Anti-Japanese Propagnda Of Ww2 In America
Essay by 24 • August 23, 2010 • 2,778 Words (12 Pages) • 2,628 Views
World War II Anti-Japanese Propaganda
"The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately
attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." (Declaration of
War Against Japan) These words were said by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in his declaration of war on Japan on December 8, 1941. The
attack on Pearl Harbor marked the official entry of the United States
involvement in World War II and sparked a barrage of anti-Japanese
propaganda. From posters to leaflets, radio messages to the attack on Pearl
Harbor, the public of the United States was constantly the center of
attention for psychological warfare. Propaganda of the World War II period
reflected the American people's anti-Japanese sentiment.
Twenty years after the conclusion of World War I, Germany, Italy,
and Japan started an international aggression campaign that would
eventually bring the United States into a second global conflict. "Let's Put
the Axe to the Axis" was a popular wartime propaganda song pushing action
toward breaking the Axis' power (The Enduring Vision 910). The Axis was
the name given to the German, Japanese and Italian alliance. The Allied
powers were the United States, Great Britain, France, and later, Russia. The
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, as it is called, formed in 1936-1937, and the Allied
countries came together shortly after. The United States did not want to
enter the war, and as late as mid-November in 1941, the US felt "the most
essential thing now, from the United States standpoint, is to gain time."
December 7, 1941, the "date which will live in infamy," the United
States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Until December, the
Japanese had pursued two courses of action for the current situation. They
attempted to get the oil embargo lifted without giving up the territory they
wanted, and to prepare for war. On the other side, the US demanded the
withdraw of Japanese troops from Indochina and China. All of this became
irrelevant by mid-October. Japan's new premier, General Tojo Hideki
secretly set November 29, 1941 as the last day Japan would accept a
settlement with the United States without war. Since the deadline was kept
secret, it meant war was almost certain. The Japanese felt very confident
with their plans for war. The army and navy had proposed to make a fast
sweep of Malaya, the East Indies, Burma, and the Philippines, all while
setting up a defensive perimeter in the central and southwestern Pacific
(Pearl Harbor, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). They expected the United
States to declare war but have no intentions of fighting long and loosing
many resources. The only hitch in their plan was a US naval base at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii. To assure their plans went as intended, the Japanese
decided to make a crippling blow to the base. Around 8 a.m. on December 7,
1941, Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese bombers
destroyed almost 200 American aircraft, sank or seriously damaged eight
battleships and 13 other naval vessels and killed or wounded approximately
3000 military personnel in less than two hours (The Enduring Vision
904-905). This attack brought the Unites States into the war on December
8, determined to fight to the end.
The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national
security, especially on the west coast. In February 1942, just two months
after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which
relocated all persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens, inland,
outside of the Pacific military zone (www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/
lessons/Japanese_relocation.html). In Oregon and Washington, the eastern
boundary of the military zone was an imaginary line that ran along the edge
of the Cascade Mountains and down the "spine" of California from north to
south. From that line to the Pacific coast, the military restricted zones in
those three states were defined. The order was designed to protect persons
of Japanese descent from harm at the hands of Americans who had strong
anti-Japanese attitudes and prevent espionage.
Roosevelt's order affected 117,000 people of Japanese descent. The
Issei were the first generation of Japanese in the country and the Nisei,
numbering 70,000, were the second generation (www.archives.gov/
digital_classroom/lessons/Japanese_relocation.html). Within weeks, all
persons of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or enemy aliens, rich or
poor, young or old, were ordered to assembly centers near their homes. Soon
they
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