Pearl Harbor and Its Effect on Japanese Americans

John Ordona Professor Juan Gutierrez Adviser Professor Bales Senior Capstone Project Spring 2016

Abstract: The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese had a profound effect on Japanese

Americans living in the United States. Through research I have found that there were numerous

reasons which would help explain the internment of all Japanese Americans. You will find that

the internment process was motivated by mounting fear and racial prejudice.

Introduction:

For my senior capstone project, the topic that I have chosen to do is the Japanese

Internment that occurred right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The research question that I have

developed after deciding on a topic is as followed: How did the attack Pearl Harbor, as a catalyst,

directly influence domestic policy towards Japanese Americans? I chose the Japanese Internment

as the topic for my capstone project because it was such a historically significant event in our

country’s history. Japanese Internment occurred at such a pivotal point in our country’s history

following the attack on Pearl Harbor and had only increased tensions between both the United

States and Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor, however, did not come without consequence as

Japanese Americans living in the United States were blamed for the attack despite not having

any part in the attack itself. Anyone that has family that are of Japanese descent and lived

through the Japanese Internment would be able to understand how the attack on Pearl Harbor

triggered the internment process and how it affected Japanese Americans. What I hope to

achieve is that my research will prove that the attack on Pearl Harbor had a heavy influence on

domestic policy towards Japanese Americans and how the internment process was driven by fear

and racial prejudice.

I wanted to be able to conduct research that would enable me to explain any laws that

directly affected Japanese Americans and to examine how those specific laws may have affected

the way in which Japanese Americans lived. From this, I want to understand why the American

people were so fearful of Japanese Americans and why they blamed them for atrocities they did

not commit. The method that I used to conduct my research was the historical method. Using the

historical method, I was able to collect historical scholarship that helped me explain how the

attack on Pearl Harbor influenced domestic foreign policy towards Japanese Americans. During

my research I collected different sources which included scholarly articles and journals, primary

sources, and a memoir which gave a firsthand account of what life was like living in the

internment camps. I collected my research mainly through archival research and databases

looking for scholarly works that were related to the Japanese Internment.

The data I collected came from sources such as scholarly articles and journals that

provided historical information on the Japanese Internment process. The primary sources that I

collected and gathered data from were from the National Archives. One of the primary sources

that I found was a transcript of Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin Roosevelt

which called for the removal of all citizens of Japanese descent to be removed from the west

coast and to be sent to internment camps that were scattered around the country. Another one of

the primary sources I found from the National Archives outlined concerns from government

officials who believed that Japanese Americans were an increasing threat to the United States.

One of the primary sources that I found outlined and discussed the reasons why Japanese

Americans were gathered up and sent to internment camps while discussing the Alien

Registration Act and how the government apprehended individuals they felt posed a threat to

national security.

Japanese Internment is a topic and issue that has been widely discussed and researched by

historians and many other scholars. The decision made by President Franklin Roosevelt

following the attack on Pearl Harbor is something that historians still talk about in today’s world.

Historians would debate whether or not the internment of Japanese Americans was

unconstitutional and how it went against everything that the constitution stood for. The growing

fear and animosity that Americans felt towards Japanese Americans was perhaps something that

influenced President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to intern them and put them all in internment

camps. I feel as though my research and my findings on the Japanese Internment have

significance it will describe in detail the struggles that many Japanese Americans had to endure

and how Japanese families suffered. Japanese Americans had to fight the perception that they

were the enemies and that they were the ones responsible for what happened at Pearl Harbor.

Literature Review:

Since my Capstone Project is on the topic of Japanese Internment and how the attack on

Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst with regard to influencing foreign policy as pertained to

Japanese Americans my literature review will focus on the main themes that I found in the

sources that I have already compiled for my Capstone project. The first main theme I will be

discussing are the repercussions that the attack on Pearl Harbor had on the United States and how

it affected Japanese Americans. The second main theme that I will discuss is how Japanese

Internment affected Japanese Americans. And lastly, the final main theme that I will be

discussing in my literature review are the attitudes and perceptions that many Americans had of

Japanese people who were living in the United States and how the attack on Pearl Harbor may

have negatively affected the attitudes that Americans had towards Japanese.

