Background Information/Pearl Harbor

The cause of the Japanese Internment was mainly caused by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan's imperialistic aggression in China brought the United States into contention with Japan. The United States tried to stop Japan's aggression by placing an embargo on oil and scrap iron and outwardly refused to meet Japan's demand to cut off all aid to China. Japan then felt they would have to choose between their ultimate goal of sustaining an empire or go to war with the US. In October of 1941, a warlike government came to power in Japan under General Hideki Tojo and decided to go to war. Japan bombed the United States' military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy unknowingly sent one across the Pacific with astonishing aerial power that had never before been seen on any of the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking and with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2,400 Americans were killed. Soon after this happened, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.

Because of this, the United States entered into World War II, with their oppositions being Japan, Germany and Italy. As a result of the occurrence of Pearl Harbor, many people in the United States did not trust people of Japanese ancestory Japanese-Americans, who were born in the United States were wrongly thought to be loyal to Japan, even though there was no real proof of this; there was only false speculation that they were unloyal to America. Haphazardly, the federal government and military leaders decided that no one of Japanese ancestory could live on the West Coast of the United States, while people of Italian and German ancestory could stay. On February 19, 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which was just the beginning of the Japanese-American Internment.

-Loyal Japanese-American Girls