Though the United States was determined to fight the good democratic fight against the ravages of tyranny, it was still unable to avoid perpetrating a few injustices itself.

And we're not talking about wartime propaganda—we're talking about concentration camps on American soil. Yeah, it was bad.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States was fully flung into World War II. Isolationist sentiments dissolved, and reactionary passions took hold. Much of this patriotic energy went to defending the country by justifiable means, but some of it fed into the vicious irrationality of war hysteria.

The result was a cultural and governmental paranoia that led to the oppression of certain populations within the United States. Namely, that of citizens with German, Italian, and—most extensively—Japanese heritage.

Executive Order 9066 is one such example of this hysteria. Signed by FDR on February 12th, 1942, a little more than a year after he delivered the "Four Freedoms" speech, it allowed the government to deport citizens of these backgrounds to guarded military internment camps.

Suspended two year later, Executive Order 9066 remains a shameful part of America's war efforts in the 1940s and a contradictory part of FDR's administration. In the '80s, official apologies were made, and the United States finally owned up to the fact that it had been crazy horrible to citizens of Japanese descent.

(Want the full scoop on this order and the events that followed? Check out our Learning Guide for "Executive Order 9066.")