The very first topic that I will look to examine as it pertains to my Capstone sources are

the repercussions of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In an article written by Roger Daniels

titled, Incarcerating Japanese Americans, he discusses how the President of the United States

issued and Executive Order that basically mandated the exile of over 120,000 Japanese

Americans.1 Daniels explains that the actions of the Japanese had necessitated the President to

take action by issuing an Executive Order that called for the immediate exile of all Japanese

Americans living in the United States during this particular point in time. In an article written by

Todd Kunioka and Karen McCurdy titled, Relocation and Internment: Civil Rights Lessons from

World War II, they state the following in regard to the attack on Pearl Harbor, “…slightly more

than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry excluded, detained, and held in “relocation centers”

by the United States government, obstensibly because they were considered a threat to national

security.”2 Kunioka and McCurdy argue that the detainment and eventual internment of Japanese

Americans was entirely based on the fact that the United States government deemed them to be

threats. In an article by Timothy Maga, titled Ronald Reagan and Redress for Japanese-

American Internment, 1983-88, had this to say in regard to the internment of thousands of

Japanese Americans and argues that, “They were all either American citizens or resident aliens

who had been lawfully admitted but were barred from citizenship by discriminatory laws.”3

In articles written by Kunioka and McCurdy and by Maga, they also go on to discuss the

President’s decision to intern the Japanese. In the article written by John Oakie, he explains how

Japanese who were living in the United States and were looking to become U.S. citizens were

now going to be denied citizenship as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack.4 Oakie contends that the

attack on Pearl Harbor had a negative impact on the Japanese Americans that were living in the

United States. In an article titled, The Japanese American Incarceration: The Journey to

Redress, Tateishi and Yoshino discuss how the majority of the Japanese American population in

the United States were put into internment camps with the majority of them originating from the 1 Daniels, Roger. “Incarcerating Japanese Americans.”OAH Magazine of History 16, no. 3 (2002): 19.2 Kunioka, Todd T. and Karen M McCurdy. “Relocation and Internment: Civil Rights Lessons from World War II.” PS: Political Science and Politics 39, no. 3 (2006): 503.3 Maga, Timothy P. “Ronald Reagan and Redress for Japanese-American Internment, 1983-88.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 28, no. 3 (1998): 607.4 Oakie, John H. “Japanese in the United States.” Far Eastern Survey 11, no. 2 (1942): 23.

West Coast.5 After discussing the repercussions of the attack on Pearl Harbor I will now look to

shift my attention towards the effects that Japanese Internment had on Japanese Americans. The

book, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans written by

Greg Robinson, focused primarily on the Executive Order that President Franklin Roosevelt

issued and the immediate impact it had on Japanese Americans. Greg Robinson discusses how

there was growing racial tension and fears that Americans had between themselves and the

Japanese American population in the United States. Robinson discusses how Japanese were

being targeted and states, “Japanese Americans were singled out from “other” enemy groups

such as Italian Americans and German Americans as innately untrustworthy on racial grounds”

(Robinson, 3).6

Focusing on the topic of how Japanese internment affected Japanese Americans, Rosalie

Wax’s article, In and Out of the Tule Lake Segregation Center: Japanese Internment in the West,

examines how Japanese Americans who life was living in the internment camp in Tule Lake and

how it affected their family lives.7 Wax discusses how the internment of Japanese Americans

affected their family lives. Abraham Hoffman goes on to write an article and in that article he

discusses how Japanese Americans, during World War II, were being treated as outsiders and

were being stereotyped as their constitutional rights were being denied to them.8 Hoffman

contends that the attack on Pearl Harbor caused many Japanese Americans to be treated as

outsiders and were being stereotyped for the actions of their fellow countrymen. The internment

5 Tateishi, John and William Yoshino. “The Japanese American Incarceration: The Journey to Redress.” Human Rights 27, no. 2 (2000): 10.6 Robinson, Greg. By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. Accessed February 11, 2016. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csumb/reader.action?docID=10318439.7 Wax, Rosalie H. “In and Out of the Tule Lake Segregation Center: Japanese Internment in the West.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 37, no. 2 (1987): 12-25.8 Hoffman, Abraham. “The Conscience of a Public Official: Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron and Japanese Removal.” Southern California Quarterly 92, no. 3 (2010): 243.

of Japanese Americans was something that had a tremendous effect on the lives of many

Japanese citizens living in the United States.

