When Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) gave his post Pearl Harbor speech to Congress on December 8, 1941, he stated, “December 7th is a date that will live in infamy.” One day prior to FDR’s speech, Japanese planes had inflicted massive damage to America’s Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Roosevelt’s address to congress was probably one of the most impactful presidential speeches ever delivered during a time of crisis. As American’s intently listened to the radio broadcast of the Commander in Chief, they knew at that very moment, everything in America was about to change.
Unfortunately for Japanese Americans, they truly had no idea of the changes in store for them. FDR was about to go down a path normally reserved for fascist regimes and third world dictatorships. He was about to suspend habeas corpus for the first since Lincoln’s presidency; and give America’s military control over the lives of American citizens.
Roughly 2 months after delivering his now infamous speech, FDR signed Executive Order 9066 into law on February 19th, 1942. This granted the Secretary of War and his commanders unprecedented power to “prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate military commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded.”
While no specific group or location was mentioned in the order, it was clear where this was going, and was quickly applied to the entire Japanese American population on the west coast of the United States.
Japanese residents were rounded up and placed in what were called internment camps. Tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were taken into custody against their will, their property seized, their businesses shuttered, their wealth redistributed, and their children forced to undergo a form of “reeducation”, all in the name of national security.
This appalling conduct went on for over three years. And though many are still unaware, the executive order was quickly expanded and applied to include citizens of Italian and German descent as well. Thousands were arrested, and subsequently placed in similar style camps in the western United States.
As fascism was sweeping through Europe, America was delivering its own fear-based brand of the oppressive movement, simply because of hysteria from those in charge. As we move forward in the post COVID era, we’ve seen a renewed version of collectivist hysteria from many in leadership roles, predominantly in blue states.
FDR had succumbed to bad advice from political leaders and the advisors around him, and wrongfully imprisoned entire American cultures. During the height of the recent pandemic, many democrat leaders were in favor of committing similar atrocities against the people, rounding up the unvaccinated, and preparing them for detention camps in remote areas of their respective states.
These so-called leaders were perfectly willing to repeat history, suspend Habeas Corpus and deny liberty to potentially hundreds of thousands of American citizens due to fear and hysteria.
From the first moment SARS was first detected in the United States, progressive democrat elected leaders sought only one thing, to deploy draconian policies designed to imprison decenters. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because authoritarians have been doing this for eons.
The reprehensible conduct perpetrated on the Japanese people was disgraceful to say the least; and stands as a dark moment in America’s history. However, it also serves a stark reminder why history must be told, taught and truthful; because those that fail to understand it are doomed to repeat it.
