United States Foreign Policy

1890-1941Essential Questions:

- What role should the American government play in regulating international affairs; - Should the United States be an isolationist country only focusing on our own problems?

The United States in the Era of Imperialism

The United States in 1890• Because of…

• Civil War & ‘Successful’ Reconstruction• Industrial Era

• Immigration • Urbanization

• …America has become a unified, wealthy and prosperous nation; one that is looking to show their power on the world stages; one that is willing to turn their backs on the ideals of George Washington in regards to isolation and not getting involved in world affairs

What is Imperialism?• Def- One country’s domination of the political,

economic, and cultural livelihood of another society or civilization. 4 Rules:

1. Natives are treated poorly2. Rulers think they’re superior3. Natives support the economy, but aren’t compensated4. Rulers are looking for profit

• The Age of Imperialism (1800-1914): Powerful European Nations and the U.S. fight to control the world.

• Competition, if one country had something the other wanted the same thing.

Causes of Imperialism

1. Nationalism: Competitive quest between nations to build empires…a race to dominate as many places on the earth as possible

2. Demand for raw materials and markets3. Racial superiority (Racism)

1-Nationalism

• Def: Extreme devotion to the interests or culture of a nation. In essence, a great feeling of pride in one’s country

• Nationalism always begins with a cultural unity, this eventually turns into a political reality

• Also developing is a feeling that a nation could operate with much more efficiency independently than working collaboratively with others

• Countries were building up their militaries and needed overseas basis for national security and an empire that created a feeling of superiority.

Competitive quest between nations • Why do Countries Participate in

Imperialism?

•Saw themselves on the world stage and each country wanted to play a starring role.

2. Demand for Resources• The Industrial Revolution causes a huge demand for materials and

places to sell goods.• U.S. has become an Urban society, as opposed to the Rural-based population of

old• Mass production of goods from Machine labor• Railroads unite U.S. Economically and Socially like nothing else before• U.S. has become a material-driven society where most everyone has time to

worry about more than just survival

Indian Cotton Picking

African Gold Mining

The New Manifest Destiny: P & E

• Acquire lands not adjacent to existing boundaries• US joining England, France, Germany, etc., to bring much of

non-industrial world under control of industrial powers• Experience with Native Americans established precedent for

exerting colonial control over dependent peoples• With US increasingly populated from sea to sea, people

worried about dwindling natural resources• Depression in 1893 inspired some to want new markets• Some saw new manifest destiny as outlet for social

frustrations• In 1870s & 1880s US launched big shipbuilding program to be

able to compete with other naval powers

3. Racism• Social Darwinism: Survival of the fittest… Americans took a

scientific theory and applied it to humans• Social Darwinists argued that societies--like organisms--

evolved by a natural process through which the most fit members survived or were most successful.

• The theory went hand in hand with political conservatism; the most successful social classes were supposedly composed of people who were biologically superior: Laws of nature suggested that strong nations would dominate weak ones

• Social Darwinism used to support imperialism --peoples who viewed themselves as culturally superior, being allegedly more fit to rule those whom they deemed less advanced.

The New Manifest Destiny: Cultural• The new Manifest Destiny...American responsibility to take the

benefits of its civilization to other places • Racism expressed in Jim Crow laws didn’t end at the American

borders...vigorous rise of a belief in white Anglo-Saxon superiority extended overseas

• In 1885, a clergyman named Josiah Strong wrote about the US being the true center of Anglo-Saxon virtue, and its destiny to spread it all over the world

• “This powerful race will move down upon Mexico, down upon Central and South America, out upon the islands of the sea, over upon Africa and beyond.” Used Darwin’s ideas, he wrote “Can any one doubt that the result of this competition of races will be the ‘survival of the fittest’?”

White Man’s Burden• White Man’s Burden

• Light skinned people were superior to all other races. Had a duty to spread their culture and ideas to other “backward” people.

• Domination was a way of improving the human species.• Looked at people of Africa, India, Asia, and L. America as barbaric,

heathens without a culture.• White Man’s Burden- Rudyard Kipling

• Take up the White Man's burden--Send forth the best ye breed--Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness,On fluttered folk and wild--Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.

