After Pearl Harbor...?

Question

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American military became concerned about the security of the mainland United States, particularly along the West Coast. Many Americans turned their fear and outrage over the actions of the Japanese government on people of Japanese descent, both citizens and non-citizens, living lawfully in the United States... Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps...At the time, approximately 112,000 people of Japanese descent lived on the West Coast, about 70,000 of these were American citizens. When they relocated the Japanese Americans there was no proven case of espionage or sabotage on their part.
Do you think that we did the right thing? And why?
Thanks!

Okay...do you think it was "right" for Fred Korematsu (A Japanese American) to encourage the President to relocate Japanese citizens.?

AHHH scratch that. I'm confused it wasn't Fred Kormatsu...It was General DeWitt...

Answer 1

Well, it obviously wasn't the right thing, anymore than blacklisting during the McCarthy era was, or the treatment of Native Americans in all eras.

America is not exempt from prejudice and injustice; however, I must point out that in comparison to Nazi concentration camps, which imprisoned people for roughly the same reasons the Japanese/Americans were imprisoned, the inmates were tortured, starved, denied medical care, forced into slave labor, and executed. None of these happened in America.

Answer 2

No, "relocating" innocent people to what were essentially prisons was not the right thing to do. However, the fear of espionage prompted the United States government to make a choice between what was ethically right, and what was safe. Did the United States gain anything from the Japanese American internment? Perhaps they did. Perhaps by enforcing unethical treatment, the government avoided a critical information breach that would've lead to the loss of any number of lives, militant or civilian, or even the loss of the war. On the other hand, maybe there were no spies sent to the internment camps and the United States profited nothing on the whole ordeal. We'll never know.
Personally, I think the fear of an attack on the homeland and the fear of losing the war grant the government some justification. No, it was not the 'right' thing, I'm not arguing with that, but it was not altogether wrong either.

Answer 3

It was probably not the 'right' thing to do, but I believe it was a a necessity at the time. No one was really sure where the Japanese American loyalties lied, especially the first generation that had recently come from Japan. Fear of espionage or sabotage by the islanders was a very big concern in the Pacific military establishment at Pearl. Later on in the war, we allowed some to fight the Germans, but not the Japanese, as a way of allowing them to 'prove' their patriotism. Sometimes, in war, such measures are necessary when there is a significant population of a potentially hostile people inside your borders.

Answer 4

Looking back with the knowledge of hindsight it wasn't the 'right' thing to do. At the time however, the US Navy in the Pacific had been severely limited (being forced to fight with an unproven weapon, the carrier) and many rumors. One that still persists is that several Japanese Americans helped the carrier pilots by burning arrows in cane fields at Hawaii on the 7th of December. Also remember that Japanese (at least then) were extremely loyal to the Emperor, unlike the case of Germany and Hitler.

The US government looked at this and with rumors and threats of an invasion of the West Coast they did something that is regrettable now, the rounding up of Japanese Americans.

Personally I don't know, if given the same circumstances if I'd do the same thing or not. If my country's survival is on the line, not much is going to stop me from protecting it if I have the power.

Answer 5

Japanese attacked pearl harbor because of reasons such as oil embargo imposed by US because Japan occupy China but unknown to anybody before the attack by Japan Imperial navy to Pearl harbor the Civilian leader of US and few selected Naval Commander or Mil Ldr have a pre-hand before the attack that s why their Aircraft carrier were not around during the attacked. The US knows in advance about time and when and strenght of JIN because they have already deciphered or decoded the radio or the US have access to their JIN communication between their civilian leaders and Military ldrs. The US has a best signal intelligence and human intelligence even when US at war with China, China will be defeated cuase their communication was already debugged by US long time ago. Now you cannot do this if not of the elite people or conglomerate businessman who has power even the leadership of China and mil ldrs are under in their sphere of influence including the US. My conclusion therefore is business if China does not behaved they are doomed for destruction.

Answer 6

I had to reply to LodiTX: Nazis didn't imprison Poles, Jews, and other nationalities for the same reason as we imprisoned Japanese-Americans. Nazis did it because they viewed those other nationalities as the scum of the earth. They were property and according to Hitler, responsible for all the world's problems. They were a disease to humankind. We relocated the Japanese-Americans because we had just been attacked, didn't know if another attack was on the way or who was sending information to Japan. Everyone was lost and confused and scared out of their minds. I'm not condoning it, but that was the reason for it. And there is absolutely NO similarity between those two reasons!

Answer 7

Hindsight is always 20/20. But, after they were interred, a sizeable number of potential saboteurs and enemy agents were discovered and later housed in a special section of the camp at Manzanar. That is balanced off by the overwhelming number of Japanese-American men who enlisted and formed the "Nisei Brigade" which fought with valor in the European Theater of Operations.

Answer 8

This is a good and timely question. If Alkida attacks us in the USA we may have to intern all Muslims. The best way to figure the right answer is to ask this, Why do Black Rappers tell all Black people not to talk to the authorities? So we know that like kinds hang together because they figure America means White People?

Answer 9

The reading list below might help.

If you want to learn about the subject without having to sort through a lot of anonymous answers by strangers, about whom you know nothing, including whether they know anything, there's a way to learn.

The reading list below can act as a source for you. Most of the titles can be found in your local library. If they don't have them they can borrow them from another library.


So you'd like to... Understand Hiroshima.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/2QZZ3C22HCEON/ref=cm_sylt_byauthor_title_full_25

Answer 10

No I don't think we did the right thing. We were at war with Germany and Italy too, but we didn't lock German and Italian Americans up, but then they were white.

My country right or wrong. If she's right, God bless her. If she's wrong, God help me right her.