Abstract
When approximately 70,000 Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes and businesses to camps in the interior of the United States in early 1942, there was an ideal opportunity for newspapers to protest on the basis of civil liberties violations. This content analysis of the editorials of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union, and Los Angeles Times for the period immediately before the February 19, 1942, relocation order, and period immediately after, found little support for Japanese Americans, even though there was never evidence of disloyalty and Secretary of War Henry Stimson tried to allay fears. Concerns of the moment outweighed both public and, with some early period exceptions, press support of freedom for Japanese Americans. This study concludes the sampled press did not play a watchdog role and, instead, “served as a government publicist.”
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.