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The Value of Dust: Policy, Citizenship and Vietnam's Amerasian Children

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The Value of Dust: Policy, Citizenship and Vietnam's Amerasian Children The Value of Dust: Policy, Citizenship and Vietnam's Amerasian Children by Sabrina Thomas A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2015 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Rodney Longley, Chair Donald Fixico Carol Anderson Catherine O'Donnell ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2015 ABSTRACT This project examines the decision of American policymakers to deny the Amerasians of Vietnam—the offspring of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers born as a result of the Vietnam War—American citizenship in the 1982 Amerasian Immigration Act and the 1987 Amerasian Homecoming Act. It investigates why policymakers deemed a population unfit for the responsibilities of American society, despite the fact that they had American fathers. The examination draws upon numerous archival collections of the key policymakers, humanitarians and non-governmental organizations involved in each piece of legislation. Additionally, archival and published documents from the U.S. government and military, popular media, and veteran’s organizations, are important. Since many of those involved in the legislation are still living, oral history interviews are also a critical piece of the methodology. The dissertation argues that the exclusion of citizenship was a component of bigger issues: international relationships in a Cold War era, America’s defeat in the Vietnam War, and a history in the United States of racialized exclusionary immigration and citizenship policies against people of Asian descent. It exposes the contradictory approach of policymakers unable to reconcile the Amerasian mixture of race and nation with US law. Consequently, policymakers simultaneously employed an inclusionary discourse that deemed the Amerasians worthy of American attention, guidance and humanitarian aid, and implemented exclusionary policies that designated them unfit for the responsibilities of American citizenship. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Six years ago feels like a lifetime. I held much uncertainty and a bit of naiveté about the path before me when I packed up my car, grabbed my cat and drove to Arizona to begin this journey. My classmates were younger and brighter and employed much more sophisticated words and so as the begrudged “non-traditional” student, I held tight to my Thesaurus and wondered when I would see the “trees for the forest.” There are so many people who supported me through this journey and reassured me that those trees would appear. The warm words of encouragement, kind acts of humanity, and shared anxieties of fellow graduate students Joan Miller and Kim Hoffman were my lifeline and sanity. Thank you also to Joan’s lovely family, her dog Ginger (whose walks were always a welcome reminder that life is good), and her cat Princess (whose eternal game of hide and seek provided a bit of levity during long blocks of isolation and writing). Thank you to my cohort at ASU and the amazing women of the History graduate program with whom I shared many laughs, drinks and a little bit of mud! I could not have survived this journey without the unconditional support of my family who not only transported me numerous times across the Western frontier, but also re-housed and fed me and my animals, tolerated my horrendous mood swings, and loved me. Thank you to my grandparents, Doug and Judy, who know so many things about so many things and who I always seek to impress; and my Uncle Rick who keeps me on my toes– Bon Dia! I am also grateful to Amy Rumstrom who was kind enough to give this project a “once over” and who remains one of the smartest people I know. ii This experience began with an online course on the Vietnam War and an unexpected conversation with Dr. Kyle Longley. His encouragement, support, advice and mentorship throughout this process have been immeasurable. I hope to provide the same support to my own graduate students one day. I am eternally grateful. The completion of this project was only possible with the thoughtful guidance of my dissertation committee members: Dr. Catherine O’Donnell for her kind and consistent reassurance, for guiding and supporting my teaching, and also reminding me to be “pithy” with my words; Dr. Donald Fixico, whose patient, respectful, and detailed approach to my topic was invaluable and appreciated; Dr. Carol Anderson whose incredible scholarship is surpassed only by her energy and commitment to making her students better. Thank you for investing in me. My research would not have been possible without the helpful hands and hearts of various archivists and librarians. Thank you to those who assisted in my project at Gonzaga University, Auburn University, University of Colorado, University of Connecticut, University of California, Irvine, Emory University, University of Minnesota, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Jimmy Carter Library. Thank you also to Robert Mrazek whose willingness to tell his story helped initiate this project. I hope I did it justice! Finally, I would like to thank my aunt, Dr. Carol Lilly, whose patient reading and re-reading of numerous versions, pieces and drafts of my work was instrumental. I cannot repay the fortitude and guidance you provided along the way. I owe much of my accomplishment to your support. Thank you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE........... ...................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER 1 MIXING A NATION ............. .................................................................................. 1 2 NATIONAL PATERNAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE ORDERLY DEPARTURE PROGRAM ……………………………………………………… 34 3 BLOOD POLITICS: THE AMERASIAN IMMIGRATION ACT ....................... 79 4 WINDOW DRESSING .............. ........................................................................... 117 5 BRIDGING THE GAP ............. ............................................................................. 157 6 "LIKE A HOME WITHOUT A ROOF” ............................................................... 192 7 CONCLUSION ................... .................................................................................. 227 REFERENCES....... ............................................................................................................ 243 iv PREFACE “They’re called ‘bui doi,’ the dust of life. Conceived in hell, and born in strife…the living reminders of all the good we failed to do… We know deep in our hearts, they’re all our children too.” – Madame Butterfly During the winter of 2014-15, ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) continued to wreak havoc on the people of Syria. US agencies and numerous humanitarian organizations braced for the impending flood of refugees into neighboring countries from the war-torn region. Simultaneously, debate raged in America over the growing numbers of illegal immigrants and refugees from Latin America. At that time, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Anne C. Richard, took a moment to address the issue of stateless children at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) event, “Out of the Shadows.” She sought to promote US support for the UNHCR’s mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness and protect those persons. In her speech, Richard condemned the twenty-seven countries in the world that continue to confer nationality upon people born within their borders only through legitimation of the father. She framed it as a gender issue that empowered men to control the reproduction of citizens, thus often creating stateless children.1 War heightened the issue in Syria, Richard insisted, where it continued to destroy families and forced all children to face “unspeakable violence and instability.”2 In explaining the long-term consequences, Richard pointed to the Bidoon—a stateless and therefore marginalized population of over 100,000 in Kuwait. It is a population that is 1 Anne C. Richard, Remarks at the UNHCR Event: Out of the Shadows: Ending Statelessness in the Americas, The Newseum, Washington, D.C., November 18, 2014. 2 Ibid. v problematic, Richard explained, because its statelessness makes it a “vulnerable group that faces huge barriers to becoming self-sufficient.”3 Richard underscored American values of democracy, equality, and humanitarianism in describing US support for the UNHCR program. Statelessness contradicted these fundamental American beliefs, specifically in the case of children punished by gendered citizenship laws. Americans, Richard explained, cannot accept “seeing individuals stripped of rights and protections, branded as outcasts, and not recognized as equal in dignity.”4 Although a noble and inarguably humanitarian statement, Richard failed to acknowledge America’s own experience with “stateless” children of war and the nation’s own history of gendered citizenship laws. After the last American helicopter lifted off the top of the US Embassy building in Saigon on April 30, 1975, to escape the communists entering the city, America left behind its own marginalized population of “stateless” children.5 Vietnam’s “dirty little secret” labeled con lai, half breed, my lai, American child, or bui doi, “the dust of life,” were the progeny of American servicemen and Vietnamese women conceived during the Vietnam War.6 Evidence of the mothers’ betrayal of her country, the Amerasian children would continue to serve as a constant reminder to the Vietnamese of the American “enemy,” while most Americans ignored them, including
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