After Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941 there was a sudden chill in the air, the chill of an inevitable war with Japan as a result of their actions against the United States. The bombings sent Americans into hysteria and caused many to take their anger and frustration out on other Americans who were of Japanese decent or born and raised Japanese Americans. As a result in 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which was an order for 10 internment camps that had been set up for national security purposes. These camps could be found in Wyoming, Colorado, and other locations along the West Coast. These camps were set up with national security in mind but over 120,000 people, men, women, and children were sent to these camps with no known date of release and allowed only the amount of belongings that they could fit under their arms basically (University of California 2010). Here we will examine what free speech rights these camps and their inhabitants had if any during this time of war.
Though these camps were advertised and described as relocation centers for Japenese Americans that may potentially fall victim to hate crimes in time of war, the images and stories that come from within these camps show a very different story. The thought that Japenese supporters and potential “agents” for Japan could be living amongst the population during war time was a huge influence in the decision to put these people in these camps. The government had to have concerns about attacks from within and the potential threat that Japenese Americans posed to the safety of the nation. “While the Supreme Court never ruled the incarceration of Japenese Americans was unconstitutional, historians and political analysts have described the violations which they believe occurred.” (Ostgaard, Smart, McGuire, Lanz, Hodson, 2000)
Japanese Americans’ were deprived and stripped of their liberties when they were torn from their normal day to day lives, forced...