In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order to round up as many Japanese-American families as possible and imprison them for the duration of World War Two. Many of those affected were second or third generation Japanese-Americans and most were United States citizens.
PEARL HARBOR
The mass incarceration was an immediate effect of the Pearl Harbor bombing that took place thousands of miles away in Honolulu, Hawaii. In December 1941, a fleet of 353 Japanese planes had bombed the Navy base there, causing significant military damage and provoking the formal entry of the US into the war. The US proved decisive in the Allies’ final victory, but their involvement also led in 1945 to two nuclear bomb attacks on Japan that killed some 226,000 people.
LEARNING ENGLISH
The Japanese had been settling in the US since the 19th century. Early immigrants were lost fishermen picked up by American whaling ships who were unable to return because of Japan’s centuries-old policy of isolation. In the 1850s, expeditions from the US travelled to Japan with the goal of forcing the country to open to trade. This led to the establishment of diplomatic relations, as well as the spread of propaganda about American democracy and Christianity that incited curiosity among wealthy, highly-educated Japanese. Many travelled to the US and set up communities on the West Coast, especially in San Francisco. They worked in the homes of American families to improve their English.
SKILLED FARMERS
By the 1900s, Japanese agricultural workers began arriving on the mainland via Hawaii, where they worked on the islands’ sugar and pineapple plantations. The farmers were incredibly efficient, producing up to double the crop of white farmers. By then, anti-Asian sentiment was rising.
When the war started in Europe, the US army supplied military aid to the UK and France. When a Japanese-American farmer in Salinas, California produced an onion that could last twice as long as the regular crop, the US Navy offered him a huge contract. Feeling financially threatened, the local farmers’ association, comprising of the major white landowners of the western states, organised a lobby in Washington, D.C. to campaign against the Japanese-American farmers.
UNPOPULAR ORDER
A small group of powerful political leaders in the US allowed their paranoia to be fuelled by prejudice. In 1936, Roosevelt had already notified Navy intelligence to provide lists of Japanese-American people to be held under suspicion of spying for Japan. In 1942, he signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the incarceration of some 120,000 Japanese-American women, men and children.
REPARATIONS
Japanese-Americans spent years in so-called relocation camps in inhumane conditions. When they were able to leave in 1945, many had lost everything. In 1988, some compensation was made with a $20,000 cheque and an official apology to those who had been imprisoned. While this would never compensate them fully, it is significant that it was President Ronald Reagan who convinced Congress that it was the right thing to do. This is likely because, as a US Army Captain during World War Two, Reagan had experienced at first hand the poor treatment received by US fighters of Japanese origin who had died for their country.