American Foreign Policy L10: World War Two - Part Two American Foreign Policy Agenda Objective: To understand the causes and experiences of Japanese Internment To understand the centrality of Japanese Interment in the war against Japan. Schedule: Lecture, Discussion, Image and Video Analysis Homework: Reading on the Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb Due (G: Thurs 5/8; Y: Tues 5/13) Civic Literacy: Last Day Tues 6/10 Facilitation Prep (Misc Dates)

Our Study of World War Two Pearl Harbor (Causes) Treatment of Japanese Americans America in Combat The Dropping of the Atomic Bomb

The United States Enters World War Two December 1941 Pearl Harbor is bombed on December 7, 1941 United States declares war on Japan December 8, 1941

Executive Order 9066 Presidential Executive order issued by Franklin Roosevelt authorizing the Secretary of War to designate certain areas of the United States as exclusion zones from which “any or all persons may be excluded.” Soon, 110,00-120,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the West Coast were put into relocation camps

Who Is Interned? West Coast Residents (California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona) Only 1200-1500 Japanese Americans living in Hawaii were interned, despite making up a third of the Hawaiian population Most were second or third generation Japanese-Americans 62% American citizens 50% children

What Was Life Like in the Camps Families had two days to pack and could only bring what they could carry Families typically were able to stay together Housed in barracks Used communal areas of washing, laundry, and eating Property was edged with barbed wire, and protected by armed guards Camps were located in remote, desolate areas

Racism Wartime Hysteria Failure of Leadership Economic Motives Causes of Internment Racism Wartime Hysteria Failure of Leadership Economic Motives

Racism There was deep racism in America in the 1940s… Jim Crow, Segregated Military, Immigration Quotas There was considerable anti-Japanese racism (particularly in California) Japanese Exclusion League of California Japanese immigrants denied the right to become naturalized citizens (Takao Ozawa v. United States 1922) Covenants against renting or selling homes to Asians were common in California Laws banning marriage between whites and Japanese Segregated schools between white and Japanese Americans Myth of the “yellow peril” Japanese immigrants were described as an invading horde who lowered the standard of living for white workers They were accused of being dirty, unhealthy, and unable to assimilate

Bugs Bunny Cartoon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtlcrIkIbI

Wartime Hysteria False reports of spying and sabotage by Japanese Americans, combined with racial prejudices, led to feelings of hate towards Japanese Americans following the attack at Pearl Harbor. A variety of false reports were printed in the media stating that Japanese-Americans aided at Pearl Harbor or were spying on Americans, etc. To the right, is a false story published in 1942

Failure of Leadership Roosevelt ignored reports from Naval Intelligence, the FBI, and other sources that there was no need for mass removal or incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry Supreme Court upheld the Constitutionality of internment in Korematsu v. United States 1944

Economic Motives "We're charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons and we might as well be honest. We do. It's a question of whether the white man lives on the Pacific Coast or the brown men," wrote Frank J. Taylor in the Saturday Evening Post. Groups that competed with Japanese immigrant farmers and laborers lobbied for internment

The American Government’s Take on Japanese Internment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OiPldKsM5w

Discussion Recall the following diagram…What is the role of Japanese Interment in this process? How does it grow out of Pearl Harbor? How might it contribute to the decision to drop the atomic bomb? Boycott/Embargo of Japan Bombing of Pearl Harbor Japanese Internment Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

Epilogue January 1945, internment is ended Freed internees were given $25 and a bus ticked to their former homes In 1983 the United States government issued a report which said that internment was unjust and militarily unjustified and had been motivated largely by racism In 1992, all living internees received a $20,000 reparation payment