# Did Japanese spouses of Americans have to go into the Interment Camps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744 "2016-12-15T02:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/1 "2016-12-15T02:55:20Z")
What if a White American male living in California had a Japanese wife? Did she have to go into an Internment Camp during WW 2? It certainly sounds unlikely, but wouldn’t she be stopped by the local police if she were alone? During the 1930’s there probably were too many cases of this kind of mixed marriage (and in a lot of States it would have been illegal), but California was (and is) a different kind of place, so there must have been a number of mixed marriages like this. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/2 "2016-12-15T04:30:35Z")
Anti-miscenegation laws were on the books in California 'till '48 and Oregon 'till '51. While white-Asian marriages were legal in Washington, and apparently getting married there got you around the law in California, mixed marriages were extremely rare. I recall a number of about 200, but have no cite, don’t even remember where I got that number. That said, given the oft repeated quote that even 1/16th Japanese ancestry meant exclusion from the military zone (most of the west-coast) , I suspect Japanese wives were not free to walk around in LA. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/3 "2016-12-15T04:35:32Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > What if a White American male living in California had a Japanese wife? Did she have to go into an Internment Camp during WW 2? > > It certainly sounds unlikely, but wouldn’t she be stopped by the local police if she were alone? > > During the 1930’s \*\*there probably were too many cases of this kind of mixed marriage \*\*(and in a lot of States it would have been illegal), but California was (and is) a different kind of place, so there must have been a number of mixed marriages like this. WTF? It should be pointed out that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/4 "2016-12-15T04:41:45Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > WTF? > > It should be pointed out that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps. He left out the word “not.” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/5 "2016-12-15T05:05:40Z")
He also seems to think that it was “people of Japanese nationality” who were sent to camps, rather than “Americans of Japanese ancestry”. Americans, married to Americans or not, were sent to the camps. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/6 "2016-12-15T23:46:10Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > WTF? > > It should be pointed out that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps. (Sorry, forgot the _not_ in my sentence.) To be clear, you are saying that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps even if they were legally married to a White, Black, Latino, etc. American citizen? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/7 "2016-12-15T23:53:34Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > (Sorry, forgot the _not_ in my sentence.) > > To be clear, you are saying that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps even if they were legally married to a White, Black, Latino, etc. American citizen? Apologies, then. I don’t know about spouses but citizenship was not a bar to internment. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/8 "2016-12-16T00:21:12Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > (Sorry, forgot the _not_ in my sentence.) > > To be clear, you are saying that American citizens of Japanese decent went to the camps even if they were legally married to a White, Black, Latino, etc. American citizen? According to the wiki article, 62% of the internees were citizens of the US. Marriage status appears to have been irrelevant. I’m not sure why you’re tying your question to marriage? > **[Internment of Japanese Americans](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans)** > > During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Approximately two-thirds of the detainees were United States citizens. These actions were initiated by Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, following Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Guam, the Philippines... ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/9 "2016-12-16T00:30:02Z")
Ask George T, he was there and quite vocal about the whole thing. I find that the history books and laws seldom tell a person what actually went on. Again, ask George T… ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/10 "2016-12-16T02:16:15Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > According to the wiki article, 62% of the internees were citizens of the US. Marriage status appears to have been irrelevant. I’m not sure why you’re tying your question to marriage? > > [Internment of Japanese Americans - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans) I’m tying my question to marriage because if _ALL_ people of Japanese heritage had to go to the camps, you would be telling the White husband that his Japanese wife was going to be forcibly removed from his household and held prisoner in an internment camp. And the husband would be expected to go along with this outrage? ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/11 "2016-12-16T02:22:10Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I’m not sure why you’re tying your question to marriage? Can’t speak for the OP, but maybe because that, specifically, is what makes the question interesting? In WWII Germany, Especially in Berlin, being married to a non-Jew afforded Jews and especially “Half-Jews” some protection against deportation or internment. I still have not seen an answer if similar was going on for West-coast Japanese spouses of white males. I know Japanese spouses of white women (or at least one such) were interned - his wife famously joined him in the camp. But I don’t specifically know about Japanese wives of whites. They would’ve had a possible work-around: technically the object was removal from the exclusion zone. Those who moved out of the zone voluntarily before the deportations started were left alone AFAIK. Wouldn’t be hard to allow “voluntary” moves after that date for such special cases. