The Japanese American Story…Part 1b

Part 1b Japanese Americans in Utah and the United States (b)

[This is part b of a talk given to high school students at Juab High School in Nephi, Utah, on February 20, 2002. It is a chapter from the book listed below.]

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 (EO 9066) on February 19, 1942, which gave the military commander the authority to remove any people from certain designated areas. It was enacted only against those who were of Japanese ancestry. The areas affected by EO 9066 were described to be all of California, Alaska, and Hawaii, the southern part of Arizona, and the western halves of Oregon and Washington.

The military commander in Hawaii stated that it was not necessary to enact the order in Hawaii because anyone potentially dangerous had already been picked up and the others were not a threat. It would have been nearly impossible to enforce the order in Hawaii, where Japanese people were such a large part of the population that they were arguably the backbone of the economy.

The order could have been used with the German and Italian Americans and immigrants as well, but it was aimed at the Japanese people and was only used against those of Japanese heritage. There was almost no one who would speak out for the Japanese Americans at that time although the American Friends Committee members (Quakers) were helpful. Some few people were supportive, but most turned their backs on the Japanese Americans. They were suspected of being spies who were capable of espionage. Most newspapers printed articles in favor of the evacuation.

Realizing the enormous task of trying to move approximately one hundred and twenty thousand people from the West Coast states, the government leaders initially sought to have what was called a “voluntary evacuation.” Some people had moved inland by the deadline in March. The others who had been living on the West Coast were removed from their homes and put in temporary assembly centers.

Milton Eisenhower headed the War Relocation Authority (WRA) which was established on March 18, 1942. He envisioned that the Japanese Americans could be disbursed to inland states where they could resume a normal life after being forced out of their homes on the West Coast. The governors, attorneys general, and other state officials of the inland western states were called to Salt Lake City in April 1942 where they were asked to accept Japanese Americans to live in their areas. The officials protested strongly with extreme opposition toward the Japanese Americans.

With the exception of one, the governors protested that they did not want the Japanese people to come to their states since the people were considered a threat. Some of the governors expressed outright hatred for the Japanese, and all spoke of their distaste for the idea. This reaction caused the WRA to pursue the building of the concentration camps to house the people of Japanese ancestry.

Milton Eisenhower was disturbed by the attitudes and hostility. He felt that what was being done to the Japanese Americans was wrong, and he resigned from his position with the WRA because he said he could not sleep at night.

The one governor who was the exception was Governor Ralph Carr of Colorado. He was a Republican governor who stated that the persons of Japanese ancestry had done nothing wrong and had every legal right to live where they pleased. He said they would be welcome in his state. He further stated that every citizen should be guaranteed the right to move freely, including those of Japanese ancestry.

Governor Carr had made a brave and courageous move to attempt to treat the Japanese people with kindness and fairness. Many of the citizens of his state, however, disagreed with him and were angry that he would welcome anyone who was Japanese into Colorado. The decision likely ended his political career as he was defeated in a subsequent campaign for the US Senate.

Governor Carr was drafted to run for governor again in 1950, and he continued to defend the constitutional rights of the Japanese Americans and all American citizens. Civil rights advocate and JACL leader, Minoru Yasui, served as the head of the “Committee for Ralph L. Carr for Governor” when Carr ran again. After winning the primary, Carr died of a heart attack or complications associated with diabetes at age 62.

Most of those evacuated from the West Coast lost virtually everything they had owned as they were only allowed to take with them what they could carry. They were given just a short period of time, days or a week or two, to dispose of their material possessions and be ready to leave. People (even complete strangers) came to their doors asking if they could buy or have their furniture and goods. The Japanese people were offered only minimal amounts for their possessions.

Of course, it was well known that they would have to accept almost nothing for their personal property if they wanted to receive anything at all. Some would-be buyers told the Japanese people that they could accept the price offered or they would come back and take their possessions the next week after they had evacuated. Some people stored items in community buildings, churches, or with neighbors, but most returned after the war to find nothing remained. Some few were fortunate that good neighbors took care of their possessions in their absence.

Although Japanese immigrants were not allowed to own land in California at that time, some had been able to purchase property in the names of their adult children who had been born in America and were citizens. Most of the Japanese residents of the West Coast states had likely been living in rented homes and on farms or property they did not own.

Before the deadline for the forced incarceration arrived, some Japanese people had taken the option of a “voluntary evacuation.” If they voluntarily left the West Coast, they could avoid going to the camps and would have some measure of freedom. They were allowed to leave if they had someone who lived inland sign for them, vouching they would help with housing for the evacuees.

Since my family lived in Utah, we had several families of relatives come from California to our home to live with us or to stay until housing could be found. They lived in Utah for the duration of the war and then were able to return to live in California after the war ended.

My wife was living a comfortable life with her family in the Los Angeles area at the outbreak of the war. She was a toddler with one older brother. Her mother, a Japanese American who had been born in Utah, was pregnant with their third child. My wife’s father had come from Japan and was familiar with Utah as he had worked years earlier at the Bingham Copper Mine near Salt Lake City before his cousin summoned him to move to California to join him in his business.

The cousin later returned to Japan so he was the sole owner of the successful produce market in Hollywood. When the war started, most of their customers immediately stopped patronizing the market. They had a few loyal customers for a short period before they had to close the business.

Because the family had relatives living in Ogden, Utah, who signed for them, they were able to move to Utah instead of being imprisoned in one of the camps. They loaded as much of their earthly possessions as they could on the back of the truck which had been used for their business. They had sold their new car at a great loss, had burned priceless mementoes from Japan, had sold what household items they could for pennies on the dollar, had given away items, and had left Christmas decorations on the closet shelf of their rented home. Her mother said later that she did not think they would ever need Christmas decorations again. The future looked extremely bleak.

After driving across Nevada to Utah, they arrived in Salt Lake City and stopped at a restaurant, hungry and tired. After sitting for some time without receiving service, they were told that the restaurant would not serve their kind. After suffering this humiliation, the family moved into a small space in the town of Layton. Their new home had been a chicken coop that the owners fixed up just enough to rent to the new occupants.

People who lived in those areas made money by renting formerly uninhabitable farm buildings to the Japanese people who arrived from California. My wife’s father was able to work at odd jobs, but money was tight. The family could not afford to return to California after the war ended, so they remained in Utah. They never regained the financial stature they had before the war, but my mother-inlaw considered herself fortunate, in spite of everything, to have moved back to the state of her birth. She and the family later became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When she was six years old and living in Utah, her mother died, so the family left Utah moved to Seattle where they had relatives who would help with the children while her father worked as a porter for the Union Pacific Railroad. She was later sent to Japan to live with an aunt and uncle while going to school until she graduated from high school. Some time after she returned to the United States, she met and married her husband who had immigrated from Japan years earlier.

[This is an excerpt from the book: The Japanese American Story as Told Through a Collection of Speeches and Articles. A free ebook is available by going to the end of the “about” section on the website. www.thejapaneseamericanstory.com.]