-- 25 --
THE ARSENAL OF D EMO CRA C Y
Inthe!9j Oseveryyc,useemedtobringanewwar,
o rthreatofwar.somewhereinthew o rl d .Lead ers
likethe:(;,..- r mand ictator Hitler th reatened and
builn-d.N atio ns builtm o retanks. warshipsand
m ilitary aircraft.P n..-sjdc n r Rooseveltspoketo rhc
Am eri canpeople in 1937 abo ut wars beingfo ug h tIII
SpainandChina."I nn o cent peoples. inno cent
nat io n sarcbeing cruel lysacr ifi cedtoJg reed fo r
powerandsu pn..-macv. " he warn ed. " If th ese things
COIll\.'toP ;I SS[happ en !in othe rp artsofth e w orld.le t
n o oneill1,l~il1cthatAmericaw illescape."
13 mSpainandC hina seeme dfaraw ay.M o st
Americallsigno red Roosevelt's warn ing.T hey
believed thatth e bestthin gtodo\\',IStoletfo reigners
so lve th eirp ro blems themselves.lso laricnisrs fd trhis
parricularl vstrongly.Thesew erepeople who
believed rharAmcricansshouldtryto cut olT,o r
"isolate."rhc UnitedStat esfromrhcproblems of the
Oll ts id t'world.Iso latio nistide aswere\TrystronginCongress
duringrhc19.30s.Itpassed an umberoflawscalled
N eutralityAcrs .Thcse saidthatAm ericancitize ns
wou ld no tbeallowedto sell m ilitary equip me nt,o r
lendmoney,toanynationsat w ar.Evennon-
m ilitarysuppliessuch as foodstuffswou ldbeso ldto
w arr ing count rieso n lyif th eyp aidcashto rth em an d
collectedthemin theiro wnships.
Then. in 1939 ,w arbrokeo minEurope. Uy th e
summerof 19 -10Hitl er's armie s hadoverrunallof
westernEurope , O n lyUri rai n < c xb ausrcd andshort
ofw eap on s- still defiedthem.With Hitlerthemaster
ofEur o pe, an dh is ally.Ja pan,beco minge ver
stronger i ll Asia, Am erican ssawa t las tthe dan gerous
positiono f rhc U nitedStates, sand wiched between
th etw o.Roo seve lt had al read yper su adedCongressto
app rovt'rhc Iirvt peacetimemilitaryconscrip tionin
Americanh isto ryand to suspen d the N cu rraliey
Acts.N o w he scmB ritainallthe militaryt'qul pment
th atth e UnitedStarescouldsparccri fles.g Ulls.
ships.Earlyill 19 -1 1 theBritishrano uro fm o ne y.In
MarchRo o seveltpersuadedCongresstoacceprhis
Lend LeasePLIn.
H"TheIsseiandtheNisei
In t hecarlv 19 40s m or eth an 100 ,01, 0 peopleo f
japane sed escentlivedintheUnitedStates.T he se
japanese Am erican s were either "Issei"- th o se
borninjapan-or" N isei" -A merican-bo rn Jap-
anese.Most lived inC alifornia.where th eyhad
work ed hard and beensuccessful. By 11)-11, for
example.Issei wereprod uci ng half o f C alifornia 's
frui t and veget ables. Ot hers became su ccessful
doctors,la w yers.and bus inessmen.
Aftertheattac konPear! Har borwhiteAmeri cans
began to see every j apanese American as a
pot ent ialspyo r saboteur. Both Iss ei an d Nisei
werethreatenedandtreated badly.Sho ps refused
tosell th em fo od. Finally, in March 1 942. the
govern mentsentsoldie rsto cakethemfromtheir
ho mes [Q be in t erne d in prison cam ps called
" relocationcente rs. "M o s t o f the mtcmmenrcdmps wereIIIr emote.
desertareaso fthecountr y.Over)IX), IX>Ojapan es e
Am eri can men ,womenandch ildren we rekep tin
them lorthe (est o f th e war. In later yedrs the
A mericanC ivil Libemcs Union called their in-
tcm m cn r"theworstsing k-vi olati on ofth e civil
rightsofA m e rica nci tizensIIIourhi story ."
The in te rnmento f the Issei and the Nisei was
more than unj ust.All the evidenceseemstosh o w
that itwas llllllt'cessdry.Tho usa nd s of Niseifough t
b ravel y in the American army. And not one
j ap aneseAmeri canwas convictedofanact o f dis-
lo yaltyto th eUnitedStaresd uring rhcwholeof
th eWJ.T,LendLeasegaveRoosevelttheTigh t tosupply
militar y equi pme ntand othergoodstoBrnain
witho ut paym ent .Hecoulddothesamefo r dny
countryw hose defen se heconsideredocccsserv(Qthe
safet y01 1ht,U ni ted Stares.Americanguns,foodand
~lircraftcrossedth e Atlant icOcean in largequantities.
T hey playeda viralpanin helpin gBritainto
cont inuetotightagamseHitle r. When I {itlcrattacked