Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In the days after the United States entered World War II, it became clear that the public needed

to know more. More about why we were at war. Who we were at war with. Who our allies were.

Who our enemies were. So in the summer of 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created

the United States Office of War Information. It would create posters, magazine articles,

and films to show the American public what we were up to overseas. Believe me today we've been through some of the real stuff. The fellas were asleep now. They're half dead with exhaustion. They're filthy with sweat and dirt. But take my word for it mom. They're grand soldiers, everyone of them.

Encourage patriotism. Just what does Mrs. Exception mean when she tells you she had to give up a red crosswork because it didn't leave her time enough to get her hair done each week.

And explain why we were removing over 100,000 people from their homes and sending them to camps in desolate regions of rural America.

All persons of Japanese descent were required to register. They gathered in their own churches and schools and the Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the enormous paperwork involved in the migration.

This is Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy. I'm Decapiti. And today we are talking about the four-year period during which American citizens were ordered to leave their homes, friends, schools, and businesses behind to live under armed guard. We're talking about Japanese American confinement during World War II.

And if you haven't heard it, this is something of a companion episode to Kouromatsu versus the United States, the case that unsuccessfully challenged what we'll be talking about today.

The dollar's born in 1934. Of course, you know, studied a little bit of history. Just I think there's been a remarkable change in our country. It's still ongoing. It's not complete, but there's been a change in my life as kind of an illustration of it.

This is Judge Wallace Tashima. If you've heard our episode on the Supreme Court case, Kouromatsu versus the United States, then you already know his voice.

Judge Tashima is a senior United States Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

I was born in San Maria, California. My father was an immigrant from Japan. My mother was also an immigrant from Japan.

And my father was a graduate of the University of Utah. And I was born in San Maria, where he was the executive manager of the Farmers' Court.

San Maria is a big farming area.

Judge Tashima's father passed away when he was about four, and his mother moved the family to LA.

That is where they were on December 7, 1941, when the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Nearly 2,400 people were killed, including some civilians.

We wanted to bomb the bomb, but it's 6% oxygen in your cell. It is cold. It is cold. It is all your fault.

Now up until this point, the United States had been officially neutral in the World War that had been raging for nearly three years.

...