On December 7th, 1941

On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a massive aerial assault on Pearl Harbor. This preemptive strike threw the United States into World War II. The attack also produced a large amount of fear and hatred, amongst the populace, towards Americans of Japanese decent. Many worried that the large Japanese population living on the California coast harbored spies that could possibly endanger U.S. security. As a result of this paranoia, and too secure the west coast during a time of war, the federal government created the Western Defense Command (WDC). On December 11th, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt became head of the WDC. On December 19th, the first official proposal for mass incarceration of individuals of Japanese decent was released from DeWitt’s office. Going through the vast governmental bureaucracy, DeWitt’s proposal was processed, edited, and revised into a workable policy that landed on the desk of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On February 19, 1942, a little over a year after Pearl Harbor, FDR signed Executive Order 9066. This order condemned 120,000 people of Japanese decent, two-thirds of them American citizens, to concentration camps on American land for as long as four years.

Executive Order 9066 is a blatant violation of the United States Constitution. Such a horrific violations of civil rights is hard to imagine today. Those affected by this order were forced from their homes, and could only take what they could carry to the interment camps. Items that were left behind were often sold below cost, and many Japanese entrepreneurs lost their businesses. There was also no trial for any of the prisoners, even though the majority of them were American citizens. Many individuals today find it amazing that such an act occurred with almost total compliancy and acceptance by all Americans. Executive Order 9066 was, however, applied during a time of war, and it occurred about twenty years before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. This combined with the cultural practice of compliancy by Japanese, and the historical racism of white America, created an atmosphere allowing the infringement of a certain ethnicities human rights. All levels of the American political system indorsed Executive Order 9066, even though it was a total contradiction to the ideals of the nation state. There was little to no objection from the media, interests groups, and/or the average American citizen. The government came up with the policy and means of executing the order, and the citizens of this country allowed, if not endorsed, its process.

After WWII ended all Japanese prisoners where released. Many successfully fought in court for reparations to the horrible act for losses incurred during their imprisonment. Those that where not able to receive reparations either started anew in the United States, or went to live in Japan. Amazingly the majority of the Japanese stayed in the United States, contributing to the wealth of this nation. Hopefully both the American people and their government have learned from this grievous error, and will never again accept an order like 9066.