Learning Objective for The Decision to Intern the Japanese Americans during World War II

Since the 1940s, Americans have debated whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to remove and intern more than 110,000 Japanese Americans was motivated by true military necessity or race prejudice and whether an infringement of civil liberties is acceptable in times of emergency. These questions are still relevant today as terrorist attacks and other threats force Americans to address the intersections of racial profiling, civil liberties, and national security. This unit will help you craft skills of historical analysis, critical thinking, and comparison that will allow you to weigh in on this debate. The following sources will provide you with the historical context of the Japanese American experience, while raising questions relevant to the modern American experience. On completion of this unit, you should be able to answer the central question: How did the United States attempt to balance civil rights and wartime national security in the decision to intern Japanese Americans in 1942?