The final theme I will examine is how the attack on Pearl Harbor negatively affected

Americans attitudes towards Japanese Americans. In an article written by Lynne Horiuchi, she

examines how the United States government treated Japanese Americans as potential saboteurs

and interrogated them with questions in an effort to have them pledge their allegiance to the

United States.9 Horiuchi asserts that Japanese Americans were being treated as serious threats to

the United States and were pressuring them into pledging their loyalty to the United States. In an

article titled No Jap Crow written by Jason Morgan Ward, he goes on to discuss the experiences

that Japanese Americans had post World War II and how they seemed to experience racism in

the Deep South and how they get their very first taste of it.10 In the article The Press, Japanese

Americans, and the Concentration Camps, Okhiro and Sly focus on how the media seemed to

fabricate this very negative perception of Japanese Americans who were living in the United

States and how they created propaganda to create this belief that all Japanese living in the United

States posed a serious threat to American society at the time.11 Eric L. Muller’s book, American

Institution: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World Wat II, focuses on the belief

that Japanese Americans were disloyal citizens to the United States and were considered to be

threats to the government. The second chapter of Muller’s book looks at the Nisei, whose

loyalties came under question as he states, “It was this later group, the Nisei, whose loyalties

9 Horiuchi, Lynne. “Contesting Traditions in Japanese-American in Concentration Camps”. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 20, no. 1 (2008): 64.10 Ward, Jason Morgan. “No Jap Crow”: Japanese Americnas Encounter the World War II South.”The Journal of Southern History 73, no. 1 (2007): 75-104.11 Okhiro, Gary Y. and Julie Sly. “The Press, Japanese Americans, and the Concentration Camps.” Phylon 44, no. 1 (1983): 66-83.

became a matter of special interest to a variety of government agencies once the United States

went to war with Japan” (Muller, 9).12

In reviewing the multiple literary pieces that I compiled I was able to connect them to

relevant themes that I found while reading each article. From a historical background and

context, I found that the sources I compiled really helped to further my knowledge as it pertains

to the internment of Japanese Americans. As a reader, I feel these particular sources that I

gathered will help you understand the general perception and feelings that many Americans had

at the moment in time towards Japanese Americans following the attack Pearl Harbor. There are

some questions, though, that I feel were left unanswered after having had a chance to review

each article fully. Perhaps research could be done down the road that would be able to discuss

what the general perception is or attitudes towards the events that directly proceeded and resulted

from the attack on Pearl Harbor and how they may have changed.

Theory:

The theorist and theoretical concept that I will be primarily focusing on is W.E.B Du

Bois and his theoretical concept of double consciousness. The theoretical concept of double

consciousness is specifically discussing people who have more than one social identity and it

applies to the minorities and to gender. This concept is also written from an African-American

perspective on society. In the article, “Du Boisian Double Consciousness” by Ernest Allen, Jr.,

states the following with regard to Du Bois’s theoretical concept of double consciousness:

A recent example is Gerald Early’s edited work, Lure and Loathing, wherein many of

the essays seem to take for granted Early’s assertion that Du Boisian double

consciousness refers to a tension between the “nationalist and assimilated collective

12 Muller, Eric L. American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Accessed February 11, 2016.http://site.ebrary.com/lib/csumb/reader.action?docID=10273459.

identity” of Afro-Americans, but where the concept of identity itself is conflated with

“culture” drawn in board, anthropological terms.13

What Allen claims is that there is a general misunderstanding of what the theoretical concept of

double consciousness truly is and what its true meaning is. Allen argues that individuals who

have utilized this particular theoretical concept have failed to use it in such a manner that would

help to explain a person’s racial background and why they are who they are within the context of

their racial and ethnic background. And in applying this theoretical concept to my research for

my capstone, it helps me understand what Japanese Americans experienced during the time of

Japanese Internment. The theory double consciousness helps me understand how Japanese

Americans identified themselves as both American and Japanese while also helping me

understand why the racial and ethnic origin of Japanese Americans contributed to their

internment.

In “A Fanonian Perspective on Double Consciousness”, T. Owens Moore examines the

way in which African Americans utilize this theory of double consciousness to understand their

racial and ethnic backgrounds and to also help them cope with the inner conflict that they seem

to have with their ethnic background.14 Moore discusses in detail what the theoretical concept of

double consciousness is and goes on to state the definition that Du Bois gave by stating, “a

peculiar sensation… this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of… One ever

feels twoness, -an American, a Negro… two unreconciled strivings.”15 Moore states that the

theoretical concept gave individuals a different perspective on how to interpret the society in

which they live and being a minority society enables an individual to approach society in an

13 Allen, Jr., Allen. “Du Boisian Double Consciousness: The Unsustainable Argument.” The Massachusetts Review 43, no. 2 (2002): 218.14 Moore, T. Owens. “A Fanonian Perspective on Double Consciousness.” Journal of Black Studies 35, no. 6 (2005): 751.15 Moore, T. Owens. “A Fanonian Perspective on Double Consciousness.” Journal of Black Studies 35, no. 6 (2005): 752.

entirely different manner. By applying the theory of double consciousness, Japanese Americans

are able to comprehend the fears and misconceptions that Americans had against them following

the attack on Pearl Harbor.

