Japanese Internment Effects

From the above description of the attack, it is clear that this event would remain in the hearts of many Americans until today and as such, is a significant event in American history. This attack obviously had many implications on America. It had clearly caused mass hysteria among the United States’ citizens which consequently brought upon a lot of changes within the American society. Furthermore, the attack on Pearl Harbor was an extremely serious one which caused the American government to change their military policies. According to Kluckhohn, President Roosevelt ordered the American army “onto a full war footing” the following day (1). Three days later, war was declared by Germany and Italy against the United States, which brought America …show more content…
Although Colonel Karl Bendetsen, a United States officer in charge of the internment program, referred to the Japanese people as evacuees and claimed that their welfare was being taken care of at the “Assembly Centers,” other sources say otherwise (Bendetsen 591). According to Dr. Chang in an interview, the Japanese were being imprisoned against their will in the so-called “Assembly Centers” which were technically prisons. Dr. Chang’s statement is further supported by a firsthand account by Ben Yorita, a Japanese American internee, who explained that that he felt more like a detainee than an evacuee. He stated that the United States military “built barbed-wire fences around the camp with a tower on each corner with military personnel and machine guns, rifles, and searchlights” which made him feel terrified everyday (Marcus, Giggie and Burner 224). He also expressed that the living quarters “were just single-wall construction and the only insulation was tar paper nailed on the outside” (225). This clearly showed that the internees’ welfare was not at all taken care …show more content…
When the Japanese, especially the Japanese Americans were detained, many of them began to question their own identity. According to Nagata, Kim and Nguyen, the Japanese Americans felt that they had just been “betrayed” by their own country and that they were confused on whether or not they were still truly American, which they were as many of them were actually born in the United States (360). As such, they felt that they were social and morally excluded in their own country. What made matters worse was the fact that questionnaires were being handed out in the camps where the internees had to answer if they were willing to serve in the United States military, and if they had undying loyalty for their country and were willing to “forswear any form allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor” (359). Nagata, Kim and Nguyen claimed that this was “one of the most significant stressors” during Japanese internment as the Japanese Americans were judged to be loyal solely based on this questionnaire and those who were deemed “loyal” would be relocated to more easy-going camps while those who were not were placed in more strictly controlled camps. The decision made by the United States government to initiate Japanese internment after the attack on Pearl Harbor not only led to the severe stress and trauma among the Japanese. It can