Order Without Rules

 

 

Being a United States’ citizen has brought a great deal of honor; yet possibly that honor is merely a deception of reality.  Knowing while I grew up that our founding fathers stood against their oppressors, and eventually creating the greatest nation, gave me pride in striving to achieve my personal best.  With laws and amendments within the Constitution to protect personal freedom and the ground-work respecting diversity, it is hard to imagine at times our honor is merely a deception of imperialistic bias.  This deception may come from the depths of our national structure in the form of Presidential war-powers.  Presidential war-powers are extremely authoritative and have the propensity to contradict the essence of the United States’ ideals; possibly under-rooting and destroying the very thing that makes us U.S. citizens.  While in the face of WWII and dealing with the issue of national security, President Roosevelt used his war-powers to intern Japanese citizen and Japanese immigrants after the tragic event in Pearl Harbor.  Yet to truly understand the complexity of this order, the time and setting must influence whether this choice was right or even logical.

Within the Amendments to the Constitution in article I where it is made clear that, “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting religious…or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….”  Different religions and ethnic niches have migrated to obtain sanctuary, college students have the privilege of protesting, and all have prospered.  When dealing with drug trafficing and investigational issues the Constitution Perhaps has held United States Government at a disadvantage.  This hurdle is represented by article IV of the Amendments to the Constitution which states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (Article IV of Amendments of the Constitution, www.house.gov.)

The US must respect personal rights, whereas nations without such personal protections could in theory seize personal materials and move quicker legally.  Yet with such a blind justice system created by Article IV and the rest of the Constitution, the overall public holds these individual protections close, and also attracting many foreigners to US shores.  However, during war-time everything changes.

The Constitution of the United States is strong and binding; which is ironic that the Presidential war-powers would be a part of our sacred document.  Using these presidential war-powers and fearing further threats on the west coast of the U.S., President Roosevelt in February 19th, 1941 endorsed Executive Order 9066 to protect the nation from anymore Japanese attacks.  With the help of the Alien Act that gave the power to send away or deport any alien and/or alien force that the President found to be menacing, President Roosevelt possessed and utilized this constitutional power to intern the Japanese threat.  But with such controversial order, power was difficult to delegate fairly.  In Executive Order 9066, “the Secretary of War and the military commanders to who delegated authority” were given the power under the Presidential War Powers to eliminate all threats in a way they saw fit. (Personal justice Denied: recommendations)  However, the decision to intern the Japanese in the effort to stop potential sabotage violated the constitutional right of Japanese-American citizens.

In hindsight the issue of interning the Japanese was extremely unethical and seems logical that Executive Order 9066 would be deemed unconstitutional, yet during time of war the rules change.  Under the authority of Presidential war-powers, executive order 9066 was “held constitutional as of the time it was made,” according to the Supreme Court’s decision on December 18, 1944 in the case of Korematsu verse the United States (www2.law.cornell.edu).  The Supreme Court, in it’s obligation to protect against unconstitutional decisions, had to judge this case and issue in the context of war-time necessity, and the necessity for national security.

With all events that took place during the internment of the Japanese, no real evidence was found to support these kinds of actions.  Mostly worried about sabotage, no official investigation uncovered any plot in Hawaii supporting allegations that Pearl Harbor was internally supported.  Mr. J. Edgar Hoover (FBI director) in a memo to the Attorney General, February 2, 1942 said, “The necessity for mass evacuation based primarily upon public and political pressure rather than on Factual data….”  (www.oz.net.)  Earlier Mr. Hoover had mentioned a finding that straight contradicted the hysteria containing to Japanese internment:

…Although the situation was critical, there was no sense in the Army losing their heads as they did in the Booneville Dam affair, where the power lines were sabotaged by cattle scratching their backs on the wires, or the ‘arrows of fire’ near Seattle, which was only a farmer burning brush as he had done for years. (www.oz.net.)