From the perspective of a Japanese American, the ideology of double consciousness

enables Japanese Americans to understand their ethnic and racial identities. Because of their

years spent living in the United States, many Japanese Americans already felt like they were

considered American citizens while never losing sight of their Japanese heritage. The decision to

intern Japanese Americans was an action that proved to be damaging to the way in which they

distinguished themselves from an ethnic and racial aspect. The internment process stripped

Japanese Americans of the cultural identity that they attained while living as Americans in the

United States. It helps explain why many Japanese Americans felt that the internment process

was unjust as they paid for the actions of their fellow countrymen simply because they were of

Japanese descent.

In “Race” as an Interaction Order Phenomenon: W.E.B. Du Bois’s“Double

Consciousness” Thesis Revisited by Anne Warfield Rawls discusses how the theoretical concept

of double consciousness can be used to explain how we identify or associate ourselves with a

certain race or ethnicity.16 What Rawls implies is that individuals use this particular theory to

help them associate themselves with a race or ethnicity to which they feel like they belong. In

relation to my capstone research question, I feel like this theory helps explain how many

Japanese who were living in the United States at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor and even

prior to the attacks felt like they were Americans. All the years spent living in the United States

caused them to feel like they were naturalized citizens of this country. The majority of the

16 Rawls, Anne Warfield. “”Race” as an Interaction Order Phenomenon: W.E.B. Du Bois’s “Double Consciousness” Thesis Revisited.” Sociological Theory 18, no. 2 (2000): 241.

Japanese Americans born in the United States were already considered to be naturalized citizens

because of the 14th Amendment while those who were born outside of the United States had to

obtain their citizenship.

Methods:

The method that I will be using to collect and gather my information will be the historical

method. The theoretical concept that I will be using to help me in my discussion of the Japanese

Internment, I will be using is theory of double consciousness by W.EB. Du Bois. Through

historical research I am going to be identifying various historical patterns and themes from the

evidence that I gather. I will collect information from the National Archives, from memoirs on

the Japanese internment, to court cases that are related to the internment process, and an

interview. They include primary sources that will provide me with information about any

legislation that was passed that affected the lives of the Japanese American internees. My

sources directly focus on Japanese internees from the Japanese internment camps. The primary

sources I hope to find will directly relate to my research question for my capstone project: How

did the attack Pearl Harbor, as a catalyst, directly influence domestic policy towards Japanese

Americans? With my research question in my mind, I analyze and discuss the executive order

issued by President Franklin Roosevelt and the repercussions it had on Japanese Americans

living in the United States. And during my data collection I felt like I didn’t really have any

difficulty finding information that was pertinent to what I was looking for in terms of the data

that I have gathered.

The first primary source that I found comes from the National Archives titled,

Conference with General De Witt. The document outlines concerns that were by a government

official who met with General De Witt to discuss the growing concerns that he had in regards to

Japanese living in the United States. The government official seems to be increasingly concerned

with the potential threat that the Japanese pose and states, “The threat is a constant one, and it is

getting to be more dangerous all the time. I have little confidence that the enemy aliens are law-

abiding or loyal in any sense of the word”.17 This person also expresses their concern of the lack

of progress made with an enemy alien registration act while stressing the importance of having

potential threats to the national security of the United States registered with the government so

they can be kept a close watch on. The government official outlines their reasons for believing

that the Japanese are threats and seems to think that the rest of the United States feels the same

way. They also go on to state, “Would you have to have legislature in order to bring about a

registration?”.18 This particular official is questioning whether or not it would take having to get

it passed through legislature in order for it to really work and be effective. The government

official who is speaking to General De Witt later admits something rather surprising and

explains, “We have lots of aliens who are perfectly loyal who are not American citizens, and

some…………..but it is pretty hard to separate the sheep from the goats”.19

A transcript of The Executive Order that was issued by President Franklin Roosevelt

exiled all Japanese to internment camps throughout the country. In it Roosevelt granted the