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/12 "2016-12-16T02:45:17Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I’m tying my question to marriage because if _ALL_ people of Japanese heritage had to go to the camps, you would be telling the White husband that his Japanese wife was going to be forcibly removed from his household and held prisoner in an internment camp. And the husband would be expected to go along with this outrage? Basically the plot of the film [Come See the Paradise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_See_the_Paradise). A scholarly article which needs [jstor access](https://www.jstor.org/stable/27500450?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) to read past the first page. Basically initially yes, not just the Japanese members of the families, but also non-Japanese spouses ( including at least 63 white wives and at least three white husbands ) and mixed race children were rounded up. In 1943 a ‘mixed race policy’ was implemented to release many of them, with a particular supposed emphasis on mixed race child welfare. The children were supposed to be returned to a “Caucasian environment.” What this meant in practice via 1940’s perceptions about how households functioned is that Japanese wife, white husband - no problem. White wife, Japanese husband - problem, unless the wife cut off ties with the husband. More details can be found [here](http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0042801/00001). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/13 "2016-12-16T03:09:31Z")
As one can imagine with all race-based laws, the answer was complicated. In early 1942 the Japanese-American wife would have certainly gone to an internment camp. By July 1942,[the authorities were refining that position.](http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0042801/00001) (Warning, this pdf is a 257 page document. I’ve tried to find the relevant sections for the OP.) Remember, “Japanese” was a racial description. It didn’t matter whether the Japanese person was an American citizen or not. > [@](#): > > On July 12, 1942, the WDC provided managers of assembly and relocation centers with > more detailed guidelines for the mixed marriage policy. The WDC instructed the camp managers > to investigate whether their camps had internees belonging to the following four categories of > mixed marriage cases: 1) families consisting of “a Caucasian husband who is a citizen of the > United States, a Japanese wife and mixed blood children”; 2) “adult individuals of mixed blood > who are citizens of the United States”; 3) families consisting of “a Japanese husband, Caucasian > wife and mixed blood children”; and 4) a couple composed of one Japanese and the other nonJapanese spouses with no “unemancipated [underage] children.”14 The first and second categories – family with Caucasian husband and Japanese wife, and family with mixed race adults – could leave the camps as long as they had come from a “Caucasian environment” and agreed to return to a Caucasian environment. The third category – family with Japanese husband and Caucasian wife – could leave the camps but had to agree to settle outside of the Western Military Zone. The fourth category – married couples with no children – received no exemption. The document also notes that 63 white women who were married to Japanese men were interned with their husbands. In January 1943 those restrictions were changed slightly to include Chinese and Filipino spouses with whites. > [@](#): > > Bendetsen, the creator of the mixed marriage policy, purposefully accommodated the > reunion of members of mixed marriage families consisting of a non-Japanese husband, a > Japanese wife, and mixed blood children in their homes on the West Coast while the policy > never applied the same prescription to mixed marriage families composed of a Japanese husband, > a white wife, and “mixed blood” children. ETA: Tamerlane posted first, but my research corroborates. In fact, we cite the same paper. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/14 "2016-12-16T03:36:21Z")
You are looking for a factual answer so this belongs in GQ. It seems to mostly be answered but maybe someone will have more to add. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/15 "2016-12-17T18:32:18Z")
Were the guards at the camps under orders to shoot any person of Japanese heritage who tried to leave without permission? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/16 "2016-12-17T22:28:14Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Were the guards at the camps under orders to shoot any person of Japanese heritage who tried to leave without permission? There were certainly [instances of guards shooting internees who were trying to leave.](http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/timeline.html) There were also instances where guards shot people who were apparently were not trying to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-japanese-spouses-of-americans-have-to-go-into-the-interment-camps/774744/17 "2016-12-19T18:18:10Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > I’m tying my question to marriage because if _ALL_ people of Japanese heritage had to go to the camps, you would be telling the White husband that his Japanese wife was going to be forcibly removed from his household and held prisoner in an internment camp. And the husband would be expected to go along with this outrage? As much as Japanese-Americans went along with it. In other words they had no choice. And as to why this was happening, look at it this way… Would the paranoid authorities who were locking up people based solely on ancestry be more likely to trust a Japanese woman who married a white guy, or distrust the white guy who married “one of them”?