18 Global Conflicts in the 20th Century

As the U.S. propelled into the new century, so did their involvement in global affairs. We begin at the turn of the century wherein many industrialized countries were participating in “new imperialism,” efforts of colonization and imperialism in non-White countries. The U.S. was involved in armed conflicts in the western hemisphere like the Spanish-American War which ended in 1898 with U.S. control over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Freedom fighters led by Filipino nationalist Emilio Aguinaldo rejected U.S. sovereignty having fought side by side their American allies against the Spanish. This rejection prolonged the war, now fought between the U.S. and Filipinos until 1902.

Colonization of the Philippines was characterized by President McKinley and other lawmakers as a boon to Filipinos who were believed to be too uncivilized and savage for self-rule. It was these same principles that continued to prevail foreign policy throughout most of the first half of the 20th century.

Discriminatory laws also prevented first generation Japanese immigrants – known as Issei – from becoming naturalized United States citizens. They were barred from owning land, marrying whites and sending their children to schools attended by whites. The second American-born generation – known as Nisei – also faced discrimination. Even though they were born in the US, spoke English like other Americans and often did well in school, these US citizens of Japanese ancestry faced discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations (restaurants, stores, hotels, swimming pools, etc.) and social and civic activities.

World wars during the 20th century brought Americans together with an abundance of national pride and duty to the country. At times, war also evoked feelings of anxiety and xenophobia to the nations involved in the conflict.

A Day That Will Live in Infamy…

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes bombed Pearl Harbor Naval Base and other military installations within the US territory of Hawai’i.

In the hours following the attack, the FBI arrested over 1,200 Japanese Issei men: businessmen, Buddhist priests, Japanese language teachers, and other community leaders. Eventually more than 5,500 Issei men were held as potential threats to national security. Most of these men were taken first to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) detention stations and then to Department of Justice (DOJ) internment camps to undergo hearings. The majority of Issei were imprisoned without evidence that they posed any threat to national security. Internees were not allowed legal representation. Approximately 1,700 were “released” to War Relocation Authority (WRA) incarceration camps after these hearings, but most were transferred to US Army internment camps.

World War II is one of those times.

Just before the winter of 1941, there were about 125,000 people of Japanese descent living in America, most of them in west coast regions. Pearl Harbor was a U.S. naval station in Hawaii that was the victim of a surprise attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. This attack resulted in mass American casualties and was too close to the mainland for officials. As a result, Americans stepped up their involvement in the war, and in February of 1942, President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066. It designated military areas from which any person could be excluded with Congress’ support. This order authorized the militarized internment of all “persons of Japanese ancestry” residing in the western regions of the U.S. The justification was that Americans suspected that anyone of Japanese ancestry could still have loyalties to their ethnic homelands and would practice espionage. There was little to no evidence to support this concept, nevertheless, many supported this order. The Western Defense Command then issued over 100 military orders that applied only to civilians of Japanese ancestry living in West Coast states. and about 110,000 Japanese, many of them citizens and American born, many of them children, were put into internment camps. This decision was based solely on race without evidence of wrongdoing, charges or hearings. More than two-thirds of those incarcerated were U.S. citizens.

Ironically, over 150,000 people of Japanese ancestry in Hawai’i were not removed or incarcerated. General Delos Emmons, commanding general in Hawaii, treated the Issei and Nisei as loyal to the United States. Although there were many false stories of Japanese American spies, he repeatedly rejected anti-Japanese pleas to remove them from Hawai’i.

Forced internment caused almost $2 billion in property loss and even more in income loss for those interned. Internment lasted until the end of the war, and some even remained in the camps post-war because they no longer had homes to return to, for they were repossessed by authorities. It was not until the 1980s when the U.S. government paid restitution to the families that were affected in the amount of $20,000 per Japanese American families that were interned.

Never forget…

In fact, no Japanese American from the US mainland, Hawai’i or Alaska – citizen or immigrant – was ever convicted of espionage or sabotage during World War II.

This removal and incarceration policy was not legally defensible but happened anyway.

Preparations began in 1944 to close incarceration camps as the Supreme Court was hearing Mitsuye Endo’s case that a loyal US citizen could not be held against her will. In addition to closing camps, the exclusion orders were rescinded and persons of Japanese ancestry were allowed to return to the West Coast. On March 20, 1946, the last WRA incarceration camp, Tule Lake, was closed.