One of America’s greatest regrets is sending the Japanese citizens to the internment camps both in Hawaii and on the Mainland. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, government officials ordered all people of Japanese ancestry into these small, unsanitary camps with only one or two bags of their possessions. This was a grave mistake that undermined U.S. relations with many countries because of how the Japanese were treated. In the end after dropping two nuclear weapons, firebombing the most populated city, and killing many innocent Japanese people, America finally realized what it has done and paid indemnities to the people living on the mainland and the war was ended.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American soldiers broke into thousands of Japanese homes to check for weapons and made arrests to anyone who resisted. After years of settling in and making friends, the Japanese in America had to pack their bags and leave in a matter of hours. Their lives changed from peace and friendliness to being hated and not trusted in seconds. The end result of these suspicions was the mass confinement of all Japanese descendents in America. With President Franklin Roosevelt’s authorization, around 100,000 Japanese were interned. Even though 60% were American citizens, they were still sent to the camps. This decision was made on the thought that Japan was planning a large scale invasion of the west coast.
Personally, I believe that this is an overreaction. The intent of that attack was a strategic bombing of the Pacific fleet. Since the ships were all concentrated in one area with the planes landed, and most of the soldiers in one area, it was practically irresistible to any competent military leader. With all the battleships lined up in a row, Japan simply had to drop the bombs and fire at strategic targets in the area. If Japan was going to invade the west coast, Japan would skip Hawaii and go into California unannounced....