Americans at the Gate : : The United States and Refugees during the Cold War / / Carl J. Bon Tempo.

• VerfasserIn: Bon Tempo, Carl J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2008]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Politics and Society in Modern America ; 57
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

Unlike the 1930s, when the United States tragically failed to open its doors to Europeans fleeing Nazism, the country admitted over three million refugees during the Cold War. This dramatic reversal gave rise to intense political and cultural battles, pitting refugee advocates against determined opponents who at times successfully slowed admissions. The first comprehensive historical exploration of American refugee affairs from the midcentury to the present, Americans at the Gate explores the reasons behind the remarkable changes to American refugee policy, laws, and programs. Carl Bon Tempo looks at the Hungarian, Cuban, and Indochinese refugee crises, and he examines major pieces of legislation, including the Refugee Relief Act and the 1980 Refugee Act. He argues that the American commitment to refugees in the post-1945 era occurred not just because of foreign policy imperatives during the Cold War, but also because of particular domestic developments within the United States such as the Red Scare, the Civil Rights Movement, the rise of the Right, and partisan electoral politics. Using a wide variety of sources and documents, Americans at the Gate considers policy and law developments in connection with the organization and administration of refugee programs.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Americans at the Gate -- Chapter 1. "The Age of the Uprooted Man": The United States and Refugees, 1900-1952 -- Chapter 2. "A Mystic Maze of Enforcement": The Refugee Relief Program -- Chapter 3. "From Hungary, New Americans": The United States and Hungarian Refugees -- Chapter 4. "Half a Loaf": The Failure of Refugee Policy and Law Reform, 1957-1965 -- Chapter 5. "They Are Proud People": The United States and Refugees from Cuba, 1959-1966 -- Chapter 6. "The Soul of Our Sense of Nationhood": Human Rights and Refugees in the 1970s -- Chapter 7. Reform and Retrenchment: The Refugee Act of 1980 and the Reagan Administration's Refugee Policies -- Epilogue. The United States and Refugees after the Cold War -- Notes -- Index -- Backmatter