Japanese American internment from 1942-1946Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4
Historical Dates of the Japanese American Internment.
- 1940: Alien Registration
Act declared that there was no specific
distinction between Koreans and Japanese. According to Ronald Takaki’s
Strangers from a Different Shore, the Act “classified Korean
immigrants as subjects of Japan; after the United States declared
war against Japan, the government identified Koreans here as “enemy
aliens.” 2
- November 7, 1941: Munson
Report: President Franklin Roosevelt
secretly requested an investigation of the possibility of an insurrection
from the Japanese Americans. The demand was given to Curtis Munson
to investigate the concern. Takaki explained that Munson’s
research discovered such a threat was highly unlikely.
- “There will not be an armed uprising of Japanese [in
this country]…Japan will commit some sabotage largely
depending on imported Japanese as they are afraid of and do not
trust the Nisei. There will be no wholehearted response from
Japanese in the United States… For the most part the local
Japanese are loyal to the United States or, at worst, hope that
by remaining quiet they believe that they would be at least any
more disloyal than any other racial group in the United States
with whom we went to war.” 3
- “There will not be an armed uprising of Japanese [in
this country]…Japan will commit some sabotage largely
depending on imported Japanese as they are afraid of and do not
trust the Nisei. There will be no wholehearted response from
Japanese in the United States… For the most part the local
Japanese are loyal to the United States or, at worst, hope that
by remaining quiet they believe that they would be at least any
more disloyal than any other racial group in the United States
with whom we went to war.” 3
- December 7, 1942: Attack on Pearl Harbor
2. Takaki, Ronald. A History of Asian Americans: Strangers from a Different Shore, Boston : Back Bay Books. 1998.
3. Ibid., 386.
