I. Introduction
About the Paper
“Oust Seattle Enemy Aliens” reads the Seattle Star’s front-page headline on February 16th, 1942. This statement appears to be a sentiment many of the local subscribers felt towards Japanese-American residents following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war against the Japanese Imperial forces. To better understand how such strong anti-Japanese sentiment arose I examine the Seattle Star from December 1, 1941 to February 28, 1942. This essay’s focus will be on each month, individually discussed with particular attention paid to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the issues of Executive Order 9066. In the Star, I looked at how native Japanese and Japanese-Americans are portrayed which is significant since it allows us to focus on what terminology was used by the paper to describe these people and, through letters to the editor, discover the local populaces views on the war and the idea of internment. I found the paper’s racist remarks were most frequently made towards Japanese and people of Japanese descent (instead of individuals with Italian or German lineage), but only after the management change in January. In my conclusion, I will focus on problems I encountered with this research and suggestions where further work would generate a deeper understanding of the issues raised in this essay.
About the Star
The Seattle Star was a locally owned paper, first published on February 2, 1899. In 1909 it was sold to the E.W. Scripps family. Then in January 1942 it was sold to Howard W. Parrish, a once employee of the Seattle Star. It ended publication on August 13th, 1947 due to increases in labor costs and a shortage of newsprint. Recently another paper under the same name began print but there is no connection to its namesake. The Seattle Star is notorious for its overt racist remarks in the 1920s. Although it did not have as large a staff, circulation, or readership as the Seattle Post Intelligencer or the Seattle Times it still managed to reach people throughout King County as evidenced by the locations of writers to the editor and berth of local area news covered in small selection stories.
In Japan
Prior to December 1941 Japan was a nation full of desire for national power, respect, and equality. It wanted to achieve equal footing with the Western Powers and revise any unequal treaties that it had with said nations. It began the Western practice of industrialization in the late 19th century followed by imperialism in the early 20th century. In the chapter Kenneth B. Pyle titles “The Road to the Pacific War” he unambiously implies that the path was one which could not be avoided, with the turning of fortunes pinpointed to the turn of the century and the militarist era of the 1930s. He argues that racial tensions first began to develop on the United States western coast between white Americans and Japanese immigrants. In 1905, California legislature had unanimously passed a resolution calling on the government to limit immigration, characterizing Japanese immigrants as “immoral, intemperate, quarrelsome men bound to labor for a pittance[1].” The next year the San Francisco School Board created a separate school for all children of Chinese, Korean, or Japanese descent. It was felt by Americans that they were not allowed to naturalize in Japan so why should Japanese naturalize in the United States. The Japanese understood these measures to imply they were still not on equal footing with the Western powers. They felt, as an industrialized nation, that their nationals should not be grouped with people from China or Korea. US President Woodrow Wilson had tried to appease the Japanese by allowing them to write an equality of races clause for the League of Nations Covent which would read “that the principles of equality of nations and the just treatment of their nationals… [shall be] a fundamental basis of future international relations in the new world organization[2],” however, it was never voted on. The last slap in the face to Japan from the United States came when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. This act is also known as the Japanese Exclusion Act since it plainly states that no more Japanese immigrants would be admitted to America although other peoples where on a quota system. This coupled with America taking a protectionist stance after the stock market crash of 1929, led Japan to want its own economic bloc.
Japan in the 1930s saw a strong military government and runaway nationalism. The invasion of Manchuria and its transformation to Manchukuo lead to censure by the League of Nations, which Japan then abandoned. It decided to control East Asia and spoke of an “Asian Monroe Doctrine” and later a “Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere.” In his book War without Mercy, John Dower finds that Japanese thinking was characterized by an “intense self-preoccupation” that emphasized Japanese virtue and purity[3]. Japanese society made sacrifices for the whole to prove its loyalty and spiritual commitment to the nation. They felt Americans were materialistic and egocentric due to their upheld values of capitalism, individualism, and liberalism. Thus, Japan began its drive towards joining the Tripartite Pact and entering World War II.
In the United States and Seattle
America, leading up to December 1941, was characterized by idealistic democracy for all nations and international liberalism under Woodrow Wilson. However, during the Great Depression the US took a different direction. Once an advocate of increasing free trade, it began to play a protectionist role. It had also tried to stay out of the Asian and European conflicts but could no longer do so once the Japanese surprise attack bombed Pearl Harbor took place on December 7th, 1941. On December 11th Nazi Germany also declared war on the US. It was agreed between Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin that Germany’s defeat had priority over Japan’s. Also, it was implied that Japan and the Pacific theater would mostly be America’s job.
