Japanese American Internment Japanese American internment was the World War II internment in "War Relocation Camps" of over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, government officials immediately placed Hawaii under martial law and became concerned about the Japanese-Americans who lived on the West Coast of the United States. Intelligence gathered before the attack indicated that Japan was recruiting spies and had already secured a spy network there. None of the Japanese Americans had been charged with a crime against the government. Two-thirds had been born in the United States, and more than 70 percent of the people forced into camps were American citizens. Roosevelt's action was supported by Congress without a single vote against it, and was eventually upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court. Yet many scholars came to believe that this order was a "day of infamy" as far as the Constitution and civil rights were concerned. The people forced into camps were deprived of their liberty, a basic freedom of the American Constitution. In 1980, under mounting pressure from the Japanese American Citizens League and redress organizations, President Jimmy Carter opened an investigation to determine whether the need to put Japanese Americans into internment camps had been justified by the government. He appointed the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to investigate the camps. The commission's report, titled “Personal Justice Denied,” found little evidence of Japanese disloyalty at the time and recommended the government pay reparations to the survivors. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act, which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government and authorized a payment of $20,000 to each individual camp survivor. The legislation admitted that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The U.S. government eventually disbursed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been interned and their heirs. Japan's leaders saw themselves as justified in their conduct, believing that they were building the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The decision to attack, at least for public presentation, was reluctant and forced on Japan. Of the Pearl Harbor attack itself, Kurusu said it came in direct response to a virtual ultimatum from the U.S. government, the Hull note, and so the surprise attack was not treacherous. Since the Japanese-American relationship already had hit its lowest point, there was no alternative; in any case, had an acceptable settlement of differences been reached, the Carrier Striking Task Force could have been called back. Pearl Harbor did greatly affect the out come of the war. It brought in one of the most powerful nations, the United States. The allies need the U.S.' man power and troops desperately. Once American entered the war, they started off slow. But by 1942 the allies were in full swing. Also the Americans thought the attack on Pearl Harbor was out pure hatred. They were thriving to avenge Pearl Harbor.

Work Cited

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Ford, Jamie, Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet, 2nd ed, Manhattan: Borne, 2003. Print

Wakatuki, Jeanne, Farewell to Manzanar: A true story of Japanese American Experience during and after the World War II Internment, 2nd ed, Houston: Vanuvich, 2000. Print

Uchida, Yoshiko, Desert Exile, 5th ed, Houston: Honamdo, 2005. Print