Japanese Persecution in America During World War II essays

Japanese Persecution in America During World War II essays Persecution. The word paints negative and abrasive pictures in the mind of almost any and every human being. It can be defined as the wrongful treatment of an individual or group. To say that someone or something has been persecuted is to say that he did not deserve the punishment or treatment he received. That being understood that according to numerous authors and researchers the Japanese Americans were indeed persecuted by the United States government and public during the time of World War II. In her book Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of Americas Concentration Camps, Michi Nishiura Weglyn uses profound research and personal experience to express her educated opinion on the internment of the Japanese during World War II. Many people objected to the internment in the U.S. including Harold Ickes, the appointed Secretary of the Interior in 1933 (Weglyn 69), and Attorney General Clark, the founder and Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California from 1934 to 1971 (Weglyn 70). One FBI investigator, Curtris B. Munson, was hired by President Roosevelt to thoroughly look into the loyalty of those Japanese descendants residing on the West Coast on the United States and in Hawaii. After weeks of spying and invading personal privacy the investigators concluded that the notable degree of loyalty among those suspected confirmed that there is no Japanese problem" (Weglyn 34). Despite the discouragement of naval intelligence and the FBI, the Presid ent bent under the pressure of the American public and ordered the evacuation on 110,000 Japanese men, women and children (Weglyn 35). Though Weglyn mentions that at the beginning of the internment the government had intentions of keeping the country safe, as time progressed its focus shifted to revenge. After the Pearl Harbor attacks, rumors of prowling enemy submarines and suspicions of insubordinate activity among the Japanese along the west...