2 - Sabotage

Summary

Eleanor Roosevelt has long been seen as the conscience of the nation, but too little attention has focused on her support of the Japanese-American internment. Caught in the impossible position of opposing internment yet needing to support her husband’s policy, Mrs. Roosevelt publicly backed the plan. When we listen back to her speeches and read her writings at the time, we find a person trying her best to ameliorate the worst aspects of the government’s actions, but simultaneously revealing far less public concern for the victims than we might have imagined.Mrs. Roosevelt’s morally muddled actions contrasted with those of Assistant War Secretary John McCloy. The chapter examines McCloy’s extensive knowledge of German sabotage and how this effected his perception of the Japanese-American threat.