Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Cases
by Peter Irons
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter IronsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-06-10
ISBN: 0520083121
Number of pages: 415
Publisher: University of California Press
Book Reviews of Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Cases
Book Review: A Little Known but Important Historical Episode in U.S. History
Summary: 5 Stars
Peter Irons' book titled JUSTICE AT WAR is an important book regarding the forced internment of Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJAs)during World War II. His book is an important work as Irons shows the "inner workings" of the "Jusitce Department" and the U.S. Supreme Court. Irons investigation of of these events demonstrates just unfair and unjust the "legal" system can when dealing with innocent victims whose only crime was their ancestry.
Irons does a good job in exposing the "evidence" to sustain Executive Order 9066 which Pres. Roosevelt issue early in 1942 to place AJA's in concentration camps stretching from California to Arkansas. When this order was challenged in court, government witnesses were so stupid that they initially used race as a legal reason for this unjust action. However, they soon had to change their lying as race is not a legal consideration in arrest and detention.
One example of such government witness lying included DeWitt who claimed that the concentration camps were necessary as there must have been shore to ship signalling on the Pacific Coast soon after the Pearl Harbor attack. However, the FCC lads undermined this lying by stating that no such radio or visual signals were ever given. Readers should note that J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was clear that the AJA's were not any threat to the United States and were remarkably loyal to the U.S.
A facinating if disturbing section of this book involves the Supreme Court Justices some of whom refuted the judicial canon of ethics regarding civil liberties, rules of due process, and rules of evidence. The inscription of one of the chapters was that the Supreme Court blew up. One should note that Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson, ruled against the placing of AJAs in concentration camps, and this was a well reasoned articulate opinion which compares to his opinion in the Supreme Court Case titled THE WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION VS. BARNETTE (1943). Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black who became something of a libertarian upheld Excutive Order 9066. While this reviewer disagrees with Black's decision, Justice Black at least had the honesty to admit that he could not tell one Japanese from another. While this was not a good response, this was better than the hyocrisy shown by others who avoided the obvious racism in these cases.
One reviewer correctly commented that Peter Irons involved himself too much in this book. This reviewer thinks this may have been a plus in this book. While one may argue that Irons may have reduced his "objectivity," sometimes a passionate presentation can embellish the book.
A few minor criticisms of this book are in order. For example, Peter Irons could have exploited the "Munson Report" which was issued on November 7, 1941. This report was based on years of U.S. Government spying on AJAs by federal agenceis and military intelligence snooping. The report stated that the AJAs were remarkably loyal to the United States. Yet, this report was never offered at the legal hearings, and Mr. Irons could have used this report to bolster his case. Another criticism of Irons' book was his lack of material on the rare courage of all AJA units during World War II which would have further enhance his work.
Peter Irons' book is well written and informative. Companion volumes that should be read are Michi Weylyn's YEARS OF INFAMY and Harrington's YANKEE SAMURAI. These two books bolster Irons' thesis, and perhaps some historian will take advantage and write a more comprehensive book.
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