US Practice of Expansionism

• US had always practiced territorial expansion• 1820: New England missionaries in Hawaii• 1887: Naval Base at Pearl Harbor• 1893: Marines overthrow queen of Hawaii• 1878: Samoa became protectorate• 1867: bought Alaska from Russia: $7 million;

“Seward’s Folly”

The Spanish American War

• War made imperialistic ambitions overt; transformed US’s relationship to rest of world, leaving nation with fur-flung overseas empire

• 1895: Cubans again rose up against Spain• Why War: To “liberate” Cuba, a Spanish colony.

Spain was a fading world power, and was trying to maintain control over a native population that wanted its freedom (much like America a century earlier).

War in Cuba

• Spain sent a military governor to throw Cuban rebels into concentration camps.

• America played the outraged sympathizer...a convenient excuse

• Some were opposed to war, however…• Powerful men in government who did want war

• Henry Cabot Lodge...MA senator• Captain Alfred Mahan...wanted American naval based

around the world• TR: “I should welcome almost any war, for I think this

country needs one.”

Role of the Media• Newspapers also got

involved...William Randolph Hearst & Joseph Pulitzer

• Why? War headlines sell newspapers...tabloid headlines depicting Spanish atrocities against Cubans...sensationalized screaming for war

• Hearst sent an artist to Cuba to get pictures...Frederick Remington said he couldn’t find a war. “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.”

Feb 1898• Cuban agent in Havana stole a

private letter written by Dupuy de Lome, Spanish minister in Washington, gave it to the US press

• Described McKinley as weak; created public anger even though many agreed

• Battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor, more than 260 killed

• Many assumed Spanish had sunk the ship

• Later evidence: result of accidental explosion in engine room

• Remember the Maine”: war hysteria swept country

The War• War declared in April; was over in August

• McKinley had tried to avert war...finally found it easier to go with the flow• Secretary of State John Hay: “A splendid little war”• Cuban rebels had already weakened Spanish• 460 Americans killed; 5200 more died of disease--Cuban and Spanish casualty

rate much higher• US soldiers had serious supply problems

Rough Riders

• Led by Teddy Roosevelt, who had resigned from Navy Dept to get into war--After this, Roosevelt becomes a national hero, which he would use to carry him into the White House

War’s lasting Legacy

• Racial problems: Many participating US soldiers were black; upset by segregation they faced while traveling to Cuba through the south

• Black Cuban soldiers were fully integrated into their army; made many African American soldiers even more aware of their injustices

• Results of the Spanish-American War• Cuba, Puerto Rico, Wake Island, Guam, Philippines

War in the Philippines

• Assistant Sec’y of Navy T. Roosevelt ordered Commodore George Dewey to attack Spanish naval forces in Philippines in case of war

• May 1, 1898, Dewey sailed into Manila Bay, destroyed Spanish fleet• Dewey became hero• Expanded nature/purpose of Sp-Am War

Problems in the Philippines• Filipinos had been fighting for

independence from Spain: Quickly set up their own government after Spain was defeated

• In the 1880s a nationalistic movement developed, strongly influenced by the writings of Jose Rizal (1861-96)--He spurred Filipino demands for reform.

• Rizal's execution made him a martyr and the country's national hero and sparked an unsuccessful revolution led by Emilio Aguinaldo.

War in the Philippines• June 12, 1898, after the

outbreak of the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, Aguinaldo declared the Philippines independent in the mistaken belief that the United States supported his struggle. Instead, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States.

• In 1899 until his capture in 1901 Aguinaldo led a war against his country's new colonial rulers...

War Cont.

• As a modern imperial war, this new war bloodier than the Spanish-American war had been

• Massive strikes against civilians, war atrocities, brutality that didn’t exist in American-European wars

• 5000 Americans died fighting the Filipinos

Philippines Cont.

• McKinley didn’t know what to do...tested the mood of the country before declaring that he had no choice but “to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them...”

• Although U.S. business interests applauded the seizure of the Philippines, the U.S. government declared that it would prepare the islands for independence. In 1935 the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth under President Manuel Luis QUEZON, but World War II delayed full independence

The United States in World War I

The Coming War

• Germany and Austria-Hungary (Central Powers) vs. Russia, France, & Great Britain (Allies).

