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Was President Roosevelt justified in ordering Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the internment of Japanese American citizens? It's an essay btw.

User Luke Prior
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Answer:

Despite administering the Executive Order 9066 to Japanese, it was, ironically, condemned almost 70 percent of imprisoned Japanese but American Citizens. It was supposed to be the first blow of the US to the Japanese after declaring war and it resulted to incarceration of 120,000 Japanese. They were brought in wartime camps and suspend the their rights under Fifth Amendment.

It's the seventh of December, 1941, and a Japanese family sits at the table for dinner. Little do they know however, these following dinners will be their last meals together. In the coming days, the American government will execute Order 9066 act at the order of President Franklin Roosevelt, authorizing all evacuation of persons of Japanese descent. However many people believe Roosevelt's actions to be warranted in the name of public safety, and the sacrifice of those in camps is justified by the risk of just one of them being against the American people.

People who believe this will often state Roosevelt was justified because after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the fear, hatred and outrage against the Japanese Americans grew and it was a common belief that the Japanese Americans had helped them to plan the attack. They also mention Roosevelt was justified because Article Two grants him authority to issue executive order.

Despite those beliefs, Roosevelt was objectively wrong in his activation of executive order 9066. Addressing the first claim, while it was true many Americans were fearful of the Japanese, they did not only intern the Japanese, but rather they also interned thousands of german and Italian Americans. So although they were fearful of the Japanese, fear was clearly not the only reason they interned innocent American civilians.

Concerning the second point, Roosevelt was technically justified because Article Two grants him authority to issue executive order, however it can also be considered as unjustified because he doubted the intentions of millions of people who were American citizens. They were suspected because of their ancestry.

while at first, the impulsive mind might believe that Roosevelt was justified in interning millions of Americans, however that is clearly not the case. Order 9066 was a cruel unjustified order that ruined many Americans lives and separated them from their family.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Eme Eme
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This is a matter of opinion.
If you think yes, you could argue that internment was a great PR move and/or that it protected the Japanese living in America from negative press
If you argue no (which I would) then you could argue that it was unconstitutional and/or had no strategic importance to the war itself.
User Agmin
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