Unit X: The Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question/Problem 3: How did World War II affect people's lives?

'I was 10 years old and wearing my Cub Scout uniform when we were packed onto a train in San Jose,' recalls California Democratic Congressman Norman Mineta. 'People had to just padlock and walk away from their businesses-- they lost millions. After six months in a barracks at the Santa Anita Racetrack, we were sent to Heart Mountain, Wyo. We arrived in the middle of a blinding snowstorm, five of us children in our California clothes. When we got to our tar-paper barracks, we found sand coming in through the walls, around the windows, up through the floor.'

'The camp was surrounded by barbed wire. Guards with machine guns were posted at watchtowers, with orders to shoot anyone who tried to escape. Our own government put a yoke of disloyalty around our shoulders. But throughout our ordeal, we cooperated with the government because we felt that in the long run, we could prove our citizenship.'

Otto Frederick, "A Time of Agony for Japanese Americans," Time, vol. 138, no. 22 (December 2, 1991), p. 69.