• Complicated system of treaties led to a peace no one dared to break.

Take Me Out

• 6/28/1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia

• Bosnian ethnic Serbs killed Ferdinand to resist the Austria-Hungarian government’s rule. Austria-Hungary used this as an excuse to crush their small enemy Serbia

• This set off the series of treaties in which everyone was forced to go to war in Europe. All of this was done with much fanfare.

Stalemate• Advances in firepower

enabled defenses to cause stalemates.

• To shore up defenses troops started digging trenches with a “no man’s land” between.

• Eastern & Western fronts.

Stalemate Cont.

• New weapons turned the battlefield into a meat grinder: machine gun, artillery, grenades, gas.

• The machine gun ruled at 450 rounds per minute.

• Battle of the Somme 60,000 British troops died in one day.

• Estimate of over 15,000,000 killed in whole war.

The Submarine Issue

• German submarines set out to starve the UK by sinking supply ships in the Atlantic.

• British naval blockade did the same in the North Sea.• The goal is to get the other side to surrender by inflicting the

greatest losses on the battlefield and at home.

The American Ethnicity Issue?

• Nearly ¼ of all Americans at that time were of 2nd or 3rd generation German descent.

• Some people were discriminated against according to their ancestry.

• Most Americans favored the Allies and saw Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm as an autocrat: supreme ruler with absolute power.

• Many Americans saw the chance for the US to supply all of Europe’s armies with weapons and make a lot of $.

Isolationism & Neutrality

• Think: Should the US be at war in Iraq or concentrate on our own problems here at home? Same Qs back then as today…

• The US was focused on itself and its own good. (Isolationism)

• 1916 Election and Woodrow Wilson: “He Kept Us Out of War”

• US business interests ultimately won out and to protect US investments in Europe neutrality was declared.

• The US tried to act as peacemaker, but also secretly sent arms to UK.

Collapse of Neutrality• British Blockade• German U-boats, the Lusitania, and the Sussex pledge• Wilson attempts to negotiate peace• Zimmermann note• April, 1917: US declares war

• “The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind…The world must be made safe for democracy…We have not selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion…It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war...But the right is more precious than peace.” (from Wilson’s war resolution)

• With US assistance, the Allied Powers are able to swing the tide of war, even with the surrender of Russia to Germany, on November 11, 1918, a cease-fire would be called…

Cease Fire

• Armistice on November 11, 1918 brings an end to the fighting of the Great War

• Great Powers met in Paris in January 1919 to create a peace treaty that would bring an official end to the war.

• Both Germans and Allies agreed to use US President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points as a starting off point for negotiations.

Woodrow Wilson’s Idealism• Wilson wanted this to be the last great war and tried to pull the world

around his ideals to stop future conflicts.• He developed the 14 Points Plan which was admirable, but many had

a difficult time accepting it- including those in the U.S.• Many criticized Wilson because the U.S. did not loss of life like the

other European nations.

Overview of the 14 Points Plan

• Creation of the League of Nations: Similar to the UN, countries work together through diplomacy to avoid war

• This was Wilson’s hope, creating a “general association of nations” that would protect the “great and small states alike.”

• Five Nations (The US, Britain, France, Japan, and Italy) would be permanent members of its Executive Council

• Would have a general council where reps. from 42 Allied and neutral powers would meet

• Self-determination: Countries have a right to their own land. (Czech., Poland, Hungary)

• Get rid of weapons of war• Eliminate colonies• Free Trade and open seas without interference

The Peace Talks

• Everyone comes to the table wanting something different…

• US: Wanted to make the World Safe for Democracy• Britain & France: Wanted Germany to suffer for the War• Italy: Been promised parts of the Austro-Hungarian land• Germany: Doesn’t want to get shafted• Russia: Busy with Revolution• Everyone wants to see to it that a War like this never occurs

again

Allies Dictate Peace Terms

• Peace talks held at Versailles, the same palace Louis XIV had built

• 27 countries represented at the peace talks, but the negotiating done by the big three: Woodrow Wilson (US), Georges Clemenceau (France), David Lloyd George (GB)

