The Evacuation and Relocation of the West Coast Japanese during World War II--How It Happened
Abstract
During World War II, over 112,000 Pacific Coast Japanese were evacuated from their West Coast homes and were relocated inland. Approximately two-thirds of the evacuees were American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Under normal circumstances these citizens would have enjoyed the same constitutional guarantees as any American-born or naturalized citizen of the United States. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the constitutional rights of these Americans were suspended because as a racial group they were perceived to be a threat to the security of the United States. This study project was done to accomplish the following: To describe the anti-Japanese environment before WW II; To describe the social and political forces that created and amplified the perception that the Japanese were a security threat; To describe the evacuation of the Japanese from the West Coast and their relocation inland; To describe the judicial review and the constitutional challenge of the evacuation order; To analyze why the evacuation happened.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 05, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA236885
Entities
People
- Christopher T. Hiroto
Organizations
- United States Army War College