Why were Japanese Americans placed in internment camps during world war 2

when world war i broke out across europe in 1914, president woodrow wilson proclaimed the united states would remain neutral, and many americans supported this policy of nonintervention. however, public opinion about neutrality started to change after the sinking of the british ocean liner lusitania by a german u-boat in 1915; almost 2,000 people perished, including 128 americans. along with news of the zimmerman telegram threatening an alliance between germany and mexico, wilson asked congress for a declaration of war against germany. the u.s. officially entered the conflict on april 6, 1917.

the installment plan of the 1920s, an arrangement that allowed people to buy what they wanted with a small down payment and pay off the rest in monthly installments, provided americans a way to own what they did not have the money to buy.