The Executive Order 9066
("Japanese internment camp at Manzanar.")
On February 19, 1942, FDR signed the Japanese Internment Order, also known as the Executive Order 9066. This order allowed the secretary of war "to authorize the internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during the war"("Franklin D. Roosevelt: Executive Order 9066 (1942)"). Anybody of Japanese descent, regardless of citizenship, was to be forced out of their homes and into internment camps in various parts of the country. The War Relocation Authority(WRA), a government agency, carried out the relocation of thousands of Japanese Americans("The Japanese Internment: World II (Overview)").
Life in Internment Camps
("Evacuee identification card")
During World War II, Japanese Americans citizens were confined to "relocation camps" because of their ancestry("internment"). In the first phase of internment, Japanese Americans were moved to "assembly centers" near their former homes. Many families were forced to live in horse stalls that served as makeshift living quarters until they arrived to the second phase of internment. The next phase of internment involved the transportation of Japanese Americans to ten permanent camps established by the U. S. Army. Permanent camps, located closer to the center of the US, were confined with barbed wire and protected with armed guards. Internment camps were meant to keep Japanese Americans from contacting any Japanese officials or soldiers to make plans for American sabotage. The act of Japanese Internment stripped Japanese Americans of their rights and treated them as if they weren't humans. In order to leave the internment camps, Japanese Americans had to sign a document that stated that they were loyal to the U.S., even though no acts of sabotage were committed by Japanese Americans during the War. After World War II ended, Japanese Americans returned home with a meager "government grant of $100 and several booklets of government-issued food coupons" to find their homes "looted and their property often seized by the state for failure to pay their taxes while they were interned"("The Japanese Internment: World War II (Overview)").
US Propaganda
("Eleanor Roosevelt at Japanese internment center.")
Japanese interment propaganda made by the U. S. government depicted Japanese American evacuation as a voluntary process. "Public service" videos shown in movie theaters made it seem like the Americans had created safe homes and protected the Japanese Americans' possessions while they were in internment camps. Internment propaganda made it seem like Japanese internment was a positive action that gave Japanese Americans opportunities for work and education, but in reality, Japanese Americans were forced into isolation by the country that they trusted("U.S. government propaganda video on Japanese American internment").