. A few hours after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Attorney General, given a presidential blanket authority, announced that the FBI, using the information in the CDI, would be detaining dangerous enemy aliens who may put the security of the nation in jeopardy. Some believed that Japan would launch an attack on the west coast. Many officials doubted the loyalty of the Japanese residing in this area, their judgments mostly based on racial bias. They also feared a possible tampering of water system or arson. The distrust to the ethnic Japanese was more strengthened by the fact that many of them were educated in Japan, where schools emphasized reverence for the Emperor. This planted suspicion of espionage by the Japanese Americans. On December 30, the Attorney General authorized raids even without search and warrant arrests to all houses of Japanese lineage provided that there is at least one Japanese alien. General John L. DeWitt, commanding officer of the Western Defense Command, advocated the removal of enemy aliens from zones in the west coast. He insisted that there were indications of sabotage by the Japanese Americans. Although various agencies, such as the FBI, found no evidence of such a claim, their reports were suppressed by high officials. DeWitts recommendation easily made its way to the War Department who readily approved it. When President Franklin Roosevelt was presented the order, he readily signed the order without consulting the Cabinet. His support of the internment was a great show of support to the Americans that would be rewarding in the coming election. Exclusion, removal, and detention On February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 authorized the Army to designate military areas from which any person may be excluded. Although there was no explicit command to evacuate the Japanese Americans, the order was carried out only to people of Japanese ancestry. The Italians Americans and German Americans, whose countries of origin were also at war with the allies of the United States, did not experience the same fate as the Japanese Americans. On March 11, the Office of the Alien Property Custodian was given discretionary authority over alien property interests. Many of the assets were frozen, causing financial difficulty for the people affected and hindering them from moving out of the exclusion zones. On March 24, Public Proclamation No. 3 enforced a curfew from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am for all enemy aliens and people of Japanese ancestry within the military areas. A few days later, another proclamation prohibited them from leaving Military Area No. 1, which is the entire Pacific coast to about 100 miles inland, until an order allows them to leave. On May 3, Japanese Americans were ordered to live in the assembly centers until transferred to relocation centers. The unfounded mass removal of the Japanese Americans took place around 8 months. Japanese Americans lost most of their properties since they were allowed to bring only what they could carry, such as clothing and personal effects. Numbered tags were given to them as a means of their identification and their belongings. Residents of twelve Latin American countries with Japanese ancestry were also interned to US internment camps. After WWII, most of the Japanese Latin Americans were not allowed to return to their countries and instead were deported to Japan, where they suffered hardships as Japan was severely damaged by the war. Of more than a hundred thousand Japanese Americans subjected to the mass removal program of the government, two-thirds of them were US citizens by birth. Farming as a cause of anti-Japanese sentiments Much of the prejudice against the Japanese Americans was intensified due to the competence of the Japanese in the agriculture industry. Being ingenious people, they eventually had their own farms and other businesses. A number of thriving businesses owned by Japanese Americans were strong competitors in the agricultural industry. The Japanese Americans had developed sophisticated means of irrigation that allowed the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and flowers on lands that could not be used for farming previously. The first-generation Japanese Americans, the Issei, indeed prospered in the 20th century, but their fate turned when they lost their farm during the internment. This, however, pleased the white farmers as they could take over Japanese farms. Because the Japanese Americans were removed from their farms, laborers were needed to take over the lands of the Japanese. Immigrations from the Mexican border started coming to Mexico. However, thousands of Nisei, children of first-generation Japanese that were US-born, were still needed to save the farming industry so thousands of them were released from camps. But for the Japanese Americans who remained in camp, they strived to irrigate and cultivate barren lands in areas near the internment camps. Because of their hard work, they were able to build farm lands that are still productive until the present.