American Decades
Race Relations
"A Jap's a Jap"
(Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt, commander of Western Defense, 1941). In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor waves of racism and hatred directed at Japanese and Japanese Americans swept the West Coast. On 19 February 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering Japanese and Japanese Americans living in California, Oregon, and Washington to be relocated to internment camps for the duration of the war. Some of these people were "Issei," Japanese immigrants still tied to Japanese tradition, and a small number were "Kibei," American-born Japanese who studied in Japan, but most were "Nisei," American-born children of Issei parents, citizens of the United States by birthright and assimilated into American culture. The U.S. government made little distinction among these groups, denying many the legal rights that were theirs by virtue of their citizenship. One cost of the internment to the...
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1940's Lifestyles and Social Trends
