Answered on
During World War II, Japanese Americans were subjected to harsh and discriminatory treatment, primarily due to wartime hysteria and racism after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. One of the most notorious examples of this treatment was the forced relocation and internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were perceived as potential threats to national security. This led to widespread fear and prejudice against them. As a result, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the Secretary of War to designate certain areas as military zones from which any or all persons might be excluded.
This order laid the groundwork for the forced evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast, including US citizens and legal permanent residents. They were forced to leave their homes, jobs, and lives behind and were sent to live in internment camps—also known as "relocation centers"—located in remote areas of the United States. Living conditions in these camps were very basic and the internees were kept under military guard.
Japanese Americans were interned without any due process; they were not charged with, nor convicted of, espionage or any other crime. Their only "crime" was their ethnic heritage. Many internees suffered significant economic loss, personal humiliation, and, in some cases, long-term health and psychological effects.
The internment lasted until the war's end. In 1945, as World War II drew to a close, the government began closing the camps, and the last one officially closed in March 1946. It was not until decades later that the U.S. government acknowledged the injustice done to the Japanese American community. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for the internment and authorized reparations to surviving internees.