September 4, 1943

RETRIBUTION AGAINST JAPANESE-AMERICANS

Hatred Outpaces Anti-German Feelings of Great War

WASHINGTON—In April of this year, Elmer Davis, Director of the Office of War Information (OWI), tried to quell the fervor of calls for reprisals against Japanese-Americans. These demands came from members of Congress in response to the execution of some of the American flyers in the Doolittle raid of April last. Speaking on April 22 of this year from Corpus Christi, Texas, President Roosevelt announced the executions and declared the United States will hold “…personally and officially responsible for these diabolical crimes all of those officers of the Japanese Government who have taken part in them…”. Many see the executions as a manifestation of a “Japanese heritage of vengeance.” Will retaliation of like character indeed be seen in America?