What led the government to evacute Japanese Americans from the West coast?

Answer 1

Not going out on a limb here I would guess the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor..

Answer 2

Military commanders and politicians were deftly afraid the Japanese would attack a the West Coast and even land soldiers. They had seen how effective the German blitzkrieg was in Europe and US intelligence was aware the Germans and Japanese had a fairly close military relationship, they assumed they shared tactics and strategies as well. The fear was justified that with a military vastly weakened by years of depression/isolationism, a Japanese invasion force would be able to take considerable territory on the coast. It was feared that there were ethnic Japanese acting as operatives for Imperial Japan and as "spies". There was some justification there, as somewhere before the attack on Pearl Harbor there was talk on the part of Japan's war planners of actually capturing Hawaii and occupying it. The plans were for ethnic Japanese and Asians to be separated.

Or you could just sum it all up as racism. Asia was (and still is) such a mystery to the powers that be in Washington D.C. that numerous legislations were enacted to curb immigration coming from China an Japan. The US government was also aware the condition Japan was put in when denied oil exports by the Americans. The assumption was that because an entire society could live and act so different from the Anglo-Saxon majority in America, there might cause for trouble there.

It's worth noting the Japanese did the same thing to foreigners living in Japan at the outbreak of the War, too.

Answer 3

Fear added to the already existing racism. We were at war with Germany also but no action was taken against German Americans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor people, especially on the west coast became fearful of another attack even though the likelihood was very small as Japan did not have planes that could reach th US. Their anxiety was increased by the presents of clearly identifiable Japanese living among them.

Answer 4

The US government thought that some Japanese-Americans might be spies who would try to communicate with Japanese Navy submarines surfacing off the US coastline about US troop and naval movements and other sensitive information. By moving them further inland, the government thought this kind of clandestine communication would be more difficult to pull off. By forcing them to move, the government was also able to group them all together in one or a few places that were easier to guard. That's why the internment camp was situated in the middle of the desolate Arizona desert.

Answer 5

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, everyone was afraid that the next attack would occur on the west coast of California and Oregon. As a result, everyone was afraid that all Japanese were spies. To alleviate the fear and concern of the non-Japanese citizens, they herded all Japanese (citizen or not) out to a concentration camp (I can't recall its name at the moment) out in the Mojave Desert of California.

All of their property and businesses were closed and confiscated. This was one of the worst cases of mass bias and racial misconduct of the government ever.

Answer 6

Fear of spying and terrorist plots to harm.

Answer 7

Racism. Period.