With no evidence and fueled by only speculations about the Japanese-American loyalty, it is hard to imagine how enthusiastic the public was to support Roosevelt’s executive order 9066  and even how an act of such unethical proportions could even be made.

The implementation of Presidential war-powers during the Japanese internment may have contradicted itself, but the President has powers during wartime to identify hostilities on foreign and domestic forces; meaning he can do anything to achieve what he renders as an appropriate end of a conflict.  Even though President Roosevelt had the power, the power exerted may have been too severe.  Since the 1973, (Public Law 93-148 the 93rd Congress) a law was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America deemed as “War Power Resolution”. The entire document was dedicated to restraining the President from having too much power, and redirecting misused strength in appropriate ways.

The new law requires the President to consult with Congress before involving the US “armed forces into hostilities”. (Public Law 93-148)  The President must report to the House of Representatives and writing the Senate with a formal assessment to show circumstances and direct motive to why the need for war; thus restricting the President’s war-powers.  Ironically, congress and the House of Representative did not disapprove of Executive Order 9066 leaving a chance that this law would have been useless during WWII.  Whatever could have happened if this new law have been in place during Roosevelt’s Presidency, no such law existed, allowing for perhaps the biggest misuse of power in American history.

In August 10th, 1988 the US government created and enacted a public law 100-383.  Within this document a public apology was made and terms of restitution, and effort to help evacuatee in the compensation.  Along with the compensation for incarcerating the Japanese-Americans, an effort to eliminate future reoccurrences was prepared.  Their effort to eliminate the reoccurrences would come in the form of education; this educate was to help with public understanding and the events surrounding the evacuation, relocation, and internment of United States citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry. (Public Law 100-383-Aug. 10, 1988)  However, the new effort for public awareness did not pay a heavy empathizes on the President’s need to use presidential war-powers more responsible during time of war, and did not give a resolution on his vital role of protecting individual freedoms granted by the Constitution.

Whether time heals all wounds, or the hurt inflicted by history’s tale can be mended but so far, the fact remains that the individuals involved with these times are indefinitely changed.  Undoubtedly life changed for all the thousands of Japanese citizens and Japanese immigrants that were detained within the internment camps of World War II, but even more drastically changing was our very national being.  Armed with only possibilities and rumors of Japanese sabotage, officials may have committed one of the most horrific acts in American history; such an act was comparable with the Nazi force, a power that the US was defending against.  With the authority rounding up Japanese, families, foreign and domestic, and placing them into concentration camps tore at the very fabric for fleeing to the US, and yet the Supreme Court under implementation of Presidential War Powers upheld such a betraying act.  The choices made by President Roosevelt and enforced by the United States Government during WWII put innocent and loyal citizens behind fences like war criminals.  Though this unethical choice to encamp the Japanese ignored logic and reason, the Government committed these horrendous acts constitutionally.

 

Work-cited sheet

Reference Sources:

 

Takaki, R. Strangers from a Different shore: A history of Asian

Americans. Pp.379-405 and pp. 420-471.

 

The commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians                       “Recommendations”, pp.2-10

 

Selected passages from Public Law 100-383

 

 

Internet sites:

 

U.S. House of Representatives’ Home Page.  107th Congress, 2nd Session

http://www.house.gov.

 

 

The Japanese American Internment.  CjohnYu.96@alum.mit.edu

(Last mod 12-2-01). http://www.oz.net.

 

The War-Power Act of 1973.  Andrew M. Ross

www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft.warpow.html

 

Legal information institute (LII).

http://www2.law.cornell.edu.

 

 

 

Thanks:

 

Just want to thank everyone who helped with the ideas behind this paper and thank all the editors.  I know that the issues surrounding the event at Pearl Harbor can never be justified nor righted, however with the pursuit of knowledge there comes compassion to others who are involved in the same terrible situation.  With this knowledge, we, the people and citizens become more empowered to prevent and destroy enemies of freedom and American prosperity.