"I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life... All residents of this nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and necessarily a part of the new and distinct civilization of the United States." — Justice Frank Murphy, dissent in Korematsu v. United States, 1944
Which argument best explains the contradiction between FDR's 1941 "Four Freedoms" rhetoric and the policy challenged in Murphy's dissent?
- A
Japanese Americans had openly committed acts of sabotage that justified internment
- Bcheck_circle
Wartime fears about national security overrode professed ideals of liberty for all residents
- C
Roosevelt had publicly opposed the Four Freedoms as impractical
- D
The Supreme Court had previously banned executive orders during war
Explanation
The Four Freedoms promised freedom from fear, yet wartime panic and racial prejudice produced internment—a contradiction Murphy exposed.