Was it acceptable to imprison a segment of Japanese population when Pearl Harbor was Bombed?

Question

Give reasons with examples:)

Answer 1

Seems morally unacceptable to us today, but in Hawaii after December 7th, the relatively small numbers of Americans (Hawaii was not a state then) were very concerned about a Japanese invasion, and there was a very large Japanese population on the islands. It was like the 9/11 scare which led to the Patriot Act in America in the present day, but it was even worse then because racism was even more pronounced than it is now. The Japanese in Hawaii were not American citizens. They were still Japanese citizens.
It was a totally different matter in the United States where many Japanese were indeed American citizens. We tend to look back today and say, "why imprison Japanese Americans and not Italian or German Americans?" It was racism pure and simple. Americans at the time would have said something like, "Well, we trust them. They look like us."
It is not morally defensible now, but at the time it seemed the safest course of action.

Answer 2

Well looking back on history with 20/20 vision, no it wasn't. Most of the fears were unfounded, but in December 1941/January 1942 no so unfounded. Remember that Japan had attacked the US, the war actually wasn't going that well. Germany had declared war on the US so now the US is fighting a two front war. Japan actually did bombard the west coast, and the Japanese war machine seemed unstoppable.

Add into account that in the 1940s many Japanese were still very loyal to the Emperor (something people of today have a hard time understanding) to go along with misinformation (remember the Internet and quick communications wasn't available yet) and you get the situation where the pressures and times called for something drastic which they did.

Answer 3

No, it was not.

Some of the people of Japanese descent in America were indeed American citizens, having been born here, but many of them were not, since they were not permitted to become naturalized Americans.

Note that in Hawaii, the place with the highest Japanese population, the Japanese population was _not_ interned -- plans were drawn up, but it would have been utterly devastating to the economy of the islands, and indeed, the war effort.

While certainly there was some panic among the civilian population, US military officials realized that there was no chance of an actual Japanese invasion of the mainland in 1941, since Japan lacked the supply capacity to support troops so very far away. Their greatest fear was a raid. Certainly there was no chance of a Japanese invasion after the Battle of Coral Sea and Midway. (1942). This is reflected in the troop deployment levels -- troops started being taken away from homeland defense quite quickly.

Answer 4

Yes. I'm 73, and anyone not old enough to remember WW II, can have no idea how anxious and frightened this country became after Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese in this country were a very, very small percentage of the population. And most no one trusted them, including FDR, and the rest of the country.

Looking back now more than 50 yrs. after the event, many say it was most unjust, even inhuman.

But that's now, not then.

Answer 5

perhaps it was necessary to moniter actions of citizens, which i wish we would have done with the 9/11 hijackers, but it was NOT necessary to put these innocent people in camps. It is funny how we denounce the "human rights" violations of other countries, but we never talk about the atrocities committed in this country (enslaving millions of people, stealing land from native americans while shooting unarmed women and children and violating every treaty we ever made with any native tribe, being the only nation to drop The Bomb, building more prisons than we do schools and keeping drug addicts-a proven disease-in prisons rather than rehab, then releasing them w/o treatment to guarantee they reoffend (and keep money flowing into the prison-industrial complex), paying most of our workers wages that won't even rent you a studio apartment in a neighborhood that isn't gang-infested while 10% of the population has money to blow on new pairs of 1,000 shoes every day of the year and the CEOs have jets, yachts.... This country is SICK and needs immediate help, which reminds me, why is weed illegal and Chantrix and all these other pharmaceuticals legal and forced on our children (adderal, paxil...) ? Never mind the fact that the medical system robs our seniors blind... Oh, and don't forget the fact that we are ensuring our own genocide by destroying the planet so we can all drive Hummers...

Answer 6

It was normal to imprison enemy aliens because there were certainly foreign agents among them but no time to separate the good guys from the bad

Answer 7

Most definitely YES.
If it helped prevent one act of sabotage or espionage, if was justified. But then, we'll never know, will we?
Also, those Japanese would have been exposed to retaliation from Americans - so interning them was for their own protection.

Answer 8

It was not acceptable to me. It did happen though to 2 of my friends and they have dies in the last few years from age. I think it was horrible, the friends I knew were very kind and nice.

Answer 9

It was then...the historian has to realize that actions of the past can't b e judged through 21st century lenses