How Did The Surprise Attack On Pearl Harbor

President Franklin Roosevelt declared that the day of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, would live in infamy. Pearl Harbor was just a prelude to what the United States was getting into, when joining World War II. Not only was Pearl Harbor the beginning of a very long and horrific conflict, but it was also ushered in one of the worst violations of civil liberties in U.S. history. This was the blatant disregard of Japanese Americans’ human rights. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American Japanese citizens were seen as “enemies” of the United States (Takaki 136). Although the segregated 442nd Japanese Regiment is known for being one the most decorated troops during WWII, Japanese Americans’ loyalty was still questioned
“The mass internment of Japanese Americans in 1942 and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 followed in the wake of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor” (Takaki 137). Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt approved the evacuation of more than 20,000 Japanese Americans living in Hawaii. He did this because he saw the Japanese as “dangerous” and thought that they gave information to the Japanese military about Pearl Harbor, which helped them plan the attack. FDR wasn’t the only government official to feel this way. Many government and military officials wanted the Japanese Americans out of the military so that they could keep an eye on them. In the midst of all of this distrust, there was one general who had empathy for them. This man was named General Emmons. In a letter to Secretary of War John J. McCloy he writes “The feeling that an invasion is imminent is not the belief of most of the responsible people… There have been no known acts of sabotage committed in Hawaii (Takaki 139).” Because of his efforts, insisting that there was no necessity for a mass evacuation, General Emmon only ordered the internment of only 1,444 Japanese Citizens. He was pressured to even go that far. This a very low number considering that President had originally ordered the internment of over 5,000 Japanese
This order “forced all Japanese-Americans, regardless of loyalty or citizenship, to evacuate the West Coast.” (History.com) This order did not apply to Hawaii to because one third of the population was Japanese, and that would have devastated the economy. That is beside the point, because this is still one of the most terrible things to ever happen in the United States. Internment camps were set up in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. These camps in total eventually held a little more than 120,000 prisoners. The establishment of internment camps had a devastating effect on many families. Many were forced to sell their home, and because they were in a rush they would have to take the first offer, and risk taking a severe loss before their departure. Sadly, families were torn apart as natural born Japanese Americans were sent to different concentration camps than their foreign-born relatives. People would have to quit school, quit their jobs and leave behind their normal American life, for something they had no control over, and did not understand. A story that I found that really gave me a glimpse into their struggle was a story told by Fumi Manabe Hayashi. Hayashi was born in Alameda, California on June 3, 1926. She grew up in the Berkeley area and was the daughter of a pastor, attending a local high school there. But because of her ethnicity, she and her family were