D
•GI Bill of Rights
•James Farmer
•Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE)
•internment •Japanese American
Citizens League (JACL)
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
List the advances and problems in
the economy and in civil rights
during World War II.
Which of these advances and
problems do you think had the most
far-reaching effect? Explain your
answer.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. COMPARING
How were the experiences of African
Americans, Mexican Americans, and
Japanese Americans similar during
World War II? How were they
different?
4. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Do you think that the government’s
policy of evacuating Japanese
Americans to camps was justified on
the basis of “military necessity”?
Explain your answer.
5. ANALYZING EFFECTS
What effect did World War II have on
American families? Think About:
• the role of women in families
and the economy
• the relationship between the
races
• the impact of the federal govern-
ment on society
About two-thirds were Nisei, or Japanese people born in this country of parents
who emigrated from Japan. Thousands of Nisei had already joined the armed
forces, and to Ted Nakashima, an architectural draftsman from Seattle, the evac-
uation seemed utterly senseless.
A PERSONAL VOICE TED NAKASHIMA
“ [There are] electricians, plumbers, draftsmen, mechanics, carpenters, painters,
farmers—every trade—men who are able and willing to do all they can to lick the
Axis. . . . We’re on this side and we want to help. Why won’t America let us?
”
—from New Republic magazine, June 15, 1942
No specific charges were ever filed against Japanese Americans, and no evi-
dence of subversion was ever found. Faced with expulsion, terrified families were
forced to sell their homes, businesses, and all their belongings for less than their
true value.
Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in the courts and in Congress.
The initial results were discouraging. In 1944, the Supreme Court decided, in
Korematsu v. United States, that the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese
Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity.” (See pages
802–803.) After the war, however, the Japanese American Citizens League
(JACL) pushed the government to compensate those sent to the camps for their
lost property. In 1965, Congress authorized the spending of $38 million for that
purpose—less than a tenth of Japanese Americans’ actual losses.
The JACL did not give up its quest for justice. In 1978, it called for the pay-
ment of reparations, or restitution, to each individual that suffered internment. A
decade later, Congress passed, and President Ronald Reagan signed, a bill that
promised $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to a relocation camp. When
the checks were sent in 1990, a letter from President George Bush accompanied
them, in which he stated, “We can never fully right the wrongs of the past. But
we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were
done to Japanese Americans during World War II.”
The United States in World War II 801
Advances Problems
Economy
Civil Rights
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Analyzing
Motives
Why did
President
Roosevelt order
the internment of
Japanese
Americans?
D. Answer
Because some
people per-
ceived them as
a threat to
national security