By: Jasmine Rodriguez, Jessie Erazo, Ray Mora, and Steven Fonseca

THE TERROR ON THE HOMEFRONT? OR PARANOIA?

Are the Japanese the Real Monsters? By Jessie Erazo
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt recently signed Executive Order No. 9066 on February 19, 1942. This authorizes the exclusion of 120,000 Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens from the West coast of the United States, also the internment of United States citizens and legal permanent residents of Japanese ancestry in internment camps. The justification that for this is the fear that some may be spies. It seems as if Americans and our government are buying into the hysteria toward Japan, due to the recent tragedy of Pearl Harbor where Japan bombed the lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu. So it is obvious that is the reason why the government is suspicious toward those with Japanese ancestry, even if they were born and brought up in the United States. The American officials told the Japanese that this was all being done for their protection. A victim that we spoke with noted, that when they got to their camps that there were guards with firearms who pointed inward, and not outward. Many businesses and homes of Japanese citizens were lost. The conditions of the U.S. internment camps were overcrowded and provided poor living conditions. The Japanese Americans were housed in "tarpaper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." Food is rationed at the camps out at an expense of 48 cents per internee, and served by fellow internees in a mess hall of 250-300 people. Leadership positions within the camps were only offered to the Nisei, or American-born, Japanese. The older generations, referred to as the Issei, were forced to watch as the government promoted their children and ignored them. Eventually the government allowed internees to leave the concentration camps if they chose to enlist in the U.S. Army. Only 1,200 internees chose to do so. A legal challenge was up and against the internment camps. In the 1944 decision, Korematasu v. United States, the Supreme court ruled the internment camps legal since they were a military necessity. These are not bright times on the home front for the Japanese.

Domestice affaris 1940s

Domestic Policies 1940s The Nation was at war during the 1940s. They had declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor happened. Due to the war many domestic polices had to do with the war. The war demanded a vast expansion of war industries, which caused many problems. So FDR created the War Production Board (WPB). He appointed Donald Nelson as head of the board. He also created the Office of Price Administration, which was created to curb the inflation by controlling prices and rationing scarce goods such as sugar, canned foods, and shoes. But sometimes agencies would clash, so FDR created the Office of Economic Stabilization headed by James Bryan. Also because all the white men were away the new labor force composed of women and black men. This often led to tension in the work force because there was still segregation. Randolph a black labor leader threatens to lead a march because of the segregation. FDR created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). This committee would make sure that black workers would be treated fairly in the work place. Since many of the men were away at war, there werent many voters in America. This led the Republican Party to gain an upper hand in politics. They won 44 seats in the House and 9 seats in the Senate. This made it so Congress was now mostly made up of Republicans. So FDR ran with a conservative vice President, Harry Truman.

By; Jasmine Rodriguez

Another police made during the WW2 in 1942 after Pearl Harbor FDR made it an order to move all Japanese American citizens to concentration camps. Even Nisei, who were Japanese citizens born in America. They lived behind barbwire guarded by troops. The Supreme Court supported this, so no one could fight this. Some Japanese citizens chose to relinquish their citizenship and return to America after the war was finished. Other Japanese Americans understood that this was necessary during the war and stayed in America. Domestic polices were largely affected by WW2. The war industries needed to be monitored, Japanese were isolated, and Republicans gained the upper hand. But thanks to policies like these the home front could stand strong and sturdy. And with a strong home front we were able to win the war.

Mexican Americans and African By: Ray Mora Americans 1940s

Mexican- Americans experience on the home front during WWII.....In Los Angeles, California a series of riots broke out that involved whites and latino youths running around wearing zoot suits. Army men stationed in Southern California did not like Latinos roaming around in suits that weren't seen as suitable during wartime. Los Angeles, with the highest concentration of mexicans outside of Mexico, were separated into the worst and oldest parts of the city. In addition to that they were segregated with jobs as well, they had the lowest paying jobs. They were talked about and made look bad in propaganda by the whites. That's why there was so much tension between the whites and the Mexicans, latinos. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder, created a different view of Mexican youths, worst than the previous one. This created problems with police and the media who had a negative view of Mexicans although the Sleepy Lagoon Murder was overturned and showed that it wasn't the young Mexicans who were guilty. The Zoot Suit riots brought together Mexicans and Black, to go against the White Servicemen. When the riots began, many sailors and white servicemen would get into altercations with young Mexicans in the street and would assault the young Mexican teenagers they would see walking, as they would be marching down the streets of Los Angeles. African- American experience on the home front during WWII... They created the Double V campaign to have two things to motivate them to victory, they were fighting against facism and segregation in the country they lived in and served for. Many people on the home front were starting to protest against segregation of blacks. March 1941, Randolph marched and wanted to get black people hired. He influenced FDR to set Executive Order 8802 to stop discrimination in government hiring. That created more jobs and equality for blacks but they were still being discriminated. The working positions were now higher and more skilled unlike before where they were not skilled and had very low paying jobs. They were segregated during the war by whites. They were limited to how they could serve and could not serve as flight men, they could join but only to be prepared to go into combat. The African-Americans that served were sent to the worst bases and just had to wait, and were humiliated until they were assigned something to do by the white officers. The surrounding areas of the bases were very dangerous and risky because violence towards African- Americans continued. During WWII African- Americans were now shifting from an agrarian lifestyle and became skilled workers and moved away from segregation based in the South.

By: Steven Fonseca

Prior to World War II, FDR was a conducting a plan to rev up Americas economy. Knowing the country would soon have to face a war, he switched factories from mass producing market items to arms. This created employment for those who were not at war and did not have a job. Propaganda such as Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to help out in the factories while their husbands were out at war. California was also a popular destination for people to go look for jobs during the war because it promised a lot of hope and many people who did make the travel to california found what they were looking for.