Essay Sample on World War 1 and 2 and Civil Liberties in America

Introduction

During wars, a lot of things happen so that either of the fighting parties wins. The aim of the Presidents, Army generals, or soldiers during such times has always been to win the war at hand regardless of the price they or other people have to pay. Leaders both away from the battlefield and those on the battlefield are sometimes forced by circumstances to make hard choices. Those hard choices can amount to serious violations of human rights (Tindall and Shi, 55). Leaders get consumed by an evil desire to win a war that even inhumane acts seem humane to them or don't just bother them at all. While what they can do just to emerge victoriously may harm their people too directly or as collateral damage, knowingly or unknowingly, they rarely apologize. Instead, they justify their acts by perhaps claiming that they had to do what they had to do, or simply dismiss complaints with words like, "It was a necessary evil." This paper explores the restrictions which both of the world wars brought on civil liberties for Americans; and how the leadership then justified them, considering how reasonable or unreasonable such justifications sound today.

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During World War 2, Japan had become a threat to the United States. In reaction to this knowledge, the American soldiers embarked on a mass relocation of everyone who had a Japanese origin. This was done in a polite and disguised cruelty manner; innocent Japanese were forced to leave their homes and businesses to live in congested settlements. The government deceived them that their sacrifice was noble when they were being led into a fancy imprisonment. This mass relocation of Japanese Americans violated their rights to proper shelter and education for their children. If it were an honorable sacrifice, why only the Japanese whose country of origin they later bombed? It was prejudiced and discriminatory. The authorities justified their actions with the claims that the Japanese were strategically located. The so identified strategic locations included were mainly coastal areas. They also argued that such strategic positioning of the Japanese homes was a loophole for Japanese terrorists to attack America.

The government financed the evacuation but it led to a lot of losses to the evacuees. This is because they had to sell their property as they migrated. In such short notice, selling of property was also an act of desperation. That translated into serious financial losses. The manner in which the evacuees cooperated with the army justifies the claim that these were innocent people being forced to move from their homes, in the name of helping America win her wars. In their innocence, the migrants felt that moving away as commanded by the government was a sacrifice worth making. This suggests the great love these foreigners had for America which the government was betraying. The Army's decision to evacuate Japanese Americans and aliens was actually an over-reaction. The army could have still gathered enough intelligence without disrupting the lives of those poor people. Perhaps, all they had to do was to properly register them. With such an abrupt evacuation, their lives got destabilized to a great extent. They left their decent homes and food, for fancy refugee camps and relief food (Dudley 25).

Another community whose members suffered during those two wars is the Black American. They were denied access to proper education and most of them languished in abject poverty. In now publicized letters, it is evident the mistreatment the Negros went through were politically motivated. Their freedom was limited and they could not even secure decent jobs. Those letters were mostly addressed to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady during those days who also had a passion for diplomacy, human rights, and politics and so was an activist. Her reign falls between the First World War and the Second. The letters in reference were mainly written by girls who pleaded with her to help their fathers secure jobs, and also help them go to college. The most painful aspect of those letters is that those girls often asked for anonymity (Knepper, 30). They were ashamed because in the country they called home, they were treated as if they did not deserve to live.

Conclusion

Most articles on nuclear bombs some of which America used in World War 2 agree that they were used in a racially motivated manner. It is no surprise that the Japanese Americans and Black Americans were subjected to internment in the very country they called home, and with which they had no bad intentions. The laws on human rights in America during those days were on paper, applicable to all Americans. That is why many foreign nationals preferred America to their original countries because they wanted to also be the partakers of the then coveted 'American Dream.' Unfortunately, during the time of war, those laws were forgotten and got applied selectively and racially. The authorities' justification always remained that it was in the in the best interest of the country even as absurd as they sound today.

Works Cited

Dudley, William. Japanese American internment camps. 2002.

Knepper, Cathy D. Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: letters to Eleanor Roosevelt through depression and war. Carroll & Graf Pub., 2004.

Shi, David, and Tindal, David. America, The Essential Learning Edition, Volume Two. Greenhaven Press, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.