President Franklin Roosevelt established internment camps for the Japanese who were living in the United States in 1942. This was a reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, which marked the United States’ entrance into World War II.
Within hours of the bombing, many Japanese community and religious leaders in Los Angeles were rounded up by the FBI and moved to other states, where they were incarcerated for the remainder of the war. Japanese living on the island of Hawaii were also arrested and transported to camps on the mainland.
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In California, which had the highest percentage of the Japanese population, most were given six days to gather their belongings and sell the rest. Entire families were relocated to the internment camps, many of which were in remote locations. Most of these camps were actually racetracks and fairgrounds, which were converted to house the interred. People were forced to live in stables and horse stalls. A livestock pavilion in Portland, Oregon was also used to house the prisoners. Those who were considered dissidents were sent to a more secure camp in Tule Lake, California. These sub-par living conditions naturally led to substandard sanitation for their occupants. Food shortages were also prevalent.
Each camp functioned as a self-contained city of sorts, with schools and work facilities, along with land set aside to grow crops and raise livestock, all surrounded by barbed wire fences and guard towers. Anyone who tried to escape was shot.
The government claimed that this internment was necessary to prevent espionage and protect the United States from any internal attacks by insurgents. Fear alone was the main motivator for these actions. Internment of the Japanese lasted for the entire length of time that the U.S. was involved in the war, with the last camp closing in 1946.
