As the United States sent people of Japanese descent to internment camps on the mainland, it vacillated as to how to deal with Japanese Americans in Hawaii itself. The federal government couldnât afford to intern one-third of the population of Hawaii: The war effort needed labor and feared such a move might stoke pro-Japanese sentiment.
Uncle Toru, born in Hawaiâi, was deemed a threat to national security because he was a reporter for a Japanese language newspaper in Honolulu," wrote Jean Ariyoshi, the former first lady of Hawaii, in Washington Place: A First Ladyâs Story. "He was locked up on Sand Island and later moved to Honouliuli Internment Camp on Oâahu.
In the wake of Japanâs surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian civilians struggled to understand what had just happenedâand to make sense of the announcement that their island was now under martial law. As military and FBI agents rounded up suspected spies and âsuspicious persons,â the army imposed a strict curfew.
During martial law, the media was censored, and press outlets were only allowed to use English. So were people placing long-distance calls. The Japanese language ban affected schools, which were forced to close. Hawaiiâs Japanese population had long been subjected to English-only campaigns, but they had never been successful.
By 3:30 p.m., President Roosevelt had approved the territorial governorâs plan to declare martial law. Hawaii's governor, Joseph Poindexter, later claimed he had been convinced of its necessity by U.S. military commander Walter C. Short and believed it would only last 30 days.
After Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Spent Three Years Under Martial Law. More than a third of the island's residents were of Japanese descent, and military officials doubted their loyalty. Author: Erin Blakemore.
Hawaii would remain under military rule for almost three years. âThe Army's readiness to take over every detail of government in Hawaii only hours after the Pearl Harbor attack was in startling contrast to its lack of military preparedness to deal with the onslaught by Japan's air fleet,â writes legal historians Harry N. Scheiber and Jane L.
In October 1941, territorial officials in Hawaii enacted the Hawaii Defense Act, a law that gave the civilian governor broad powers but that ensured due process. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 swept those plans under the rug. The Pearl Harbor naval base was attacked at 7:48 a.m.
She was 17 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Her father, a Buddhist priest and Japanese language school teacher, was swept up in an FBI raid soon after the attacks. Though she had enjoyed a thriving Japanese community in the years before the war, under martial law she was shunned by her former friends. âWe were totally isolated.â.
Uncle Toru, born in Hawaiâi, was deemed a threat to national security because he was a reporter for a Japanese language newspaper in Honolulu," wrote Jean Ariyoshi, the former first lady of Hawaii, in Washington Place: A First Ladyâs Story.
The federal government couldnât afford to intern one-third of the population of Hawaii: The war effort needed labor and feared such a move might stoke pro-Japanese sentiment. Besides, the logistics of imprisoning nearly 160,000 people in a territory that was small to begin with seemed insurmountable.