Secretary of War and the Military commanders, whom he commands, with the authority to

establish military areas where individuals living in these particular areas can only leave by

approval from the Secretary of War.20 President Roosevelt also granted the Secretary of War the

power to provide residents of these military establishments with the basic necessities that are 17 "Conference with General De Witt." National Archives. Accessed March 13, 2016.https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296057. 1.18 "Conference with General De Witt." National Archives. Accessed March 13, 2016.https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296057. 4.19 "Conference with General De Witt." National Archives. Accessed March 13, 2016.https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296057. 5.20 Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942; General Records of the Unites States Government;Record Group 11; National.

needed to live. President Franklin Roosevelt goes on to explicitly state in the transcript of his

executive order, “I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military

Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem

advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area

hereinabove authorized to be designated…”.21 The document also contains a picture that shows

Japanese Americans with suitcases full of clothing and other belongings at a train station waiting

to board a train that is presumably heading to an internment camp.

The Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast discusses the reasoning for

gathering all the Japanese Americans and sending them to internment camps. It discusses the

Commanding General’s reason for initiating such action as it states, “His conclusion was in part

based upon the interception of unauthorized radio communication which had been identified as

emanating from certain areas along the coast”.22 The document indirectly makes references to

internment camps and how the military would have the authority to establish restricted areas

specifically in areas where they deem to be possible threats and talks about other regulations that

were established to keep Japanese Americans in check. Included in the Final Report was the

Alien Enemy Registration Act and the apprehension of Japanese Americans who the government

deemed to be potential threats to national security. The F.B.I. was charged with the responsibility

of seeking out potential threats from Japanese Americans and apprehending them. The report

also states, “In any case where an alien enemy is found in violation of any of the provisions of

the proclamation or any part of the regulations of the Attorney General thereunder, he is subject

to summary apprehension with or without a warrant”.23 21 Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942; General Records of the Unites States Government;Record Group 11; National.22 "Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast." National Archives. Accessed March13, 2016. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296055. 4.23 "Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast." National Archives. Accessed March13, 2016. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296055. 5.

Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Internment Memoirs of a Hawai’I Issei.

Yasutaro Sago began this memoir by discussing the growing tension that had been brewing

between the United States and Japan which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sago recounted the

day that him and his wife got taken by Military police and taken to the Immigration Office which

was located next to Pearl Harbor. Sago and many other Japanese who were living in Hawaii at

the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor were detained by the military. When Sago and the rest of

his fellow Japanese countrymen were transported to a detention center known as Sand Island

they were informed by a commander of a U.S. Army regiment that they were going to be held

captive, the commander told them, “…In due time each of you will get a hearing. Some of you

may be released while others may be detained during the war. You are not criminals of war but

prisoners of war. Thus we will treat you equally in accordance with military rules”.24 Despite the

commander telling Sago and the rest of the Japanese citizens who accompanied him that they

were not criminals the U.S. Army certainly did not give the impression that was the case as it

made them all feel real uneasy. Sago discusses their travel to the mainland and how the MPs

slowly began to warm up to the Japanese Americans that had been taken into custody by the

government. Sago explains, “As the days passed the MPs became more sociable and began

joining us for card games with compunction, an attitude that can be traced to the reduced level of

war hysteria and the commendable openhearted nature of Americans.25 Later in his memoir he

discusses the move to yet another internment camp where he was held captive along with

thousands of other Japanese Americans who had been put into internment camps by the United

States government.

24 Soga, Keiho. Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Internment Memoirs of a Hawai'iIssei. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. 29.25 Soga, Keiho. Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Internment Memoirs of a Hawai'iIssei. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. 67.

In an interview with Evan White of KPIX Eyewitness News from September 26, 1969,

Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii discussed a campaign that was launched in an effort to repeal

Title II from the 1950 Internal Security Act. As stated, “This statue provided the U.S.

government authority to revive concentration camps”.26 Inouye was stating his belief that the

government would then revive the internment camps if they are felt like the Japanese continued

to pose a threat in future years. When discussing how over 100,000 Japanese Americans were

interned without due process Inouye states, “A blotch in our democracy that has no place in our

books. And I for one…will do everything possible to have it earsed”.27 The court case that I

found, Korematsu v. United States stated, “The petitioner, an American citizen of Japanese

descent, was convicted in federal district for remaining in San Leandro, California which was

designated as a military area and was against the military directive that called for all individuals

of Japanese descent to be removed from the premise.28 This case was interesting because military

had come to a conclusion that instituting a curfew wasn’t enough to confine Japanese Americans

as it states, “The military authorities, charged with the primary responsibility of defending our

shores, concluded that curfew provided inadequate protection and ordered exclusion”.29 The

military felt as though having a curfew wasn’t enough to confine Japanese Americans to their

homes and wouldn’t stop them from committing treasonous acts. The court case United States v.

