Japanese Internment -

Essay by Pooler22Junior High, 8th gradeA, May 2008

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Many people don't know, or realize, how big of an impact the Japanese Internment had on American citizens in the early 1900's, and even today. Starting about two months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and lasting almost four years, many Japanese-Americans lost their homes, friends, and even families due to Executive Order 9066. This was a terrible time for the many thousands of people affected by the new order.

During the 1930's there was growing tension between the U.S. and Japan. Although Japan was raging war on many countries, the U.S. did not have a major part during World War II until Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the U.S. government immediately started arresting the Japanese aliens on Hawaii. After 4 days they had arrested more than one thousand people. This was only the beginning. Two months later President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, on February 19, 1942.

This gave the military the ability to make anyone, leave any area in the country, which they felt was in national security danger. Japanese Americans seemed to be the only ethnic group the order was being applied to.

All people of Japanese ancestry were being taken from their homes, jobs, friends, and sometimes even families. Over seventy thousand of the people that were evacuated were American Citizens. One General, John L. DeWitt, put it as "A Jap's a Jap. It makes no difference whether the Jap is a citizen or not." Many people were convinced that anyone of Japanese ancestry, whether they be an American citizen or not, were a threat to the United States, so every one of them were being taken from their homes. In some cases families would receive a notice saying they had forty-eight hours to get ready to move.