EO 9066

For my second Action Project in Policy I was told to choose a policy that was passed during a wartime and whether it was just or unjust. I decided to do an executive order during the Second World War that allowed led to the internment of Japanese-Americans. I chose this order because whenever people learn about WWII they rarely hear much about what the US did wrong and I wanted to explore the history that isn’t always taught.

World War II was the first display of global modern war and the atrocities that follow. Nazi Germany tried, and almost succeeded, to eliminate a whole religion from the Earth, while Japan marched people to death and raped and pillaged Chinese cities. However, the Axis were not the only ones who committed crimes against humanity, the US imprisoned all Japanese descendants including US citizens. The US began the process of imprisoning Japanese -Americans with the signing of Executive Order 9066. This order allowed the military to declare any place to be military land. This in turn allowed the military to “relocate” or place restrictions on anyone on military land. The military soon deemed that the entire West Coast, where the majority of Japanese immigrants live, was necessary for the military for no other purpose than controlling the Japanese immigrants. This placed most of the Japanese-Americans in this zone and under the control of the military, which led to their internment.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had tried to keep the US out of war until the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan. After this attack, the first attack on US soil, the fear of sabotage or an invasion  started to fester in all Americans causing a need to quell the anxiety. FDR decided that the best way to do this was to allow the military to control the Japanese-Americans’ lives. FDR used EO 9066 to give control to the military so that they could “protect” the American people. The military started to discriminate against Japanese-Americans immediately, placing curfews and placing them in camps.

(Internment Camp, Howstuffworks.com)

The internment camps not only forced people from their homes but also ripped their possessions from them. Japanese-Americans had their banks frozen and their land stripped from them. EO 9066 directly conflicts with the US Constitution’s 4th amendment, which protects all American citizens from unreasonable search and seizure.  Since a majority of the people affected by this order were citizens the government should not have been allowed to seize their homes, money, or possessions. Also the seventh amendment claims that all citizens have a right to a trial before imprisonment, which was blatantly ignored. Instead they were just forced into these camps that were like prisons with no hope of being released until the end of the war.

After the war had concluded the prisoners had no land to go to, no money to support themselves, and no reimbursement. The government forced over 100,000 Japanese-Americans from their homes and into prison and then released them with no aid or assistance until 1988 when it was decided that each person was to receive $20,000 for their time incarcerated. It was not until 1998 when all of the remaining survivors had been paid.

This Executive Order violated the rights of American citizens. It allowed the government to breach the Constitution and terrorize the people it is supposed to represent. Without any true cause for alarm the government instituted a police state in the country that is supposed to be a beacon of freedom. WWII was a warning to the world about how easily atrocities can be committed in the face of war.

Works Cited "Japanese-American Relocation." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 1 June 2015. "Roosevelt Signs Executive Order 9066." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 1 June 2015. "SBVIEW." Santa Barbara View Santa Barbara News Views Hyperlocal Information ICal. Santa Barbara Review, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 1 June 2015. "Today's Document from the National Archives." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 1 June 2015.