World War II
During World War II the United States interned between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese Americans in detainment camps, further proving how national fear can lead to irrational acts and total violation of civil liberties. Due to proven espionage activity on the Hawaiian Islands prior to December 7, 1941, the U.S. government began to fear a replay of Pearl Harbor on the West Coast of California with so many Japanese Americans residing there. This fear lead to Executive Order 9066, ordering all persons of Japanese descent away from the coast and into internment camps further inland. Most of the Japanese Americans complied without question but three young men, Nisei, born, raised, and college-educated in the U.S. refused. Though the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, these cases suggest the unconstitutionality of Executive Order 9066.
The cases of Gordon Hirabayashi, Minoru Yasui, and Fred Korematsu were argued together in San Francisco. Due to procedural variations, the cases reached the Supreme Court at different times. Hirabayashi and Yasui were sent directly to the Supreme Court.
The case of Korematsu v. The United States (1945) came before the Supreme Court after Korematsu was convicted of refusal to leave his home in California for a relocation camp in federal court and lost on an appeal in the circuit court (Rehnquist, 1998, p. 267).
The problem in the whole internment question was the legality of such a move at that time. According to the authorities, any decree the government must make in time of war to ensure the safety of its citizens and its soil is permissible. The other half of the problem is the ethics of such an act. Uprooting over a hundred thousand people and forcing them to live under restricted and substandard conditions is a monstrous way to treat people. Fear was the motivation. It seems that fear overcomes good judgment every time.
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