Japanese Internment Camps Research Paper
Alexandria Davis
Japanese Internment Camps
United States, Africa and World
CHIS-202-02
10/27/2011
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the United States as well. The tension that had been increasing between the United States and Japan during the 1930’s, caused Americans to be suspicious of Japanese Americans. Americans assumed that if there were ever a war, Japanese Americans would side with the enemy. Though an attack from Japan was a thought, many never believed that it would actually occur because Hawaii was the strongest American base in the Pacific. A report by Major General Fredrick L Martin, an Army aviator, and Rear Admiral Patrick N.L. Bellinger, a naval airman, stated that if an attack did happen it would be the most dangerous form of attack against the fleet at Oahu. (Nextext 12) On December 7, 1941, 181 Japanese fighters, dive-bombers, and torpedo planes headed to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and attacked the Pacific Fleet. (Nextext 10-11). On this day, all of the Pacific Fleet battle ships, except Colorado, were at Pearl Harbor and on the airfields about 400 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps planes were parked as protection against sabotage. (Nextext 11-12) The attack by Japan sunk or damaged eight battleships and ten lesser ships. Also, according to official statistics, 2,390 American soldiers and civilians were killed and 1,178 more were wounded. (Robinson 59)
Japanese Internment Camps
United States, Africa and World
CHIS-202-02
10/27/2011
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the United States as well. The tension that had been increasing between the United States and Japan during the 1930’s, caused Americans to be suspicious of Japanese Americans. Americans assumed that if there were ever a war, Japanese Americans would side with the enemy. Though an attack from Japan was a thought, many never believed that it would actually occur because Hawaii was the strongest American base in the Pacific. A report by Major General Fredrick L Martin, an Army aviator, and Rear Admiral Patrick N.L. Bellinger, a naval airman, stated that if an attack did happen it would be the most dangerous form of attack against the fleet at Oahu. (Nextext 12) On December 7, 1941, 181 Japanese fighters, dive-bombers, and torpedo planes headed to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and attacked the Pacific Fleet. (Nextext 10-11). On this day, all of the Pacific Fleet battle ships, except Colorado, were at Pearl Harbor and on the airfields about 400 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps planes were parked as protection against sabotage. (Nextext 11-12) The attack by Japan sunk or damaged eight battleships and ten lesser ships. Also, according to official statistics, 2,390 American soldiers and civilians were killed and 1,178 more were wounded. (Robinson 59)