Walter Lippmann

After the Japanese attack on the American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, stories about possible fifth column cooperation among the Japanese Americans living in Hawaii proliferated in the American press. In the following editorial, nationally syndicated journalist Walter Lippmann argues that the West Coast, with its large population of Japanese Americans, was particularly vulnerable to this kind of attack. Reasoning that the entire west coast had become a battle zone, Lippmann argues that the movement of Japanese Americans should be severely restricted.

The enemy alien problem on the Pacific Coast, or much more accurately the fifth column problem, is very serious and it is very special. What makes it so serious and so special is that the Pacific Coast is in imminent danger of a combined attack from within and from without. The danger is not...