One of the things I've wondered about is did the Japanese Internment prevent an American Kristalinacht? The internment was very strange. It only applied to three states (WA, OR, CA) and the four western most counties in AZ. It was actually a relocation or internment order. If a Japanese family moved 150 miles plus eastward, no internment. Didn't apply to Hawaii. Canada had a similar program which I believe applied to the entire country and also applied to Eskimos and Inuits, which the US didn't.
Very little is written about the Italians (first to be interred) or the Germans.
I suspect most Americans couldn't tell the difference between someone who was Chinese, Filipino, Japanese or Korean. After 9/11 two morons in AZ killed a Sheik because he wore a turban and they thought he was an Arab.
A couple of things. First, Elleman isn't a professor at the US Naval Institute. USNI doesn't have professors. He's a professor at the Naval War College, and has written something for USNI. (This is less impressive than it sounds.) Second, I think it's worth pointing to the Niihau incident for how people were evaluating the probability of sabotage. Yes, it turns out that we didn't see the sort of problems out of the Japanese that we saw with, say, the Germans in WWI, but given what happened at the start of the war, that wasn't the way to bet. If Elleman didn't bring that up, then he did a terrible job of making the argument.
Thanks again for this. And the link from yesterday on DSL for the May 23 post.!
One of the things I've wondered about is did the Japanese Internment prevent an American Kristalinacht? The internment was very strange. It only applied to three states (WA, OR, CA) and the four western most counties in AZ. It was actually a relocation or internment order. If a Japanese family moved 150 miles plus eastward, no internment. Didn't apply to Hawaii. Canada had a similar program which I believe applied to the entire country and also applied to Eskimos and Inuits, which the US didn't.
Very little is written about the Italians (first to be interred) or the Germans.
I suspect most Americans couldn't tell the difference between someone who was Chinese, Filipino, Japanese or Korean. After 9/11 two morons in AZ killed a Sheik because he wore a turban and they thought he was an Arab.
A couple of things. First, Elleman isn't a professor at the US Naval Institute. USNI doesn't have professors. He's a professor at the Naval War College, and has written something for USNI. (This is less impressive than it sounds.) Second, I think it's worth pointing to the Niihau incident for how people were evaluating the probability of sabotage. Yes, it turns out that we didn't see the sort of problems out of the Japanese that we saw with, say, the Germans in WWI, but given what happened at the start of the war, that wasn't the way to bet. If Elleman didn't bring that up, then he did a terrible job of making the argument.