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If you think about it the internment of Japanese Americans or a persons of Japanese ancestry was not as bad as people thought
because the times were a lot different back then , internment was also for their own personal safety, I believe mobs of angry Americans would of burned their houses down and assaulted many innocent people if they were not interned in the camps
this was back when they were still lynching blacks in the south, the racism and mentality of the times is not like today, not very PC back in 1940
so they were actually safer in the camps at that time in history
Today many people still think the same as back in 1940, Ive heard many discussions of what would you do if China went to war with the USA? and a lot of Americans said they would burn all the Chinese business's down and not trust any Chinese or Chinese American, sounds very similiar to how they thought of the Japanese during WWII
While it may not have been the nicest thing to do, at the time it was deemed necessary for national security. For us to second guess the correctness of doing that now 70 years later is pointless.
Let's face it, the Japanese pulled a cowardly, dishonorable act by bombing Pearl Harbor and starting our involvement in that war. We were not at war with them, yet they underhandedly sailed a bunch of ships with planes into our territory and killed a lot of innocent men, women, and children. We were completely blindsided. Japan is lucky we forgave them at the end of the war, other countries would not have been so kind and Japan would now be a part of those countries, not independent like they are today.
Talk to anyone who was alive at that time and a lot of them have never forgiven the Japanese for that unprovoked attack. If the USA did something like that we would be condemned by every country in the world. The Japanese deserved everything they got and more IMO.
Don
It happened 70 years ago. Get over it. America won the war and now has Japan as an ally. Ask the US to form an alliance with China and North Korea if you are still angry with them. Just as you know a lot of angry veterans, there are also a lot of American WWII Pacific Veterans who became renowned for improving US-Japan relations. Columbia professor, Donald Keene is one of them. Oh and I don't think I need to mention Nimitiz, MacArthur, or even Curtis LeMay (who actually helped reconstruct the Japanese air force).
Oh yeah, we Americans are SO horrible. Let's face it, war is hell, and a lot of not nice things happen in a war. Of all the countries in the world, America is without a doubt has the cleanest hands when it comes to the way we fight our battles. Very few other countries play by the set of standards we hold our troops to, and if you don't believe that move to the Mid East, or China, or Russia, or Korea. There you will see how some countries deal with their enemies.
I bet if we took a poll of the ages of some of you who think America made such a big mistake doing what they did, very few of you were even around during that time. It is SO easy to sit back and be Monday morning quarter backs and judge decisions that are taken out of context. I was born right at the end of the war, and I can tell you that well into my teens I was still hearing stories of how Americans were bitter about what Japan did that day. Lots of people who lived through that time would not buy anything made in Japan and hated them to the day they died.
War isn't pretty, guys, and if we hadn't done a lot of things we did to win all of us would be speaking German or Japanese right now.
Oh yeah, we Americans are SO horrible. Let's face it, war is hell, and a lot of not nice things happen in a war. Of all the countries in the world, America is without a doubt has the cleanest hands when it comes to the way we fight our battles. Very few other countries play by the set of standards we hold our troops to, and if you don't believe that move to the Mid East, or China, or Russia, or Korea. There you will see how some countries deal with their enemies.
I bet if we took a poll of the ages of some of you who think America made such a big mistake doing what they did, very few of you were even around during that time. It is SO easy to sit back and be Monday morning quarter backs and judge decisions that are taken out of context. I was born right at the end of the war, and I can tell you that well into my teens I was still hearing stories of how Americans were bitter about what Japan did that day. Lots of people who lived through that time would not buy anything made in Japan and hated them to the day they died.
War isn't pretty, guys, and if we hadn't done a lot of things we did to win all of us would be speaking German or Japanese right now.
Don
No one in this thread is talking about American war crimes toward Japanese Nationals they are discussing something that happened to American Citizens not Japanese Nationals. Even J. Edgar Hoover who was NOT a racially sensitive man by any standard opposed the internment. Earl Warren, one of the advocates of internment also said he regretted supporting it. The internment was very controversial even back then and there were many people within the Roosevelt administration who were opposed to it so don't go around telling us that it was taken out of context considering many people back then were opposed to it.
And FYI, I have a friend who was born in 1945 just like you and he had a successful career in the US Army as an officer and an even more successful career as an expatriate Commercial Banker in Japan for a large US banking conglomerate; he also made a lot of friends in Japan. Perhaps, letting go of past prejudices is better than keeping onto them.
No one in this thread is talking about American war crimes toward Japanese Nationals they are discussing something that happened to American Citizens not Japanese Nationals. Even J. Edgar Hoover who was NOT a racially sensitive man by any standard opposed the internment. Earl Warren, one of the advocates of internment also said he regretted supporting it. The internment was very controversial even back then and there were many people within the Roosevelt administration who were opposed to it so don't go around telling us that it was taken out of context considering many people back then were opposed to it.
And FYI, I have a friend who was born in 1945 just like you and he had a successful career in the US Army as an officer and an even more successful career as an expatriate Commercial Banker in Japan for a large US banking conglomerate; he also made a lot of friends in Japan. Perhaps, letting go of past prejudices is better than keeping onto them.
Oh yeah, we Americans are SO horrible. Let's face it, war is hell, and a lot of not nice things happen in a war. Of all the countries in the world, America is without a doubt has the cleanest hands when it comes to the way we fight our battles. Very few other countries play by the set of standards we hold our troops to, and if you don't believe that move to the Mid East, or China, or Russia, or Korea. There you will see how some countries deal with their enemies.