Hohri was similar to Korematsu v United States as a Japanese American named William Hohri

filed the case to represent internees while claiming that they were forcibly removed from their

homes and suffered tremendously while being segregated from the rest of society with

jurisdiction of this case being determined through the Little tucker Act and FTCA.30 This was a

26 White, White. KPIX Eyewitness News. Interview with Daniel Inouye, Spetember 26, 1969.27 White, White. KPIX Eyewitness News. Interview with Daniel Inouye, Spetember 26, 1969.28 Korematsu v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court (December 18, 1944).29 Korematsu v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court (December 18, 1944).30 United States v. Hohri, 482 U.S. Supreme Court (June 1, 1987).

case in which Hohri was fighting on the behalf of the Japanese internees and sought reparations

for the treatment he and many other internees suffered while held in internment camps.

Results And Findings:

The theorist and theoretical concept that I will be primarily focusing on is W.E.B Du

Bois and his theoretical concept of double consciousness. The theoretical concept of double

consciousness is specifically discussing people who have more than one social identity and it’s a

theoretical concept that applies to the minorities of our society and to gender. I collected the

majority of my data by conducting archival research and specifically searching for documents

pertaining to the Japanese internment period through the National Archives and Record

Administration. During my data collection I was also to find a memoir that would be useful in

helping to collect even more information about Japanese internment from a first person

perspective while also collecting data on two court cases related to the removal of Japanese

Americans from their homes during the internment process. The data that I compiled through my

archival research and from a memoir on Japanese internment and the attack on Pearl Harbor had

a great impact on Japanese Americans.

The data that I gathered from the sources that I found from the National Archives, court

cases, memoir, and interview that I found would seem to suggest that the United States had no

reasonable justification or cause to intern all citizens of Japanese descent following the attack on

Pearl Harbor. The US government had no justifiable cause for imprisoning thousands of

Japanese Americans as it states in the document Conference with General De Witt, “We have got

to be able to enter their homes and premises, search and seize immediately without waiting for

normal processes of the law-obtaining a search warrant to make an arrest”.31 The government

31 "Conference with General De Witt." National Archives. Accessed March 13, 2016.https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296057. 1.

was conducting search and seizures in the homes of many Japanese Americans without

presenting them justifiable cause and without having to abide by the laws written in our Unites

States Constitution. The document outlined entry into homes and search seizure without a

warrant were vital to neutralize the threat that Japanese Americans posed to national security.

The documents suggested that the FBI may have used a list with the names of Japanese

Americans courtesy of the Alien Registration Act to round up individuals whom they assessed as

threats. The sudden order to intern every single Japanese American was something that was

going to occur eventually and it was already planned out as the document discusses the

preemptive plan to intern Japanese Americans as the document states, “It was predicated upon a

series of intermediate decisions, each of which formed a part of the progressive development of

the final decision”.32

In the transcript of the Executive Order that Roosevelt issued, Roosevelt had granted the

Secretary of War and the Military commanders, whom he commanded and power over, with the

authority to establish military areas where individuals living in these particular areas could only

leave with the explicit approval from the Secretary of War.33 The Executive Order gave the

Secretary of War and the Military Commanders to designate specific locations where the military

would establish internment camps. In the memoir Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II

Internment Memoirs of a Hawai'i Issei, Sago and the rest of his fellow countrymen were sent to a

detention center which was known as Sand Island where the commander of the US Army

regiment had gone on to state, “…In due time each of you will get a hearing. Some of you may

be released while others may be detained during the war. You are not criminals of war but

32 "Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast." National Archives. Accessed March13, 2016. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/296055 . 3. 33 Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942; General Records of the Unites States Government;Record Group 11; National.

prisoners of war. Thus we will treat you equally in accordance with military rules”.34 Despite the

US Army telling them that they were not criminals, the US Army certainly did not give the

impression to the Japanese internees that they had not committed a crime. Their overall treatment

and the way in which they were interrogated would suggest that this was the case.

