Part 2/9:
The impetus behind Executive Order 9066 was a pervasive fear of a Japanese invasion following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. U.S. Army Lieutenant General John L. Dewitt unjustly categorized all individuals of Japanese descent—regardless of their citizenship—as threats to national security. As a result, Japanese Americans, including U.S.-born citizens, were rounded up and transported to concentration camps, stripped of due process and labeled as “evacuees,” a term that grossly understated the reality of their suffering.