• No defeated countries allowed to participate in Peace Treaty

• While the created treaty would bring an end to fighting, it failed in its attempt to create lasting peace, and would lay the groundwork for WWII

The Treaty of Versailles

• Germany, seen as aggressor (who started the conflict), would be hit the hardest…

• Lost 13 percent of their land, conceding it to France, Poland, Belgium, and Denmark

• France given Alsace-Lorraine, which Germany had taken in 1871

• Poland again becomes an independent nation. Received strip of Land known as the Polish Corridor, giving Poland Access to the Baltic Sea

• Forced to give up land acquired in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Treaty with Russia)

Treatment of Germany• This was the most controversial issue of the Peace talks… Wilson did

not want the Germans to pay for the war and all their land taken away.

• France and GB held great resentment and wanted to destroy the Germans as well as have revenge.

• This point was one of the strongest in creating the atmosphere that would cause WWII.

What of The League of Nations?• This was created, however, it was an extremely weak

organization• Wilson spent an entire year going across the U.S. trying to

win support for it… but in the end the Senate refused to ratify the League of Nations or sign the Treaty of Versailles

• The U.S. lack of involvement in the L.O.N. was the main cause of its weakness.

• The U.S. wanted to remain isolated and stay out of any further European or international squabbles thinking that was the best hope for ongoing peace

• Russians and Germans intentionally left out of L.O.N.• U.S. would work out a separate treaty with Germany and its

allies several years later

The End of WWI=…Beginning of WWII?• The war ended but the problems of the Great War continued to be

unsolved.• For 20 years, Europe would be in a tumultuous “peace”.• The Great Depression would cause issues and problems to again

bubble to the surface to be dealt with in WWII.

1930’s Foreign Policy: Latin America

• By the beginning of WWII, “Good Neighbor Policy” was bringing concrete benefits to US. Germany tried to win a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, but most Latin American nations backed U.S. ... U.S. contributions to war in Europe & Asia would have been seriously hindered had Nazi Germany been able to get a foothold in Latin America

Foreign Policy: Asia• Wanted to maintain Chinese independence & American trading

rights in China (Open Door Policy) in face of ambitious and expansion-minded Japan

• China’s government, headed by Chiang Kai-shek, was disorganized, inefficient, and increasingly corrupt

• Late 1931, Japanese military officers detached the province of Manchuria from China and set up a puppet state called Manchukuo

• Hoover decided not to retaliate with econ. sanctions, rather:• “Stimson Doctrine”: US would not recognize legality of any territorial changes

resulting from the use of force• Ignored by Japan

• 1932: Japanese attacked Shanghai; bombed it in 1937, one of the first massive bombings of a civilian population

• FDR & League of Nations responded only with words• Serious economic problems at home...hard to get involved

Foreign Policy: Europe• Germany

• US stood by and did very little as Adolf Hitler and Germany knowingly violated the Treaty of Versailles

• USSR• 1933, US was only major power that hadn’t recognized

Soviet government• November, 1933, FDR formally recognized Soviet

government, which four presidents had refused to do. A reasonable decision as…

• Joseph Stalin & communist party were firmly in control of the USSR • FDR thought USSR would provide a large & profitable market for

ailing American manufacturers...but USSR was too poor to buy much of anything from anyone

On the Eve of War

The End of WWI

• Germany’s leaders had told the people of Germany they were winning.

• The king abdicated and the new government signed an armistice.• Germany was battered and in the midst of massive civil unrest.

The Treaty

• The leaders of the new government hoped after reading Wilson’s 14 points plan that Germany would be treated fairly.

• They were completely blindsided by the Treaty of Versailles: blame for the war, reparations, and a loss of land.

• The German people could not believe they were the losers of the war and viewed the Treaty as unfair and humiliating.

• The new Weimar government was blamed for signing the Treaty and characterized by shame and weakness by those who did not support it.

