Japanese-American Claims Act
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack sank four U.S. battleships, destroyed 188 U.S. aircraft, and killed 2,403 U.S. citizens within two hours, and led to the United States joining World War II. Once the United States entered the war and anti-Japanese sentiment began to circulate, Americans increasingly reacted with racism and hostility, viewing people of Japanese descent were treated as enemies regardless of whether they were U.S. citizens. The U.S. government expressed concerns about the loyalty of the Japanese people living in America and about Japanese spies sending information to Japan. "The U.S. Department of the Treasury froze the assets of all citizens and resident aliens who were born in Japan, and the Department of Justice arrested some 1,500 religious and community leaders as potentially dangerous enemy aliens. Because many of the largest populations of Japanese Americans were in close proximity to vital war assets along the Pacific coast. The result was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066."
Japanese-American life before World War II
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the public began to fear the idea of Japanese Americans possibly aiding a Japanese invasion. At one point, about one month before the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. State Department hired a special investigator to report on Japanese-American communities to make sure that the Japanese were not a threat to national security. The investigator's conclusion was that there is no evidence supporting a reason to fear sabotage from the Japanese Americans. This report was kept confidential, however, so the public was never aware of this report. Thus, all of the negative images they had concerning Japanese Americans were initiated by the media. The public was also unaware of the fact that over 65% of the Japanese Americans were U.S. born citizens. Also, there were rumors of possibly Japanese-American spies, but there was never any conclusive evidence.