In the months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, many expected an immediate attack against the West Coast. Fear gripped the country and a wave of hysterical antipathy against the Japanese engulfed the Pacific Coast.
The FBI quickly began rounding up any and all "suspicious" Japanese for internment. None was ever charged with any crime. Almost all were simply Japanese community leaders, Buddhist or Shinto priests, newspaper editors, language or Judo instructors, or labor organizers. The Japanese community leadership was liquidated in one quick operation.
Men were taken away without notice. Most families knew nothing about why their men had suddenly disappeared, to where they were taken, or when they would be released. Some arrestees were soon let free, but most were secretly shipped to internment camps around the country. Some families learned what had happened to their men only several years later. The action also included the freezing of bank accounts, seizure of contraband, drastic limitation on travel, curfew and other severely restrictive measures. But this FBI operation merely set the stage for the mass evacuation to come.
My favorite part is that what was done to the American citizens of Japanese ancestry was part of a military plan dating back to the first years of the FDR presidency. It was pure theft based on race. The fact that most Japanese voted Republican....Ray
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that. Thanks.
DeleteI can't fault the decision. Remember that we were "suddenly and deliberately attacked" by Japan. Remember the state of shock the country was in. Remember the fear that gripped American citizens. Our leaders at the time made a decision based on facts and fear. Nearly seventy five years later, in peaceful and prosperous surroundings, it's easy to criticize that decision. We weren't there; they were. If they could have made the decision with knowledge from 2016 it's likely they would have decided differently. 20-20 hindsight is a powerful thing. It's also fictitious.
ReplyDeleteYes, they attacked us first, but the Germans didn't.
DeleteGermany declared war on the US after the US declared war on Japan. I submit that the same rationale for the internment of Japanese Americans applies to Germans. Seventy five years ago there were many first and second generation German-Americans enclaves, Milwaukee being arguably the most notable. The enclaves were a logical place for spies, saboteurs, etc. to hide. The majority of those interned were German nationals, not US citizens.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of those interned were German nationals, not US citizens.
DeleteI wouldn't know.
I lived for several years (8th grade through my Jr. year in High School) outside a little town named Sherwood Oregon. On the High School walls were pictures of all the graduating classes. Up through the '30s and until 1941 about 25-30% were Japanese. In 1942 they all disappeared. The most prominent families had owned a very large tract of agricultural land known as "the onion flats" that were famous for flooding every winter and filling with rich silt. It would be drained in the spring for planting. In early 1942 the Japanese were all shipped out and their land expropriated and never returned. Pure and complete theft. I doubt the were compensated but a few pennies an acre. I never understood why after the war they didn't return or even make claim to land that had been theirs for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting story.
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I never understood why after the war they didn't return or even make claim to land that had been theirs for a long time.
Damn, good question.
FDR bombed Pearl Harbor; FDR killed three thousand men
ReplyDeletein the harbor. Yet, no Nuremberg trial for him, the mass
murderer.