Threats Real and Perceived

Following the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans saw danger lurking everywhere, leading to, among other things, the controversial internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans and nationals. This section looks at some of the real and perceived threats and the actions taken against them.

News from Abroad: A Summary of the War Fronts
Shock and Resolve: Oregon Reacts to Pearl Harbor
Sabotage, Subversion, and Espionage Lurk in the Shadows
Under Suspicion: Enemy Aliens Draw Scrutiny in Oregon
The "Japanese Question" Confronts the State
Oregon's Japanese Americans Learn Their Fate
Japanese Americans Move on to the Assembly Center
Not Exactly Paradise: Japanese American Internment Camps
Behind the Fence: Life in the Internment Camp
Idealism and Resentment: Two Sides of Internment Camp Life
Into the Sugar Beet Fields: Japanese American Labor
Bombs Fall on Oregon: Japanese Attacks on the State

About the images: From top to bottom: Roy Matsunaga, leader of a popular band at the Minidoka internment camp; young Japanese American workers spend time at the fountain of a Nyssa drug store; a drawing of a Japanese balloon bomb; a sinister Nazi spy.

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