Ww2 Dbq

Words: 609
Pages: 3

WWII Position Paper The day was December 7th, 1941 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Up until then, relations between Japan and America were spiraling downwards. During the Great Depression America’s economy suffered terribly and they cut trade with Japan, crippling Japan’s economy. Shortly thereafter, the American government made the wrongful decision to intern Japanese-Americans on the west coast. This decision was unjustified as they did not also intern the German and Italian Americans; not to mention the fact that only a small portion of the Japanese were suspicious, and an even smaller amount potentially dangerous. Finally, by interning them the government intentionally breached the basic rights they had as American citizens. Throughout the course of the war, America fought heavily with countries other than Japan, yet only Japanese Americans suffered for their ancestry. As document C states, “the only danger on this coast is from Germany and Italy.” The government was punishing the wrong people and never thought to “take any such high handed actions against Germans and Italians.” The government singled out Japanese Americans -despite them not being the biggest threat- because they were more easily identifiable than other …show more content…
As Document B reports, “the Japanese here [are] almost exclusively a farmer, a fisherman, or a small businessman.” Most of them didn’t have the means or motivation to cause any harm to America or the rest of its people. Munson also reported that there were about 250-300 individuals under surveillance in each naval district, and that only 50-60 out of those people were considered “really dangerous”. This compared to the 110-120,000 people of Japanese ancestry at the time proves the internment of an entire race was overzealous and indefensible with such little reason, after all, they were Americans