Japanese Relocation - Government Film (1942) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02This film issued by the United States government in
2. 0:061942, sets forth the rationale for the wartime
3. 0:11evacuation and internment of all persons of Japanese ancestry,
4. 0:16citizen as well as alien.
5. 0:19The Spokesman is Milton Eisenhower,
6. 0:23brother of General and later US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
7. 1:11When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, our west coast became a potential combat zone.
8. 1:18Living in that zone were more than a hundred thousand persons of Japanese ancestry.
9. 1:23Two-thirds of them American citizens;
10. 1:25one-third aliens.
11. 1:27We knew that some among them were potentially dangerous,
12. 1:31but no one knew what would happen among this concentrated population if Japanese forces should try to invade our shores.
13. 1:40Military authorities therefore determined that all of them -- citizens and aliens alike -- would have to move.
14. 1:46This picture tells how the mass migration was accomplished. Neither the army nor the War Relocation Authority
15. 1:53relished the idea of taking men, women, and children from their homes, their shops, and their farms.
16. 1:59So the military and civilian agencies alike determined to do the job as a democracy should.
17. 2:04With real consideration for the people involved. First attention was given to the problems of sabotage and
18. 2:11espionage. Now
19. 2:13here at San Francisco for example,
20. 2:15convoys were being made up within sight of possible axis agents.
21. 2:21There were more japanese in Los Angeles than in any other area. At nearby San Pedro, houses and hotels
22. 2:28occupied almost exclusively by Japanese were within a stone's throw of a naval airbase,
23. 2:35shipyards,
24. 2:37oil wells.
25. 2:40Japanese fishermen had every opportunity to watch the movements of our ships.
26. 2:45Japanese farmers were living close to vital aircraft plants.
27. 2:49So as a first step, all Japanese were required to move from critical areas such as these.
28. 2:55But of course, this limited evacuation was a solution to only part of the problem.
29. 3:00The larger problem -- the uncertainty of what would happen among these people in case of a Japanese invasion still remained.
30. 3:07That is why the
31. 3:09commanding general of the western defense command determined that all Japanese within the coastal areas should move inland.
32. 3:16Immediately the army began mapping evacuation areas and for a time encouraged the Japanese to leave voluntarily. The trouble for the voluntary
33. 3:25evacuees soon threatened in their new locations,
34. 3:27so the program was quickly put on a planned and protected basis.
35. 3:31Thereafter the American citizen Japanese and Japanese Aliens made plans in accordance with orders.
36. 3:38Notices were posted;
37. 3:39all persons of Japanese dissent were required to register.
38. 3:44They gathered in their own churches and schools and the Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the enormous paperwork involved in the migration.
39. 3:53Civilian physicians made preliminary medical examinations.
40. 3:57Government agencies helped in a hundred ways.
41. 4:00They help the evacuees find tenants for their farms.
42. 4:03They helped businessmen lease, sell, or store their property.
43. 4:07This aid was financed by the government,
44. 4:09but quick disposal of property often involved financial sacrifice for the evacuees.
45. 4:16Now the actual migration got underway.
46. 4:20The Army provided fleets of vans to transport household belongings
47. 4:26and buses to move the people to assembly centers the evacuee. The evacuees cooperated wholeheartedly.
48. 4:32The many loyal among them felt that this was a sacrifice that they could make in behalf of America's war effort.
49. 4:42In small towns as well as large, up and down the coast, the moving continued.
50. 4:56Behind them they left shops and homes they had occupied for many
51. 5:07years.
52. 5:13Their fishing fleets were impounded and left under guard.
53. 5:18Now they were taken to race tracks in fairgrounds where the army almost overnight had built assembly centers.
54. 5:23They lived here until new pioneer communities could be completed on federally owned lands in the interior.
55. 5:32Santa Anita Racetrack for example, suddenly became a community of about 17,000 persons. The army provided housing
56. 5:40and plenty of healthful nourishing food for all.
57. 5:46The residents of the new community set about developing a way of life as nearly normal as possible. They held church services:
58. 5:54Protestant, Catholic, and buddhists. They issued their own newspaper,
59. 5:59organized nursery schools, and some made camouflage nets for the United States army.
60. 6:07Meanwhile in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and elsewhere,
61. 6:12quarters were being built where they would have an opportunity to work, and more space in which to live.
62. 6:17When word came that these new homes were ready, the final movement began.
63. 6:44At each relocation center, the evacuees were met by an advanced contingent of Japanese who had arrived some days earlier and who now acted as guides.
64. 6:53Naturally the newcomers looked about with some curiosity. They were in a new area, on land that was raw,
65. 7:00untamed, but full of opportunity. Here they would build schools, educate their children,
66. 7:07reclaim the desert.
67. 7:09Their own physicians took precautions to guard against epidemics.
68. 7:13They opened advanced Americanization classes for college students, who in turn would instruct other students.
69. 7:22They made a rough beginning at self-government. For a while the army would guard the outer limits of each area,
70. 7:29community life and Security within were largely up to the Japanese themselves.
71. 7:33They immediately saw the need for developing civic leaders. At weekly community meetings, citations were given to the block leaders who had worked most
72. 7:41diligently.
73. 7:43Special emphasis was put on the health and care of these American children of Japanese descent.
74. 8:09Their parents, most of whom are American citizens, and their grandparents who are aliens
75. 8:16immediately wanted to go to work. At Manzanar
76. 8:18they built a lab house and began growing cuttings. The plants when mature will add to our rubber supply.
77. 8:35At Parker, they undertook the irrigation of fertile desert lands.
78. 8:40Meanwhile, in areas away from the coast and under appropriate safeguards,
79. 8:44many were permitted to enter private employment,
80. 8:47particularly to work in sugar beet fields where labor was badly needed.
81. 8:52Now this brief picture is actually the prologue to a story that is yet to be told.
82. 8:58The full story will begin to unfold when the raw lands of the desert turn green,
83. 9:04when all adult hands are at productive work on public lands or in private employment.
84. 9:09It will be fully told
85. 9:11only when circumstances permit the loyal American citizens once again to enjoy the freedom we in this country cherish and
86. 9:19when the disloyal, we hope, have left this country for good.
87. 9:24In the meantime,
88. 9:25we are setting a standard for the rest of the world in the treatment of people who may have loyalties to an enemy nation.
89. 9:32We are protecting ourselves without violating the principles of Christian decency.
90. 9:36We won't change this fundamental decency
91. 9:38no matter what our enemies do. But of course we hope most earnestly that our example will influence
92. 9:45the axis powers in their treatment of Americans who fall into their hands.