During the 1940's, Americans were beginning to recover from the Great Depression. People were beginning to go back to work and make more substantial incomes so they could provide for their families. It was also a time of intense hostility due to the political and global upheaval of World War II. On December 7th, 1941 everything changed for the United States. The Japanese Imperial Army attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with bomber planes. This attack forced the United States into World War II fighting against the Axis powers that included Japan, Italy, and Germany. In a response by the United States government they ordered all Japanese Americans into internment camps for security reasons. The innocent Japanese Americans were wrongly placed into these camps and the actions taken by the United States government put heavy burdens on the Japanese Americans for years to come. The United States had a Japanese American population of 126,947 by 1940 (Broom 8). Most of these Japanese Americans resided on the western coast of the United States living in California, Oregon, and Washington. They were peaceful people who had steady jobs; families and owned homes just like every other American. After the attacks by the Japanese, the government had viewed the Japanese Americans as a threat to the nation's security. In response, "on February 19, 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order, 9066, which directed the secretary of war to begin the mass evacuation of Japanese Residents from Washington, Oregon, and California"" (Gruenewald 21). The President's actions were ones that he thought was for the greater good of the entire nation as a whole. "The President issued this order in spite of data collected for years by natural intelligence and the FBI documenting that residents of Japanese descent were not a threat " (Gruenewald 21). Going against the evidence the President and other executives racially profiled all Japanese Americans as people who supported the Japanese Imperial Army.