At the beginning of the Pacific War, Seattle was a thriving metropolis. It faced major immigration in the first decade of the 20th century due to the Gold Rush. The economy collapsed at the end of the First World War since there was no longer a need for boats, and the first ever general worker’s strike took place in 1919. Labor still seemed to be a matter of debate as America’s involvement into WWII was being considered. With the help of Boeing, the economy boomed as the US entered WWII. As Table 1.1 highlights, the population of Washington residents with Japanese ancestry was quite high.
Table 1.1 WA, OR, and CA residents of Japanese ancestry[4]Japanese Nationality / Japanese Aliens
Washington / 14565 / 5683
Seattle / 6975 / 2876
Tacoma / 877 / 345
Oregon / 4071 / 1617
Portland / 1680 / 725
California / 93717 / 33569
LA / 23321
West Coast Total / 112353 / 40869
II. December 1941
On December 7th, Japan not only attacked the US fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor but also the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghia, and Midway. US citizens were outraged by this personal attack and felt backstabbed since peace talks had been taking place in Washington. The US felt that it had been patient with Japan in waiting its answer as to way it had been increasing its forces in Indochina. When America declared war on Japan on December 8th, so did many other countries, including Britain and Canada. China followed suit on December 9th. Japan continued to assault, now locked into war with its former ally December 10th by invading the Philippines and also seizing Guam. By the end of December the Japanese Imperial forces had also invaded Burma, British Borneo, Hong Kong, and Luzon, General Douglas MacArthur had begun to withdrawal from Manila to Bataan, and the British surrendered Hong Kong. Although the Japanese were giving a tough battle sentiment remained strong that the US would pull through at home and defeat the foes. Locally people were very upset about others not following black out procedures[5]. One Seattle Star reader summoned up the result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the US like this
A nation divided within itself; a nation torn with labor strife; a nation shouting from two camps – isolationist and interventionalist; a nation whose people were wailing about increased taxation; a nation of Democrats and Republicans; a nation bickering over all-out aid to Britain or all out home defense… thanks to Japan the United States are again one nation, indivisible[6].
At the beginning of December the Seattle Star focused largely on Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, Japanese Ambassador to Washington, and Saburo Kurusu, special envoy, who were understood to have been instructed to effect a change in the minds of American leaders which were preparing to go to war in the Pacific. Many, including daily columnist Raymond Clapper felt “Japan’s stalling plainly that[7]” and when Japan rejected the US request that it leave French Indo-China, the Star called Saburo Kurusu the “modern day Judas[8].”As a preparation for war, Capt. G. T. Finlay, senior Coast Guard officer of the 14th Naval District issued instructions as a precaution against sabotage in Honolulu. “It was believed the order was directed principally at fishing sampans manned by Japanese crews which frequently have been halted for violation of restricted areas[9].”
On December 8th, President Roosevelt signed the war declaration with Japan after he went before a joint session of both houses were he pledged that the US would triumph over treacherous Japan “so help us God.[10]” Clapper, also outraged by Pearl Harbor, wrote “Japan has chosen to live by the sword and she will die by the sword. Japan will be blasted, bombed, burned, and starved. Her people will suffer ghastly tortures. A nation which had possibilities of becoming one of the rulers of the world will be reduced to a pitiful huddling people on a poor little group of islands[11].”
Also a result of the Japanese nation’s attack against the US base, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had seized 736 Japanese nationals in the United States and the Hawaiian islands[12]. Here I find the language interesting. The word seized seems rather harsh to me picturing innocent law-abiding people being seized by agents of the federal government, yet people at the time felt that this measure of force and speed were necessarily to protect national interests. While this article appeared on the front-page the following, about American-born Japanese pledging their loyalty to the US appeared on the fourth page. The article tells of James Sakamoto, a prominent blind Japanese-American journalist and his wife. She says that “I was going to take the children downtown to do some Christmas shopping but I’m afraid it may not be safe[13]” after news of a local Japanese beating in Seattle broke. Her husband states that “[t]here is a remote possibility of our becoming the victim of public passion and hysteria. If this should occur we will stand firm in our resolution that even if America may ‘disown’ us we will never ‘disown’ America.” He later acts as the General Chairmen of the Japanese-American Citizens League where he organizes more than 300 volunteers from Seattle’s Japanese colony for civilian defense work[14].
He is not the only person to declare his loyalty to this country. The National Headquarters of Japanese American Citizens League in San Franscio “unequivocally condemned Japan for [the] attack on our country[15].” The paper seems to have an unbiased view toward Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans and even adds to this particular article an “inspiring example” of the contribution of 3,000 Americans of Japanese-ancestry enlisting to the national defense effort. Commenting that “the percentage in proportion to population is greater than any other racial group such as Italian-Americans and French-Americans.” The loyal Honolulu Japanese-American citizens were also praised for their conduct by both the civilian and military population. Joseph P. Poindexter, government of the territory of Hawaii, praised them for “the splendid example they are setting for the mainland in calm, determined conduct[16].”
