Regardless, the task was turned over to the U.S. During congressional committee hearings, representatives of the Department of Justice raised logistical, constitutional, and ethical objections. Following the attack at Pearl Harbor, government suspicion arose not only around aliens who came from enemy nations, but around all persons of Japanese descent, whether foreign born ( issei) or American citizens ( nisei). Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had identified German, Italian, and Japanese aliens who were suspected of being potential enemy agents and they were kept under surveillance. In Japanese American Incarceration During World War II on DocsTeach students analyze a variety of documents and photographs to learn how the government justified the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and how civil liberties were denied. Links go to DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives. The order authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders to evacuate all persons deemed a threat from the West Coast to internment camps, that the government called "relocation centers," further inland. In February 1942, just two months later, President Roosevelt, as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066 that resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans. The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States had been involved in a non-combat role, through the Lend-Lease Program that supplied England, China, Russia, and other anti-fascist countries of Europe with munitions. In his speech to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy." The attack launched the United States fully into the two theaters of World War II – Europe and the Pacific. Phone: (808) 847-3511 website: Incarceration During World War II $22.95 adults $19.95 adults with military ID $19.95 seniors $14.95 ages 4-12 free for ages 3 and younger. The exhibit can be seen on the first floor of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Portico Hall in the Hawaiian Hall Complex, 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu. The exhibit quotes resident Manual Lemes as saying: “If I were asked what was the worst experience I had all through this war, my answer would be: martial Hawaii” DIRECTIONS In 1946, the Supreme Court ruled that the suspension of civilian courts had not been justified by law. Some aspects of martial law were eased in 1943, with civilian government agencies resuming control of many functions and trial by jury resuming for local and federal laws. victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, after which a Japanese invasion of Hawaii became unlikely. While most Hawaiians experienced the same feeling of common cause as mainlanders in defeating the Axis threat, opposition to martial law began to grow in the wake of the U.S. Doors and windows of residences were required to be covered car headlights had to be painted a dark color to dim them. Nights were dark indeed during that period because a “blackout” order required all civilian lights - whether bulbs or flames - to be extinguished at nightfall. One photo shows beachgoers at Waikiki cavorting near a 10-foot-tall barbed-wire fence spanning the length of the beach. Photographs at the exhibit show men digging trenches in downtown Honolulu. Islanders were ordered to construct bomb shelters. and people of Japanese descent had to be in their homes by 8 p.m. Those rights remained suspended for almost three years and were reinstated only after numerous challenges in court.Ī strict curfew barred anyone from being on the streets between 9 p.m. It was believed that the surprise attack was just the prelude to a full-scale invasion of Oahu, and the military and citizenry set about fortifying the island for such an onslaught.īut martial law was also a reaction to the perceived threat by the presence of roughly 150,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the territory, which represented about 35 percent of the population.ĭespite that suspicion, fewer than 2,000 of them were ultimately sent to internment camps, a ratio far less than were imprisoned in mainland states.įreedom for Hawaiians not placed in camps, however, was severely curtailed by the suspension of constitutional protections in order to “discourage concerted action of any kind,” the military governor said at the time. Poindexter, Hawaii’s territorial governor, declared martial law, and National Guard members took control of the cities. “Homefront Hawaii,” a simple exhibit at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, provides a glimpse into that post-attack period with photos, artifacts and a dose of music from the day by way of a 1940s-era radio.
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