ricans also had a decent reputation in general, but people were too occupied with the war to worry about it. 112,000 Japanese-Americans—60% of which were U.S. citizens born on U.S. soil—were sent off to concentration camps. There were Japanese loyally fighting in the American army. They even went quietly to the concentration camps, having faith in the American system. But, who cared about the numbers then? We were at war with the Japanese, and the Japanese-Americans were a threat. According to the government, it had to be handled, no matter how small the threat. In short, there were facts, but the overwhelming war mania pertaining to the encompassing war caused a protective hysteria. It is ironic that a country fighting for Democracy could demean it’s own citizens in this manner, but at that time national safety was more important. There was prejudice against the Japanese-Americans, but this was slightly understandable since the U.S. was fighting Japanese homeland and the people were unsure of where the Japanese-Americans’ loyalties were. The job of the political leadership of the time was national defense. In that view, it was better to contain a possible problem now, before the possible problem got out of control. ...