In the interview that was conducted Evan White of KPIX with Senator Daniel Inouye of

Hawaii, he expressed concern in regard to Title II of the 1950 Internal Security Act which

would’ve revived the internment camps. Inouye seems to fear that that United States would have

taken action against Japanese Americans and would have put them all back into internment

camps if Title II of the 1950 Internal Security Act was put into legislation. Korematsu v. United

States and United States v. Hohri were important cases that put into the public eye the pain and

racial segregation that Japanese Americans experienced in the internment camps. And despite

not being able to recovering they had lost prior to being interned, Japanese Americans wanted

the United States government to provide an explanation as to why they were interned and to pay

for the injuries suffered and the time they lost out by being interned. Based on the data collected,

it would suggest that the internment process was not driven by the events that occurred at Pearl

Harbor.

My data suggest that the Executive Order that President Franklin Roosevelt issued was

not strictly based on the events that occurred at Pearl Harbor. The decision to intern the Japanese

was something that wasn’t influenced by what happened at Pearl Harbor, but it was more likely

to have occurred because the United States feared that Japanese Americans living in the United

States posed a threat and that a decision needed to be made in order to stop the increasing threat

that Japanese Americans had apparently posed to national security. The data that I have compiled

34 Soga, Keiho. Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Internment Memoirs of a Hawai'iIssei. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. 29.

would seem to suggest that the decision to intern Japanese Americans was based on their race

and their association with anything related to the Japanese culture. Executive Order 9066 was a

presidential order was put into effect because of the mounting fear and animosity that Americans

had towards Japanese Americans because of the potential threat they might pose. The attack on

Pearl Harbor went on to further increase the mounting fear and hatred that Americans had

towards the Japanese living in the United States at this particular point in history. Japanese

Americans who had lived in the United States were essentially being punished for the actions of

their fellow countrymen.

Conclusion:

Based on the data that I collected during my research, I can come to a number of

conclusions based on the findings with regard to how domestic policy effected Japanese

Americans. One of the main key findings that I found during my data collection and analysis was

that there appeared to be no reasonable justification or cause which would have called for the

immediate internment of all citizens of Japanese descent following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

My research showed that the United States government operated with disregard for the

Constitution as it related to Japanese Americans and the rights that were granted to them by the

United States Constitution. I also came to the conclusion that the sudden internment of Japanese

Americans was something that was eventually going to occur and that it was a planned out long

before the Japanese had decided to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. And despite giving

off the impression that they were only being treated and held as prisoners of war, the US Army

and its military forces acted as though Japanese Americans had committed a crime and act of

treason against the United States. The data also seemed to suggest that decision to intern

Japanese Americans was a decision that was made entirely based on racial prejudice.

My findings and results that I accumulated during my research are relevant to my field of

study that I am majoring which is history, but this topic is of great significance to the Japanese

American population and in particular for those who are Japanese American descendants who

had family members who lived through this experience. And as a history concentration and

researcher, I think this fuels my interest in this topic even further and having done further

research on the Japanese Internment it has shade some light on a few questions that I had prior to

me beginning research on this topic. I truly believe there were massive implications that were as

a result of my findings because I believe my data would strongly suggest that the attack on Pearl

Harbor did indeed have a heavy influence on domestic policy towards Japanese Americans and

how the internment process was not reasonably justified with a valid cause for such an action

being taken. As a result of the actions that the Japanese had taken in relation to Pearl Harbor, it

further intensified the mounting fears that Americans had towards the Japanese and it caused the

President to take a drastic measure by issuing an Executive Order that called for the removal of

Japanese Americans from the current living quarters and to held inside of internment camps.

Additional research should be conducted to see if the United States government has done

anything to make amends for the hostile treatment and horrible acts that were committed towards

Japanese Americans.

Timeline (for SBS 402):

December 2015: Complete and Submit Final Capstone Proposal

January 15-30: Continue researching and gathering information for Capstone

January 30-February 15: Finish and Complete Literature Review

February 25: Complete Theory Section of Capstone

March 10: Submit and complete Methods Section of Capstone

March 25: Complete my Capstone Research

April 15: Finish Findings and Analysis and have it completed

April 20: Complete and Submit a Full Rough Draft of Capstone to advisor for approval

May 18 or 19: Capstone Festival

May 21: Graduation

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