2. Seized as an act of war in 1846, governed by the
military until 1850, California remained closely
connected to the military through the rest of the
nineteenth century.
In 1914 the Navy established its Pacific Fleet,
supported by growing naval presence in San Diego.
The Second World War formally began on September
1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland.
The attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of
December 7, 1941, took all the force from the
America First movement, already reeling from the
anti-Semitic direction it had taken in certain speeches
by former Californian Charles Lindbergh.
Details
3. The attack on Pearl Harbor threw California,
indeed the entire Pacific Coast, into a panic.
The Japanese had hit U.S. soil.
Ever since 1900s, a sector of California had
been at war with the state’s Japanese
immigrants.
The White California movement was gaining
strength, and in 1913 the legislature passed
the Alien Land Act prohibiting Japanese
immigrants from owning land in the state.
Details