The Treaty made Germany unstable• Instead of following Wilson’s 14 points, G.B. and

France punished Germany.• Reparations: Money to be paid by Germany to the winners

for damages caused by the war. Caused the new government to have no money to pay for damages, veterans, or to stimulate the economy. Caused inflation and unemployment in Germany.

• Confiscation of land and colonies: The Germans lost land to the new Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. They lost all of their colonies. This lost Germany money for these regions produced coal, food, gave them access to the sea, and created markets for their goods.

• Diminishing the size of the army: By reducing their army, several thousand of Germany’s soldiers were now unemployed. This only added to the already saturated job market.

What was the Weimar Government?• 4 main political parties made up a coalition government.• Due to rising inflation, unemployment, and instability the rise of

more parties to the left and right (communists and Nazis) started to get more votes.

• These parties opposed the Republican system.

The downfall of Weimar• Over 50 political parties existed in Germany.• Political parties such as the Nazis and Communists had

their own police force.• They used extremist measures (violence, intimidation,

assassination) to get their point across.• Nazi Appeal:

• The Nazis as well as others associated themselves with the “true” Germany, invoking a traditionalist, nationalist theme.

• Blaming Jews, Communists, Socialists, and the November Criminals (those who signed the Treaty) for their plight.

How Hitler Comes to Power?

• By 1930, the coalition had collapsed as none of the main political parties could get a majority.

• As the Depression worsened the Nazi party grew in popularity, eventually becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag.

• Paul von Hindenberg is President and does not like Hitler.• He is convinced by others to name Hitler Chancellor so he

can be controlled by those in charge.• Hindenberg names Hitler Chancellor, he will later die and

Hitler will become leader of Germany.

JapanThe rise of an Empire

Arrival of the West• The result was near complete

isolation for Japan for the next 200 years. Japan remained traditional and stagnant while the rest of the world developed new technologies.

• The Shoguns became alarmed at the influence the Westerners had over Japanese society and banned all Westerners in 1614.

• 1853 U.S. warships under Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and threatened war if Japan did not open up to trade with the rest of the world.

• Japan then realized how far behind the rest of the world they had become with technology, etc… and set about in a massive national effort of modernization.

The Meiji Restoration (Enlightened Rule)

• Failure to deal with the crises caused by threats from the West & by domestic discontent, the last Tokugawa shogun resigned in 1867

• Sad at how their govt. had become weak the samurai restored power to the emperor in a coup known as the Meiji Restoration

• The samurai were stripped of their traditional power, rights & duties

• Pivotal moment in Japanese history; see the downfall of Japanese feudalism & the forging of a modern state

Japan Modernizes• Japan would model aspects of their society after the West

• Military: “A rich country a strong military”• Industry• Economy: Modern methods of banking and taxation were created• Education was set up for all & modeled similar to a western model

• The Meiji Restoration changed Japan from poor farmers to a modern nation rivaling the west in all areas of industry, railroads, banks, economy, & military by 1890.

• Japans next goal was to establish colonies and expand their empire

WWIIHistory’s Deadliest Conflict

Causes• Post WWI Attitudes

1. G.B./France2. USSR (Russia)3. U.S.4. Germany5. Japan

• Appeasement… What does it mean? How did this policy lead to great losses in human life?

• By 1937, War was inevitable; by 1939 the world would be divided into the Allied Powers, and the Axis Powers… and the United States

Early Axis Success: Germany• Using the excuse of ‘lebensraum’, Germany seeks to expand its

borders in the 1930s. Due to appeasement policy, Germany is able to build its empire with little resistance.

• In 1937, the Germans move into Austria & Czechoslovakia• WWII in Europe officially begins September 1, 1939 with Germany’s

invasion of Poland, seeking to reclaim the Polish Corridor, lost after the Treaty of Versailles:

• Germany, using the Blitzkrieg strategy, begins invading Western Europe, and one by one countries fall.

• Scandinavia: Nov. 1939• Holland: May 1940• France falls June 16, 1940• England is next: Battle of Britain

German Occupation: The Holocaust

• Of the 60 million World War II deaths, 11 million people died in German death camps including 3.5 million Russians, and 6 million Jews (2/3rds of all European Jews)

• The word Holocaust was given to the killing of the 6 million Jews because it was a war of extermination designed to wipe out an entire group of people.

