Times of war are historically hostile tocivil rights . EvenU.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln – arguably the most dear president in chronicle – fill liberties with the Constitution during theCivil War . For one , he suspend the writ ofhabeas corpusto tolerate prisoners to be hold without trial . Historians argue whether this was justified , and even many of his champion are willing to accommodate that Lincoln ’s action mechanism are ethically greyish . Eighty years later , another president was present with a similarly difficult decision when the United States was pluck into state of war .
After the Nipponese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 , President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made the decision to relocate more than 100,000 Japanese and Nipponese - Americans from their home on the West Coast to ingroup around the country . Although FDR himself called them " concentration camps , " we do n’t use that term today – it ’s laden because of its connection to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany . The American refugee camp bear little resemblance to the concentration camps where Nazis were attempting to exterminate the Judaic race , but at the clip , Americans bang little about what was really fail on privileged Nazi concentration camps .
Though many fence that the forced relocation of Japanese and Japanese - Americans was primarily motivated by racialism , the U.S. government cited interior security rationality for the sweeping relocation ( although a congressional mission would afterward reason otherwise , as we ’ll see ) . Nazi assiduity camps were designed to snuff out the Jewish the great unwashed , who the Nazis considered less beingness , from the human race . understandably , the use of the term " concentration camp " to account U.S. relocation camps is misleading ; for that grounds , scholars prefer to call them internment camps .
language away , the relocation of Japanese and Japanese - Americans was a controversial and heavily criticized issue . Not until decades after the state of war did a congressional commission conclude that the relocation decision was prompted by " airstream prejudice , war hysteria , and a unsuccessful person of political leadership " [ source : Kops ] . So what reasons did officials give in the forties for the relocation ?
Japanese-Americans in the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor
When Japan attackedPearl Harboron Dec. 7 , 1941 , government officials immediately placed Hawaii under warriorlike police force and became implicated about the Japanese - Americans who be on the West Coast of the United States . Intelligence gather before the attack indicate that Japan was recruitingspiesand had already fasten a spy meshing there [ source : Kops ] . However , whether sure officials knew about this – and whether it motivated their support for the resettlement efforts – is a matter of public debate .
forthwith after the attack on Pearl Harbor , government functionary rounded up who they considered potentially dangerous aliens for critical review . This included more than 1,500 aliens from Japan , but also some from Germany and Italy . After critical review , some aliens were discharge , and others were sent to detainment coterie . Soon , the political science imposed curfews and travel limitation on Japanese - Americans living on the West Coast . Meanwhile , Canada also enforced a relocation insurance policy , which need more than 20,000 Japanese - Canadians to move from the West Coast to other regions or inner circle .
On Feb. 19 , 1942 , two month after the attack on Pearl Harbor , Roosevelt issuedExecutive Order 9066 , which pass on the war machine the power to assign zones in which " any or all persons may be excluded " for internal defense purposes [ origin : FDR Library ] . As a result , about 112,000 masses , both first - generation ( issei ) and second - generation ( nisei ) Japanese - Americans living on the West Coast were forced to go to temporary assembly centre and then to resettlement camps , regardless of citizenship . Although the executive order primarily affected Nipponese living on the West Coast , it also result in hundreds of Italian - Americans and German - Americans being banned from zones on both coasts [ source : Malkin ] .
With about two hebdomad notice at most , Japanese on the West Coast had to leave their homes behind and bring with them only what they could carry . They lived in the assembly centers ( such as military barracks or repurposed fairgrounds under military control ) for months until the recent summertime of 1942 , when they were finally post to one of 10 impoundment camps .
The Internment Camps
Even the WRA readily admit that conditions within the camps were subpar . The government activity cater compartmentalised barracks , with one family per room . Each of these small rooms had cot and mattresses , blankets , astoveand a light . Residents used public washing and bathroom facilities as well as a mess hallway for repast . In accession to a low allowance for clothes and other personal outgo , the reward for those who process was low liken to external market . To hold up a more comfortable living , many dipped into their personal saving . However , this was n’t an pick for the first - generation Japanese , whose assets were flash-frozen . They had to bank on the money they got selling personal possessions before relocation .
Although the Japanese - Americans staying in these camps tried their effective to defend the likeness of a normal life with leisurely activities like movies and baseball game league , syndicate life suffered a blow . For example , during meal , the untested propagation jumped at the chance to eat with their friends , and families became fractured [ source : Wu ] . parent also lost some of their confidence when their baby began reach the same wage as them [ source : Sowell ] . The camp offer few options for employment , all of which came with similarly humbled reward . As a result , life-time in the camps interrupt the traditional family ace and social structure .
In 1943 , the WRA dole out a questionnaire to all internees who were 17 or older that was design to determine their loyalty to the United States . Among other thing , it asked if the internee would give up allegiance to the Nipponese Saturnia pavonia . That year , those who pass the loyalty test were allow to leave the camps for work or school .
Finally , in December 1944 , Japanese - Americans were allowed to return to the West Coast , and internees were gradually allowed to allow the camps . Life could n’t immediately go back to normal for most of them , however . In many cause , the internees ' property and businesses had been neglected , vandalized or taken over by others [ author : Min ] . The government estimated that these multitude ’s financial losses pile up to $ 400,000,000 ( in 2009 , that ’s roughly equal to $ 5,219,852,760.80 ) [ generator : Sowell ] .
Were the Internment Camps Constitutional?
The constitutionality of the internment camp was called into question almost as soon as they were congeal up . One important case regarding this event come to the U.S.Supreme Courtin 1944 in Korematsu v. the United States . In this case , the courtyard bear on the constitutionality of the camps due to " military necessity . " But that same yr , the court harness in Ex parte Endo that those who ’d proven their loyalty to the United States could n’t be confine .
Due to the slew oflawsuitsand the public outcry against the questionable legitimacy of the camp , the government closed them before the war end . Criticism mounted in ensuing decades , and victims demanded redress for their loss . In 1980 , Congress create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the resettlement program . Two years later on , the commission conclude in the study " Personal Justice deny " that relocation was motivated by " racism " and " wartime hysteria . " By 1988 , Congress approved redress payment and issued prescribed apologia letters .
President Roosevelt ’s resettlement determination remain controversial , and there are different camps of thought on the subject . Those who disagree with his determination point to the fact that during the whole of World War II , no Japanese - American was ever convict of espionage [ source : Sowell ] . These critics also debate that most of the officials who pushed for relocation were n’t privy to the intelligence information that indicated the existence of a Japanesespynetwork on the West Coast . If it is rightful that official did n’t know about grounds of a undercover agent mesh , it would affirm the theory that they were move by racism ( as the congressional mission close ) .
After Sept. 11 , when Arab - Americans became subject to suspicion and racial profiling , the argument became especially relevant again . In 2003 , Congressman Howard Coble stirred up controversy with his response to a caller on a radio receiver show who wanted to see Arab - Americans relocated . Coble react that he would n’t put up such a measure , but that he agreed with FDR ’s decision to relocate Japanese and Nipponese - Americans [ germ : AP ] . Although Coble narrow that the immense majority of Japanese - Americans were n’t enemy of United States , he enounce he believes some likely meant harm to the country . In summation to national surety reasons , Coble also argued that the camps in reality protect Japanese - Americans , who , he said , were n’t good on the street . In her controversial Good Book " In Defense of Internment , " materialistic writer Michelle Malkin expound on these arguments . She argues that the resettlement was not prompt by racism but by licit national security reasons ; she defends post - Sept. 11 racial profiling when interior protection is at stake .
While these are sure as shooting controversial opinions , they designate toward the fact we want to find a better way to deal with national security measure topic .
