pesronal respronisbilitie esay

Ryan Vanek
U.S. History AL. 8
4/26/17
Personal Responsibility Essay
The Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor on December of 1941 left 2,400 people dead and many United States planes and battleships destroyed. In February of 1942, just two and a half months after this attack, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This Executive Order relocated thousands of Japanese people from the west coast into internment camps across the country. The order was required of all Japanese people living on the west coast, even though around two thirds of them were citizens of the United States. Violating the order would have resulted in a fine up to $5,000 and one year in prison. Personal responsibility is fulfilling a task or objective that is your duty or obligation. President Roosevelt demonstrated personal responsibility by signing Executive Order 9066 because he believed it was his duty as the President of the United States to keep the citizens of his country safe and under control.
	In response to fears of more attacks by the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The order allowed for the military to create “areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine” (Exec. Order No. 9066). These military zones actually became camps where Japanese people were forced to relocate to, as “the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion” (Exec. Order No. 9066), regardless of if they were American citizens or had been born in America. The order specifically targeted those that lived closest to the west coast to relocate, since naval ports, commercial shipping and agriculture were very exposed and vulnerable there. People being relocated could only take as many things as they could carry themselves to the camps, where they were crammed in crude, small housing. Finally, in December of 1944, Executive Order 9066 was suspended, and most were released from the camps, which all officially shut down in 1946.
	Throughout all of this, President Roosevelt demonstrated personal responsibility when he issued Executive Order 9066. However, the issues and effects of the order were plentiful, such as racism towards Japanese Americans, families being broken up (sometimes even destroyed), and the loss of many successful businesses, farms, and loved ones. While I do not agree with some of the specifics of the order in regard to these issues, I do believe President Roosevelt demonstrated personal responsibility by issuing this order, because he knew it was his duty and obligation to do something to keep the American people safe, calm, and collected. With the recent attack on Pearl Harbor, people were fearful that any Japanese people had the potential to be a spy, and because of this many people, especially along the west coast, felt unsafe. On top of the pressure he felt from the American people to do so, President Roosevelt issued the order to calm fears and tensions and to keep everyone safe.
	Considering if President Roosevelt should have done anything different as a reaction to Pearl Harbor and fears of the Japanese while still maintaining personal responsibility, I personally would have acted differently than he did. Without knowing the outcome of World War II, I would still feel an obligation to keep the American people under control. However, I would also take into account the effects of my actions when formulating a large action or action such as one like Executive Order 9066. I think that relocating all Japanese people in America regardless of American citizenship is excessive, unjust and would cause issues like racism and innocent people losing their possessions. Instead, I think that only immigrants who have moved to America only fairly recently should be relocated, and that people with American citizenship should not be relocated. Making this change to the order would mean Japanese Americans would not lose their jobs, families, businesses, or anything else they have, and the people who will have to be relocated will be in better living conditions since not as many people will be crammed into tight living spaces. This modification will address the American people’s fears and concerns while saving thousands of innocent people from extreme hardships. I believe that this is still demonstrating personal responsibility because as the leader of the country, it is my duty to address the concerns of the American people, and by issuing the order with these modifications, I am effectively keeping all Americans calm and safe, not just the ones that are not Japanese.
	    During World War II, President Roosevelt demonstrated personal responsibility by issuing Executive Order 9066 as a response to the American people’s fears and concerns about Japanese spies living among them. However, President Roosevelt could have handled things slightly differently by only relocating Japanese people who were not citizens or recent immigrants. With this change to the order he would have still addressed the nation’s concerns as well as preventing and avoiding issues the original order would have caused, all the while still demonstrating personal responsibility.





Bibliography
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"FDR Signs Executive Order 9066." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
"Executive Order 9066." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
Exec. Order No. 9066, 3 C.F.R. 1 (1942). Print.