How Japanese Internment Camps marred the images of FDR and the New Deal

 1920s – “The Roaring Twenties” A time of increasing prosperity for most Americans. American economic output / production was at an all-time high. However, the good times did not last indefinitely.

 1930s – The world sunk into an economic downturn. This was furthered by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of  Created protectionism for American goods in the U.S.  20,000 imported goods were subject to the tariff.  Backlash formed, as other nations put up tariffs against American goods in protest.  International commerce all but shut down.  Signed into law by Pres. Herbert Hoover.  Thus began the Great Depression.

 Hoover was immediately voted out of office in favor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. o This New York Democrat ran on balancing the budget and defeating the economic depression. o Inaugurated in March of 1933.

 Roosevelt was vested with the responsibility of defeating the Great Depression.  Unemployment was in the double digits.  Roosevelt created the New Deal and spent unheard of amounts of taxpayer money trying to stimulate the economy.

 Roosevelt created agencies like the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in order to combat the rising unemployment rate and the sinking economy.

 Because of the global economic depression, some countries began to exhibit disturbing behaviors.  Germany – The Germans were still suffering the economic consequences of World War I. Combined with the global depression, Germans were severely hurting. Enter Adolf Hitler

 Germany’s Adolf Hitler started World War II when he ordered German forces into Poland.  The world descended further into chaos.  Soon, Europe was enveloped in war.  But the conflict and chaos was not confined to European soil.  Japan, in 1937, began the invasion of China.

 The Tripartite Pact – Signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan in  Japan, led by Hirohito (aka Emperor Showa) and Prime Minister Tojo, decided to bomb the U.S. port of Pearl Harbor in Hawai’i on December 7 th, TOJOHirohito USS West Virginia

 On Dec. 7 th, 1941, Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor. 4 U.S. battleships and 2 U.S. destroyers sunk 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed 2,345 military personnel and 57 civilians were killed

 FDR responded to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by issuing Executive Order This ordered the internment of Americans of Japanese descent into concentration camps throughout the United States.  Most camps were in the American West and Southwest.  FDR stoked the fears of Americans by suggesting the Americans of Japanese descent might actually be spies.

o TIME Magazine: How to Tell Your Friends from the Japs TIME Magazine: How to Tell Your Friends from the Japs

 This order by FDR is the dark side of the New Deal. It was fueled by wartime hysteria and fears.  Signed February 19 th, 1942 – Japanese-Americans’ “Day of Infamy.”  Irony – U.S. leaders put Americans of Japanese descent into these concentration camps. Later, the U.S. denounced the Jewish internment camps by Nazi Germans. Double standard?

 "I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remaining, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded there from, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order."  -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

 The Japanese Internment camps represent an enormous stain on American history.  This period of history directly mars the work of FDR and the New Deal.  Thousands of American of Japanese decent were forced to enter these camps.  The pure irrationality and racism is without question a horrid moment in our history.

 Why is this history largely dismissed as minor?  What are the consequences of the Executive Order 9066?  What lessons should we draw from this stain on American history?

Outside Resources  pacificed/ph2006/PH2006projects/9.htm pacificed/ph2006/PH2006projects/9.htm  view/Order_9066.jpg view/Order_9066.jpg  root.com/4/powers/powers1.html root.com/4/powers/powers1.html  der9066.html der9066.html