Pearl Harbor Argumentative Essay

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Japanese Americans were suspected of spying on the US Government and selling information to Japan. This was enough reason for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to authorize the deportation and incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans, using Executive Order 9066. This was not justified, and was not fair, to the Japanese Americans. 62% of the internees were United States citizens, and 99% of all Japanese Americans were not spies. Executive Order 9066 was an order signed and issued during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The United States federal government made the Japanese go into concentration camps during the early 1900’s because officials believed that they were going to betray the American population. Officials believed that they should take precautions towards protecting themselves because the Japanese were thought of to be as drastically inferior. Despite their efforts towards keeping “true Americans” safe they did not find any evidence that proved Japanese Americans were scheming against the United States. 2b. Many Japanese Americans lost their businesses and homes due to the betrayal of their home country.

How would you feel if you have to sell your house and move into a prison like camp in just a few days? Many Japanese had to experience this in 1941. The Japanese Americans got this unfair treatment because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 during World War two. However, there are more factors that caused Executive Order 9066 (internment camps for Japanese people) in 1941. Economical, cultural, and political causal factors caused the congress to agree on Executive Order 9066.

The United States thought that the Japanese was dangerous and were afraid they would attack again. It stunned everyone and the government thought the best solution was to relocate all of the Japanese immigrants. According to Document 4 the author states,

Overall, the Japanese were interned during World War one because they were seen as a hypothetical threat to U.S security. The U.S viewed the Japanese population as saboteurs and more specifically, a threat national security. In document B of the Japanese internment DBQ it describes how the U.S racistly generalized the Japanese as Saboteurs who would easily destroy anything in their sight. With the mass hysteria in regards to the stereotype, the U.S too more precaution in regards to the Japanese community and imprisoned them. Moreover, another reason the Japanese were interned is because the Japanese only posed a threat to American security on the West coast.

As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese.

There was profound racism against the American Japanese both from the society and some government policies. White farmers in the West Coast were highly prejudicial against their Japanese counterparts and the attack on Pearl Harbor offered them an opportunity to condemn and take away the farms owned by people of Japanese descent. Such groups instigated and fully supported the internment camps to enable them reach their objectives.(Trowbridge, 2016) After receiving contradictory advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942 authoritatively mandating the Relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry to what would become known as Internment Camps in the interior of the United States. Evacuation orders were posted in JAPANESE-AMERICAN communities giving instructions on how to comply with the executive order.

The Japanese internment camps were horrifying during this time, but everyone was willing to look away because of what the Japanese Government had done. This was unacceptable accusations by a hypocritical government, because at the time America was fighting Germany and claiming they were wrong for Jewish internment camps. Of course, Jewish internment camps were very inhumane, and a mass number of Jews were exiled. America’s logic on Japanese interment was subtle but no one really asked to look behind the scenes. All the things we see in Jewish internment such as German Guards, Barbed wire fences, huts that weren’t anywhere close to homes, and rations that were very limited can all be found in America during WWII with Japanese internment camps.

“The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country.” (Crawford 1). After the attack, the government felt threatened by the Japanese. Therefore, they could not trust any, even the ones living in the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps or military camps where they were not allowed to leave.

Whilst the Japanese were being sent to the camps, many people on the west coast were hanging racist signs in storefronts and neighborhoods giving the obvious notice that Japs were not welcome. This attitude of hatred is what caused the poor conditions of the internment camps on the west coast, carried out and justified by the idea that the white Americans were better than the Japanese Americans due to the suspicion of espionage. The Japanese Americans were thought of as spies therefor they were thrown into internment camps where the discriminatory attitude of western Americans brought upon their unjust treatment. The pressure of WWII caused the American government to make unecessary precautions in hopes of protecting a nation when they in fact they divided it.

In both events of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 had a damaging effect on our country. We were terrified and frightened for what could happen next. Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 at the Hawaiian territory. 9/11 occurred on September 11, 2001 at New York City. The Pearl Harbor attack was caused from a feud we were having with Japan.

“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.

This happened because the Americans were frightened for their country, family and way of lie, so they thought that they would be safer if the Japanese weren’t free. The Japanese Internment Camps were very similar to the Salem witch Trails because neither the accused “witches” or the Japanese Americans weren’t given the opportunity to defend themselves against persecutions. The Japanese were forced to go to these camps regardless of whether they were born in Japan or the US. They were presumed guilty of being a threat instead of being presumed

The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor is by far one of America’s most remembered events in history. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese dropped bombs on the American base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack is what persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to join World War 2 and fight on two fronts. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for many reasons. They attacked because they believed they would create a New World Order, they felt threatened by America and because of the oil embargo.