General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The real reason a very loud few are posting hostility toward Glenn Greenwald at DU: [View all]bvar22
(39,909 posts)The USA was in hysteria about the imminent invasion of California at that time.
The West Coast was a Vigilante State with armed "citizens" "patrolling" the coastlines.
There are records of mobs beating anyone who appeared to be Japanese, though these are hard to find. It was NOT our Finest Moment.
It was a different time,
and the US was a "racist" nation.
The country backed the Internment of the Japanese WITHOUT any dissent.
It was near 100%.
You should read some of the speeches from the floor of Congress at that time.
FDR was a kitten compared to some of the other proposals.
This wasn't an FDR "mistake".
It was a National Shame, though we didn't think so at the time.
No "Propagandist" would have survived in that War Hysteria environment.
...besides, FDR had other things to attend to.
The Japanese had just sunk our Pacific Fleet.
Hitler had conquered Europe (save Britain) and looked like he would conquer Asia too.
He was in a REAL World War on TWO Global fronts without much of an Army or Navy.
There were reports of Japanese saboteurs on the West Coast.
There were no satellites or radar intelligence.
In his shoes, I might have taken them off the table and put them somewhere safe too.
It WAS a different WORLD,
and it isn't fair to judge FDR by current standards.