• Systematic genocide: The last stage of Hitler’s “Final Solution”

Early Axis Success: Japan• Rise of Imperial Japan: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nosq94oCl_M)• Japan, also takes advantage of the World’s tentative

position and the policy of appeasement, sees great early success in the Pacific before and during the 1930s• First Sino-Japanese War (1895)• Russo-Japanese War (1905)• Invasion of Manchuria (1931)• Second Sino Japanese War (1937)

• After China Falls, the Japanese begin conquering one Pacific Island after another. By 1941, only one threat remains to Japan in the Pacific…

Japanese Occupation of Asia• Rape of Nanjing (1937):

• Japanese soldiers, to be hardened for war and prepare for their duties as the superior beings of the Pacific, are encouraged to rape, torture, and murder citizens of Nanjing… in all over 200,000 would perish

• Bataan Death March:• 1943-44 Japanese Prisoners of War are forced to

march inland, so as to avoid being freed by oncoming Allied forces. After a 1000 miles, nearly 100,000 POWs would die

America During World War II

Culture, Propaganda, Civil Rights Issues…The War on the Homefront

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec 7, 1941

• Surprise attack from the Japanese on the U.S. Naval Base…

• Aim was to disable the Americans ability to control Japanese actions in the Pacific

• After Pearl Harbor attack, US War Department called for mass evacuation of Japanese from Hawaii

Questions of Civil Liberties• The question arises…is it right for a government to limit civil liberties

during war time? What do you think are the arguments for each point of view?

• 10,000+ German and Italian immigrants would be imprisoned in interment camps, or given a restriction of liberties (Curfew, travel restrictions, etc.); thousands more Japanese would be sent to Interment camps as well

Immediate Reaction• More than 120,000 people, most of them native-born

American citizens, forced by military order into concentration camps “relocation centers”

• ”guilty by reason of race”• California media helped fuel agitation for removal

• Open attacks on Japanese in California• Charged with espionage• Los Angeles Times questioned loyalty of American-born Japanese• Patriotic organizations also joined campaign against J-As• Demands that all with dual citizenship be placed in concentration camps

CAMP LIFE• Housed in barracks; Each family assigned one room, 20 by 20 feet; Facility resembled both a military base & a prison

• Each room had “a pot bellied stove, a single electric light hanging from the ceiling, an Army cot for each person and a blanket for the bed”

• Camp life highly regimented• Adults work• Children went to school...Pledge

of Allegiance

George Hirabyashi

• An American citizen of Japanese descent.• Born an American citizen in Seattle in 1918. He was

never a subject of Japan and never bore any allegiance to the Japanese Empire.

• In 1942, a federal district court jury convicted Mr. Hirabyashi of violating a curfew and failing to report to a "Civil Control Station" as required under Executive Order 9066.

Hirabyashi Cont.• In June 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Mr.

Hirabyashi's convictions by a vote of 9-0. Three Justices, Douglas, Murphy, and Rutledge wrote separate opinions concurring in the majority decision.

• The majority upheld the conviction as an exercise of the power of the government to take steps necessary to prevent espionage and sabotage in an area threatened by Japanese attack.

• The Court relied, without question, on the judgment of the military and Congress that there were disloyal members of the Japanese American population.

• In his concurring opinion, Justice Douglas reiterated the majority opinion when he wrote "We must credit the military with as much good faith in [the belief that we were indeed faced with the imminent threat of a dire emergency] as we would any other public official acting pursuant to his duties." However, Justice Douglas concurred on the narrow basis that he believed Japanese Americans could not refuse to obey the law, rather they must obey the law and challenge it through legal process if they believed that it was unconstitutional.

• Justice Murphy, also concurred on the basis that he could not doubt the good faith of the military and Congress. However, Justice Murphy clearly had doubts about the wisdom of the Court's decision. Despite acceding to military necessity, Justice Murphy wrote, "To sanction discrimination between groups of United States citizens on the basis of ancestry … goes to the very brink of constitutional power." "Except under conditions of great emergency a regulation of this kind applicable solely to citizens of a particular racial extraction would not be regarded as in accord with the requirement of due process of law contained in the 5th Amendment."

