Battle of Los Angeles, 1942: Fear, Misperception, and the U.S. Home Front
To the point
During the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942, a dramatic false alarm driven by real threats, radar limitations, weather, and widespread fear led to hours of searchlights and anti-aircraft fire with no enemy planes shot down, and it helped fuel conspiracy theories and wartime paranoia that fed attitudes around Executive Order 9066.
