The American media often used animal imagery to depict Japanese soldiers. A reader would be inclined not to empathize with the Japanese because they were depicted as something sub human. This tactic used by the media shows America's racist tendencies at the time. The following are examples or animal imagery used in newspapers and magazines.

www.sandysq.gcinet.net/uss_salt_lake_city+ca25/pyle-e.htm

Ernie Pyle was a well-known combat reporter in the war. He served in both theaters of the war. In 1945 he was transferred from the European to the Pacific theater. He witnessed first hand the difference between the wars. He wrote for over 700 newspapers and magazines. He reported, "In Europe we felt that our enemies, horrible and deadly as they were, were still people. But out here I soon gathered that the Japanese were looked upon as something subhuman and repulsive; the way some people feel about cockroaches or mice."

"A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched- so the Japanese-American, born of Japanese parents, grows up to be a Japanese, not an American." This quote came from the Los Angeles Times. It groups all Japanese people together, and then it compares them to vipers. It is this thought processes that lead to the internment camps.

An Army Infantry Journal called Japanese soldiers, "Bucked-toothed, near-sighted, pint-sized monkeys."

The Washington Post published an article on the Japanese stranded on Guam. It said, "Yank riflemen improve their aim by periodic Japanese hunts in the hills. It is about like jackrabbit hunting. You'd better get in your first shots because after that your prey has scurried." The hunting image portrayed in this quote was a very common one. It turns murder into hinting, an accepted sport.

Michael Simpson Dillon

This exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University during the spring semester 2002.

The material and opinions are those of their respective authors and do not represent the views of the University or the Department of History.