Fred Korematsu • In 1942, a federal district court

convicted Mr. Korematsu of staying in San Leandro, CA in violation of a Civil Exclusion Order based on Executive Order No. 9066.

• Mr. Korematsu stipulated that he had knowingly violated the exclusion order.

• Korematsu v. United States• In December 1944, the U.S.

Supreme Court affirmed Mr. Korematsu's conviction by a vote of 6-3. The dissenting Justices were Roberts, Murphy, and Jackson.

Korematsu Cont.

• The majority upheld the conviction as an exercise of the power of the government to take steps necessary to prevent espionage and sabotage in an area threatened by Japanese attack.

• The Court relied, without question, on the judgment of the military and Congress that there were disloyal members of the Japanese American population.

• However, in charging Mr. Korematsu, the U.S. Government raised no question about his loyalty to the United States.

• In dissent, Justice Murphy wrote: "[The] exclusion of all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien, from the Pacific Coast area on a plea of military necessity in the absence of martial law, … goes over the very brink of constitutional power and falls into the ugly abyss of racism. … I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. … It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States. All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and necessarily part of the new and distinct civilization of the United States. They must accordingly be treated at all times as the heirs of the American experiment and as entitled to all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution."

Military Service• Many young Japanese-Americans volunteered to fight

for US• Defend country to demonstrate loyalty & claim their

American birthright• 33,000 served• Many as interpreters & translators

• One general estimated that J-A military contributions shortened war by 2 years

• Helped win war in Europe…and therefore Asia as well• Members of the 442nd: “probably the most

decorated unit in US military history”

Post-War

• People had spent an average of 3 years in camps • After the war, returned home... possessions, homes, businesses gone • Within a year of Evacuation Day, those who could prove they were

loyal (FBI cert) and had a job and place to live could leave, go to Midwest or east (not back west)

Early Reaction

• WWII as transition to Civil Rights Revolution• Defense of democracy abroad stirred demands for

racial justice at home• Racial discrimination started to become un-American

after WWII• New law allowed Japanese immigrants to at last

become citizens• Internment became a “ghost from the past” that

needed to be exorcised• ex-internees had been silently carrying a “burden of shame,”

felt stigmatized

History Shifts• During 1970s, many 3rd-generation Japanese Americans

wanted to break the silence• Searching for roots• Learned immigrant grandparents had helped transform California’s

valleys from deserts to rich • Tom C. Clark, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,

Retired, has written that: "In Hirabyashi v. U.S. and Korematsu v. U.S. [the United States Supreme Court] … wholly ignored the fundamental principle that a free society judges by individual acts, not ancestry."

• Inspired demand for redress and reparations• 1988: Congress passed bill that provided an apology, and

$20,000 to each of survivors of internment camps• President Ronald Reagan: US committed “a grave wrong

Role of the Mainstream Media• With the advent of Television, Movies, and Radio,

along with the continued success of the Newspaper Industry, the media is able to work hand-in-hand with the government in getting mass messages to the American people to therefore buy in to the war effort

• Movie Stars (Cary Grant, Judy Garland), Musicians(Jo Stafford), and even famous athletes (Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio) would also all do their part to encourage people to contribute by joining the military, buying war bonds, or the importance of rationing

Betty Grable

• Most popular pin-up girl of the WWII era

• Not gorgeous, rather, Girl-next-door type

• Reminded the boys what they were off fighting for

Rosie the Riveter

• Women are strong, and they can contribute to any society in many different ways

Affect on the American Minority• Women

• Think…what might their new role be? Why would they take on this role?

• African Americans• Join the military, yet still don’t have civil liberties and equality…• Detroit work riots• Growth of NAACP• Executive Order 8802

War-time Economy• World War II would soon

become a total war, a war in which a nation will allocate any necessary funds to the war effort

• $270 billion would be dedicated to the war

• Rationing- The government asked Americans to limit the amount of food they ate, gas they used for their automobiles

WWII Attitudes

• Anti-German and Japanese sentiment in American radio, literature, theatre, etc.