From Pearl Harbor to Manzanar

Public Response to Pearl Harbor Shock, indignation: Pearl Harbor deemed a sneak attack---not war by “gentlemen’s rules” In addition to patriotism and unity, harassment, propaganda, ANGER, HYSTERIA

Fear of Sabotage & Spying

Pre WWII racism toward people of Japanese descent made internment possible 1905: Asiatic Exclusion League—SF 1907 California law makes it illegal for Japanese to own property Japanese farm laborers deported from towns by vigilante groups-Turlock, CA 1921 1924 National Origins Act (anti-immigration law) signed by Coolidge--effectively ends Japanese immigration

Demonizing the Enemy

= Fear of Sabotage & Spying + Anti-Japanese racism 110,000 Japanese Americans put into 10 internment camps

Japanese Farms in California and Internment Policy

LEAVING HOME

Life in the Internment Camps

Internment and the Constitution Korematsu vs. US Supreme Court rules internment Constitutional Court could not second-guess military decisions but once loyalty was established, then you couldn’t hold the person (by then, the camps were being closed down)

What were the results? Greatest violation of civil liberties on the homefront $105 million of farmland lost $500 million in yearly income, plus uncalculated personal savings No act of sabotage proved March ‘46: camps closed 1988 Official govt. apology + reparations 1990: $20,000 to each internee