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Executive Order 9066
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Background
Sociohistorical Context: Japanese Immigration to the United States
For several centuries, Japan maintained an official policy of isolation toward Europe and the Western world. This began to change when, in 1853, the United States Navy commander Matthew Perry arrived in Japan to effect a treaty that opened the country to trade with the US. Many Japanese became intrigued by America as an alien culture and a symbol of freedom and opportunity.
Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Japan’s rapid urbanization and industrialization had a negative impact on Japanese farmers and impelled many of them to immigrate to the United States to seek a better life. Japanese immigrants settled both in Hawaii and on the West Coast of the US, often working on the railroads or on farms as contract laborers. Many eventually stayed to establish their own farms and orchards, open up shops, or operate small businesses, settling in ethnic communities and enclaves especially in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
Although highly successful, Japanese immigrants encountered a number of barriers in their new homeland, including social prejudice and legal restrictions. Some state legislatures restricted foreign-born residents from owning land, and US immigration at that time did not allow immigrants born in Japan to become citizens. In addition, resentment built up among white Americans toward Japanese immigrants who were taking, and succeeding in, jobs traditionally held by the native-born.
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 intensified anti-Japanese sentiment (see below). Lobbyists advocating for the complete removal of Japanese Americans from the United States placed pressure on the government and military, and were a significant factor leading to the passage of Order 9066.
Historical Context: The Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack by the Empire of Japan on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, formed the immediate context to the passage of Order 9066. The devastating attack, carried out without any formal warning and while negotiations between the US and Japan were still ongoing, was the catalyst for the United States’ formal entry into World War II on the side of the Allies. The object of the attack was to force the US to give up its interests in Southeast Asia and abandon the Pacific region to the imperial designs of Japan, led by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.
Instead, the attack only helped to unify America, which up until then had been divided on the issue of joining the war. The day after the attack, Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7 “a day that will live in infamy,” and with the permission of Congress declared war on Japan. In all, more than 2,400 Americans (including civilians) died in the attack, over a thousand were wounded, and scores of US battleships and airplanes were destroyed.
The Pearl Harbor attack was preceded by a period of intense friction between the US and Japan. US officials were troubled by Japanese expansionism in the Pacific—including Japan’s war with China starting in 1937—and responded by placing sanctions and trade embargoes on Japan. The Japanese leaders, in turn, aggressively fought back. By attacking America’s Navy at an unexpected target (Pearl Harbor), they hoped to cripple US attempts at interfering with their imperial designs in the Pacific.
Among the repercussions of the Pearl Harbor attack in the United States was an intense suspicion that fell upon Japanese and Japanese Americans, many of whom lived on the West Coast in areas that were considered vulnerable to further attacks from Japan. In the period following the attack, Japanese American communities faced widespread hostility and questioning of their loyalty to the US, and the FBI was given sweeping powers to question or detain anyone suspected of divided loyalties. Pressures from various quarters on the government for the removal of Japanese Americans mounted, forming one of the factors that led Roosevelt to issue Order 9066.
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