Aside from declaring loyalty many Japanese citizens rushed to get birth certificates and proper identification[17] and turned in guns even though it was not necessary for non-citizens to turn in weapons[18]. To prevent discrimination against them, the Chinese community printed buttons reading “Not from Nippon[19]” or wore jackets that said “Don’t shoot! I’m a Chinaman![20]”
Other reports involving Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans included a report of Tacoma police seizing 2 Japanese loading motion picture films into a car in a “darkally”[21], an article about special passports being given to Japanese wedding guests stranded in Spokane, and a brief on Hiroshi Mashino, 25, who had just finished a national defense course and was set to work at an airplane plant, but was jailed with five other Japanese[22]. Although the latte two stories seem almost sympathetic to the Japanese sufferers I cannot help but note the phrase “dark ally” being used to describe the scene in which the Tacoma men where arrested. I cannot help but wonder was it truly a dark ally or just a poorly lit street?
Although Mayor Earl Millikin took personal command of Seattle’s civilian defense groups and held 51 Japanese he argues that “Seattle must have tolerance toward American-born Japanese, most of whom are loyal. But I also want to war the Japanese that they must not congregate of make any utterance that could be used as ground of reprisal[23].” It stands to mention that Seattle Police Chief Herbert Kimsey who helped round up the aliens all through the night declared that any attempt to stir up anti-Japanese riots would be “crushed with force[24]” and appealed for tolerance. The paper also chose to quote Rear Admiral C.S. Freeman, commandant of the 13th naval district, who said “[t]he immediate problem for the civilian population is to be on guard for possible sabotage… I realized that the very great majority of our people, including Japanese residents, are loyal to our country and it therefore is important to avoid unjust or unfounded suspicion[25].” This view is also reflected by the Seattle Urban League, described as a “social service organization for negroes and interested in racial co-operation[26].” They urge citizens not to get involved in any measures and to allow the government agencies to handle the control measures. By presenting these views and favorable comments about the local Japanese population the paper almost seems to be trying to convince individuals that they should be tolerant of others.
A roundup of 122 Japanese, 27 Germans, and 3 Italians as enemy aliens was announced Tuesday, December 9th by H. B. Fletch, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office. Fletcher said possibly more aliens will be picked up in the following weeks[27]. Nationwide the numbers were reported that more than 900 Japanese, more than 300 Germans and about 40 Italians were collected. The following day, Wednesday, the number of local Japanese who were arrested was at 156[28]. On Thursday, the national numbers were at 1,291 Japanese, 865 Germans, and 147 Italians. By December 20th that number was at 1,460 Japanese, 1,204 Germans, and 222 Italians[29]. Attorney General Biddle said that “no sabotage of 5th column activities had been reported to the FBI” and that some of those detained would to be released after hearings while the others would be sent to concentration camps in Fort Missoula, MT, Lincoln, ND, and Stanton, NM. The paper reports that the raids were staged under a proclamation secretly promulgated by President Roosevelt. Meanwhile, the Justice department speed a campaign to prevent preservation of “peaceful and law-abiding” Japanese, naturalized or alien[30].
During this time local citizens’ fear grew as evidenced by some rather ludicrous claims that were reported in the paper. One article revolved around Alderman H D Witon, who made that charge that Japanese wardens at the Boeing Aircraft plant had control of flashlights during blackouts and could signal to attacking aircrafts. His claim was investigated by ARP officials[31]. Other adverse publications included an article detailing that anyonewho has spend the last five out of ten years in Washington could withdraw a pension regardless of citizenship. The journalists seemed to be suggesting with this article that that should not be the case. Another strange story was a letter written by W.D.M. who said that on December 1st, the Japanese Hotel Association had said “’for various reasons we are obliged to raise you rent $1 more per month.’ On December 7th, the Japs began war upon the United States. Perhaps it can be investigated[32].”
I often found it surprising peoples’ ability to differentiate between Japanese in Japan and Japanese in the United States. One Star reader comments “[t]he Japanese present a popular enemy… we hate the Japs,” and then goes on to state “[i]n this country, a good many Japanese have already been taken into internment. I am told Mayor Millikin is taking steps to protect Seattle Japanese. This is a commendable gesture[33].” Sharing this view was K.C.H. who argued that it is not fair to condemn all Japanese residents for what Japan is doing and the fruit stands should still be frequented. K.C.H. writes that “[they] came to this land of the free to make an honest living. Their sons and daughters were born her and attend our schools and many of our various churches[34].” The fruit stands returned to normal operation on December 13th as a result of a modification of restrictions issued by the treasury department. This action was not taken out to help the Japanese nationals but rather to “restore orderly movement of fresh vegetables and other foods in Pacific Coast areas to meet civilian needs[35].” Although the nationals were still required to make periodic reports to the Federal Reserve Bank. Another letter printed December 22nd read