After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, many Americans viewed Japanese Americans with suspicion and fear. The attack, which was perpetrated by the Japanese military, fueled existing racial prejudices and led to widespread paranoia about national security. Many Americans believed that Japanese Americans, regardless of their citizenship or loyalty to the United States, might be potential spies or saboteurs.
This atmosphere of fear culminated in the U.S. government's decision to forcibly relocate and intern approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, most of whom were U.S. citizens, in internment camps across the country. The move was justified by the government as a necessary measure for national security, but it was rooted in racial prejudice and xenophobia.
Public opinion during this period was largely influenced by media portrayal and governmental rhetoric that depicted Japanese Americans as a threat. As a result, many people in the U.S. supported the internment, viewing it as a patriotic duty to protect the nation.
In the years following World War II, attitudes gradually shifted, and the internment of Japanese Americans was increasingly recognized as a grave injustice, leading to formal apologies and reparations from the U.S. government in the decades that followed.
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