Similar to the fear and paranoia directed at Arab-Americans after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, fear and paranoia erupted in American society after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. government took swift action after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Any immigrants arriving in America from Japan were officially classified as enemy aliens. As fear mounted that Japanese citizens of the U.S. would undermine the U.S. war effort, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. This document authorized the relocation of Japanese Americans in Washington, Oregon and California to ten internment camps in other states. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated forcibly, even though they were uninvolved in any criminal offense.
Forced to leave their homes, jobs and even families in many cases, the relocated Japanese were subjected to atrocious conditions in the militarily guarded interment camps. When the war ended in 1945, the camps were closed, but it would not be until the 1970s and beyond that the details of the camps and it inhabitants began to be revealed. The actions of the U.S. government reflected the attitudes of many Americans at the time. Many others, encouraged by various religious, social, and political groups, were opposed to the internment of innocent Japanese American citizens. This analysis will explore whether or not the actions of the U.S. government were in accordance with or against the will of a majority of Americans.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans believed that the presence of Japanese in America represented a potentially threatening ôforeignö presence, and that interning these individuals would reduce the security threat posed by their presence in American society. The American media was partly responsible for dissemination of imagery and attitudes that reinforced the fear and paranoia many Americans exhibited tow...