WWII: Big Question: Is there such a thing as a “good” war?

1. WWII:Big Question: Is there such a thing as a “good” war? Notes: Japanese Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans

2. Japanese Americans • Japanese Interment Camps

3. Japanese Americans • Fearing that Japanese Americans would be disloyal to the US, President Roosevelt ordered all people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast into internment camps • These camps were located in deserts, and living conditions were harsh • Families were forced to live in flimsy barracks without running water • Despite these injustices, Japanese American men volunteered for military service • The Japanese 442nd Regiment earned more medals than any other army brigade in US History

4. African Americans • 900,000 African Americans served in the military during WWII • They were trained in segregated camps and initially assigned to noncombat jobs • Eventually they were allowed to participate in combat, where units such as the Tuskegee Flyers became known for their skill and courage • At home, 2 million African Americans helped the war effort by working in defense plants

5. Mexican Americans • Many Mexican Americans served with distinction in the military, some earning the Congressional Medal of Honor. • However, Mexican Americans still faced prejudice in the armed forces and at home • The Bracero Program, designed to increase food production, allowed farmers to hire Mexican workers to pick crops, usually for low wages • Mexican American workers at defense plants moved into areas called barrios • Zoot suitersbecame targets for attack by white sailors and soldiers in Los Angeles in 1943

6. Jewish Americans • Jewish Americans were deeply concerned about the anti-Semitism that swept Germany before and during WWII • Refugees, fleeing Hitler’s terrible persecutions, found few countries that would accept them • At first the US refused to increase immigration limits for German Jews • Eventually, FDR established the War Refugee Board, which rescued 200,000 Jews from the Nazis • Jewish servicemen saw firsthand the horrors of the death camps