Japanese Internment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Japanese Internment - Essay Example Yet these innocent people were removed from their homes and placed in relocation centers, many for the duration of the war (Davis 1982:27). In contrast, between 1942 and 1944, 18 Caucasians were tried for spying for Japan; at least ten were convicted in court (Uyeda 1995:66). 1 When the Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, United States suspected that the Japanese were getting ready to launch a full-scale attack on the West Coast of the country. Massive searches were conducted to prevent communication with the Japanese ships. By January 2, "the Joint Immigration Committee of the California Legislature sent a manifesto to California newspapers summing up the historical catalogue of charges against the ethnic Japanese, who, said the manifesto, were totally inassimilable. The manifesto declared that all of Japanese descent were loyal to the Emperor, and attacked Japanese language schools as teaching Japanese racial superiority."2 It was feared that this population might commit acts of espionage or sabotage for the Japanese military. By February, "Earl Warren, at the time Attorney General of California, and U.S. Webb, a former Attorney General, were vigorously seeking to persuade the federal government to remove all ethnic Japanese from the west coas t."2 Hence began the Japanese Internment. Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 signed the Executive Order 9066 that allowed military commanders to designate military areas called â€Å"exclusion zones" as per their discretion. They had the right to decide who was a citizen and who was not. Eventually about 1/3 area of the country consisted of such zones, including the East and West Coasts. Some of the typical rules that were passed in these camps were: March 2, 1942: General John L. DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 1, informing all those of Japanese ancestry that they would, at some later point, be subject to exclusion orders from "Military Area No. 1" (the entire Pacific coast to