I bet if we took a poll of the ages of some of you who think America made such a big mistake doing what they did, very few of you were even around during that time. It is SO easy to sit back and be Monday morning quarter backs and judge decisions that are taken out of context. I was born right at the end of the war, and I can tell you that well into my teens I was still hearing stories of how Americans were bitter about what Japan did that day. Lots of people who lived through that time would not buy anything made in Japan and hated them to the day they died.
War isn't pretty, guys, and if we hadn't done a lot of things we did to win all of us would be speaking German or Japanese right now.
Don
/rant
First, I am not an America basher by any stretch, but if you know anything of history beyond a high school textbook then you know very well that the US is quite capable of waging war in extremely barbaric fashion and at moments in our history we have. I do think the US attempts to hold itself to a higher standard which places it well above many other countries. a large part of that higher standard is openly inviting vigorous debate and reflection on things our nation has done. Questioning the methods the US used in the Phillipine War, talking about our role in Vietnam and yes, talking about the internment of Japanese Americans is a large part of the method that the US uses to hold itself to a higher standard. By not questioning the actions our nation has taken and learning from our past, we are foresaking the ideals this nation was founded upon.
Secondly, no one here is questioning the method by which the US conducted the war against Japan. What we are discussing is the method by which some Japanese Americans were treated in the US. On that topic, "being born at the end of the war" doesn't make you a content expert on what was happening. You are very correct that some Americans both veterans and citizens absolutely hated anything Japanese for the rest of their lives. My wifes paternal grandfather was one of those men. He would allow nothing Asian in his home, ripped pages talking about Japan out of his kids textbooks and erased Japan off of a globe he had. Do you know what he had? It wasn't deep seeded hatred, it was PTSD from his service where he took part in the fighting on Okinawa.
Regardless of people like him it didn't matter how much people hated the Japanese. If every last person in the US hated people of Japanese descent, stripping American citizens of their rights and locking them in camps is STILL WRONG. Earlier I posted the words of another American, one a little older than you. Apparently you missed them:
The Members of Congress and distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, we gather here today to right a grave wrong. More than 40 years ago, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in makeshift internment camps. This action was taken without trial, without jury. It was based solely on race, for these 120,000 were Americans of Japanese descent.
Yes, the Nation was then at war, struggling for its survival and it's not for us today to pass judgment upon those who may have made mistakes while engaged in that great struggle. Yet we must recognize that the internment of Japanese-Americans was just that: a mistake.For throughout the war, Japanese-Americans in the tens of thousands remained utterly loyal to the United States. Indeed, scores of Japanese-Americans volunteered for our Armed Forces, many stepping forward in the internment camps themselves. The 442d Regimental Combat Team, made up entirely of Japanese-Americans, served with immense distinction to defend this nation, their nation. Yet back at home, the soldier's families were being denied the very freedom for which so many of the soldiers themselves were laying down their lives.
Congressman Norman Mineta, with us today, was 10 years old when his family was interned. In the Congressman's words: ''My own family was sent first to Santa Anita Racetrack. We showered in the horse paddocks. Some families lived in converted stables, others in hastily thrown together barracks. We were then moved to Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where our entire family lived in one small room of a rude tar paper barrack.'' Like so many tens of thousands of others, the members of the Mineta family lived in those conditions not for a matter of weeks or months but for 3 long years.
The legislation that I am about to sign provides for a restitution payment to each of the 60,000 surviving Japanese-Americans of the 120,000 who were relocated or detained. Yet no payment can make up for those lost years. So, what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.
You want to argue with Reagan about how it was OK and lecture him that he wouldn't "understand what it was like then"? Didn't think so.
As for the whole "we would be speaking German or Japanese" thing...find a new cliche, that one is worn out.
I heard some Japanese living in Hawaii actually helped supply information to Japan to help plan the attack on Pearl Harbor
thats how they knew the lay out , which ships were docked at the time, etc
containing them in the interment camps was also to prevent espionage or anything that would help the Japanese military powers
even though many were American born Japanese many still had relatives or ties with Japan
It was not difficult for anyone to get the physical layout of Pearl Harbor - it can be seen from the heights of the island.
There were many claims of naturalized Japanese spying for Japan but I don't think there is a single case of anyone being charged or tried for treason. The diplomatic community had all the public information they needed for the military to plan the attack.
The Japanese high command knew that the Pacific Fleet would be at anchor. The only thing they didn't know and deeply worried about was the location of the aircraft carriers.
I grew up in a mixed neighborhood in Southern California with lots of Japanese. Some of my best friends were Japanese and I always felt welcomed in their homes. I was truly saddened when they were taken away to internment camps.
As far as their property being taken away - show me links with facts. Every single interred family I knew returned to their homes and businesses when the war ended. Every one of them!!!
It was not difficult for anyone to get the physical layout of Pearl Harbor - it can be seen from the heights of the island.
There were many claims of naturalized Japanese spying for Japan but I don't think there is a single case of anyone being charged or tried for treason. The diplomatic community had all the public information they needed for the military to plan the attack.
The Japanese high command knew that the Pacific Fleet would be at anchor. The only thing they didn't know and deeply worried about was the location of the aircraft carriers.
I grew up in a mixed neighborhood in Southern California with lots of Japanese. Some of my best friends were Japanese and I always felt welcomed in their homes. I was truly saddened when they were taken away to internment camps.
As far as their property being taken away - show me links with facts. Every single interred family I knew returned to their homes and businesses when the war ended. Every one of them!!!
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