Jap hunts: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:08, 12 April 2008

Revision as of 19:09, 12 April 2008

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The Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on December 7, 1941 plunged the United States into war and planted the notion of Japanese treachery in the minds of Americans. The hysteria that enveloped the West Coast during the early months of the war, combined with long standing anti-Asian prejudices, set the stage for what was to come.<ref>A More Perfect Union. 1990-2001. 15 Oct. 2007. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/removal_crisis.html></ref>

The [[Executive Order 9066]] authorized the military to exclude any person from any area of the country where national security was considered threatened. It gave the military broad authority over the civilian population without the imposition of martial law. Although the order did not mention any specific group or recommend detention, its language implied that any citizen might be removed. In practice, the order was applied almost exclusively to [[Japanese Americans]] and Japanese nationals, with only few Italian and German Americans suffering similar fates. Ultimately, approximately 110,000 [[Japanese people|Japanese nationals]] and [[Japanese American]]s were interned in housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps".<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/manz/]</ref><ref name=howmany>Various primary and secondary sources list counts between 110,000 and 120,000 persons.</ref>

The British embassy in Washington commented in passing one point on the popular American perception the Japanese as a “nameless mass of vermin.” The implication was clear vermin must be exterminated. Especially during the last few years of the war “exterminatonist” figures of speech did indeed become a stock way of referring to the killing of Japanese not only in battle but also in the cities of Japan’s home Island.

The [[Executive Order 9066]] authorized the military to exclude any person from any area of the country where national security was considered threatened. It gave the military broad authority over the civilian population without the imposition of martial law. Although the order did not mention any specific group or recommend detention, its language implied that any citizen might be removed. In practice, the order was applied almost exclusively to [[Japanese Americans]] and Japanese nationals, with only few Italian and German Americans suffering similar fates. Ultimately, approximately 110,000 [[Japanese people|Japanese nationals]] and [[Japanese American]]s were interned in housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps".<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/manz/]</ref><ref name=howmany>Various primary and secondary sources list counts between 110,000 and 120,000 persons.</ref>

== References ==