Democratizing the Enemy: The Japanese American Internment

By Brian Masaru Hayashi

Book Overview

During World War II some 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and detained in concentration camps in several states. These Japanese Americans lost millions of dollars in property and were forced to live in so-called "assembly centers" surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed sentries.

In this insightful and groundbreaking work, Brian Hayashi reevaluates the three-year ordeal of interred Japanese Americans. Using previously undiscovered documents, he examines the forces behind the U.S. government's decision to establish internment camps. His conclusion: the motives of government officials and top military brass likely transcended the standard explanations of racism, wartime hysteria, and leadership failure. Among the other surprising factors that played into the decision, Hayashi writes, were land development in the American West and plans for the American occupation of Japan.

What was the long-term impact of America's actions? While many historians have explored that question, Hayashi takes a fresh look at how U.S. concentration camps affected not only their victims and American civil liberties, but also people living in locations as diverse as American Indian reservations and northeast Thailand.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691138230
• ISBN13: 9780691138237
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Addresses the fact the threat was real.

While Hayashi is critical of the evacuation saying "despite the obvious presence of Japanese nationalistic sentiments before and during the camps, since people cannot and should not be locked up on the basis of political sentiment but rather on the basis of acts committed." - at least he acknowledges the threat of Japanese nationalism. As for the first reviewer, his history is just plain wrong. 1. Internees included 10,995 Germans, 16, 849 Japanese (5,589 who voluntarily renounced U.S. citizenship and became enemy aliens), 3,278 Italians, 52 Hungarians, 25 Romanians, 5 Bulgarians, and 161 classified as "other". Only a small fraction of enemy aliens were interned. Japanese citizens with families were sent to Crystal City, Texas and lived side-by-side with German and Italian families. It should be noted that all 16,849 Japanese enemy-aliens including the 5,589 that renounced American citizenship were eligible for an apology from the United States and a $20,000 reparations payment while the Germans, Italians, Hungarians, Romanians and Bulgarians received nothing. German Americans on the east coast and throughout the country were arrested, interned, and in some cases deported. Almost 11,000 German Americans were interned in the U.S. during World War II. Many German Americans sat, worked, played and went to school in the same camps as their Japanese American counterparts. Furthermore even before the first person was interned, 600,000 Italian Americans and 300,000 German Americans were deprived of their civil liberties when they (all persons, male and female, age 14 and older) were required to register as "Alien Enemies." This registration entailed photographing, fingerprinting and the issuance of identification cards which the Alien Enemies had to have on their possession at all times. In addition they were forbidden to fly; to leave their neighborhoods; to possess cameras, short-wave radio receivers, and firearms. Finally, these persons were required to report any change of employment or address to the Department of Justice. 2. According to the 1940 census, ethnic Japanese made up 40% of the population of Hawaii. In California, the population was 1.6%. Military authorities had considered moving all ethnic Japanese to Molokai or the West Coast but moving 40% of the population was logistically and indeed financially impossible. That said, there was an internment camp in Hawaii at Sand Harbor. More importantly, Hawaii was under military martial law at the time. If the the authorities could have evacuated all ethnic Japanese from Hawaii they would have. They could not so they did not. As an aside, Japan had a battle plan in place for the invasion of Hawaii that intended to utilize ethnic Japanese during the occupation. The plan was scrapped after Japan's defeat at Midway. 3.It is more accurate to say that no Japanese Americans were charged or found guilty of such crimes during the war. Those suspected were simply sent to internment -- not reloc

A New View in a Shameful time of American History

I first heard of the incarceration of the Japanese-Americans from a friend in Utah. While still a teenager, he and his family who were living in Seattle were given 48 hours to sell their home and business and were moved into a cencentration camp. He lived in the camp until he was 18, at which time he was drafted into the Army. They took one look at him in the Army and said, You're going to be a Japanese interpreter. His reply, Man, I'm third generation American, I don't speak a word of Japanese. His brother enlisted in the Army to get out of the camp and was a member of the famous 442 Regimental Combat Team fighting in Italy where he was severly wounded. This was one of the more disgraceful acts of our Government. There was not any movement to move Americans of German or Italian descent into camps. The Japanese Americans on Hawaii were not affected, only those on the west coast of the mainland. And there was never a case of spying by the Japanese Americans. This splendid book brings a new level of research and understanding to thie shameful time in our history.