Chopter Four

ancl it is of such characrer and extent that the great body of.ur people instinctively recognize it and reject the thoueht of assimilation.ei

In the ozrrua, and Thind cases, the supreme court articulated thc 't. lationship between ethniciry race, and icleoloqv. rn ozauta, the c.rrr.l held that while gradations of color might exist, graclations of race rlirl .ot. E'ropcan immigrants from "blond to swarthy brunette,' could lrr. lrn:rlgamated into a "caucasian" race; Asian immigrants, however lrs sirrrilaled, co.ld not. Ethnology had its limits, however: clespite any corr llr()l) ancestor that he may have shared lvith modern caucasians in rlr. "<lim reaches of antiquity," Bhagat Thind was declared inelisible for ciri zcnship on the gro'nds that, although caucasian, he was not white. Thr. court held that the ultimate arbiter of whiteness is not science but poprr_ lirr ideology. The ozawa and rhinrl rulings establishecl ',common undcr. sta'ding" as the popular standard on which "race" was to be definetl, irnperwious to cultural assimilation or scicnce . In cases where the briglrt line of race might be crossed, as in the case of mixed-race inclividuals, the "one drop" of racial hypo-descent could be invoked. Thus sci^rle ence was brousht back into the debate on race but within limits, as tht. harrdrnaiden of pop.lar ideolosv. In 1934, in Morrison, et ar a. carifornin, a case involvins a conspiracy to violate california's Alien Lancl Law, which prohibited Asians (as aliens inelisible fbr citizenship) I.rorrr pu* chasi.g or leasing agric'ltural land in cialifornia,Justice cardozo, ciiinu both the ozauaandrhind decisions, declarecl that,,men are notwhite il' the strain of colored blood in them is a hall or a quarter, or, not improbably even less, the governing test always . . . being that of common unclet,
sl,andi'ng. " !'2

fhe Cold Weir Origins of the Model Minoriry myrh

Rqcisf Love

1974, the writer Frank Chin expressed it this way: "Whites love us because we're not black." t The elevation of Asian Americans to the position of model minority had less to do with the actual success of Asian Americans than to the perceived failure-or worse, refusal-of African Americans to assimilate. Asian Americans were "not black" in two significant ways: They were both politically silent and ethnically assimilable.

[emphasis added].

The "common ,nderstanding" on whichJustice cardozo relied dciined the "inner dikes" of racial purity necessary for the protection o1' ,he national family and the reproduction of the race. The cases of rakao Jzawa and Bhagat Thind reflected the judgment of ordinary Americans irlly awakened to the Yellow peril that rhe "common h.rriage,, which :ould brins rogether saxon and celt, polish, French, slavs an"d Italians. \frican and Armenian, could not admit the Oriental.

The Cold War constrnction of Asian America :rs tr nroclc:l minority that cor.rlcl becomc- cthnically irssirrrillrtcrl, rk:spitcr what US. Neuts artri Wo'rkl ll(xtt, urrplrcrrrist.i<::Llly r:alk:rl its "racial disadvantaqe," rcvcirls thc corrt.nrclic:tion bctween the continuing reproduction of racial clillelence ancl thc proccss of ethnic assimilation. The representation ol'Asian Americans as a racial minoriry whose apparently success{ul ethnic assimilation was a result of stoic patience, political obedience , and self-improvement was a critically important narrative of ethnic liberalism that simultaneously promoted racial equality and sought to contain demands for social transformation. The representation of the Asian American as the paragon of ethnic virtue, who the U.S. Neuts and World Report editors thought should be emulated by "Negroes and other minorities," reflected not so much Asian success as the triumph of an emergent discourse of race in which cultr.rral difference replaced biological difference as the new determinant of sot ial orrtcomcs. Althoush thc clerployment of Asian Amcric:arrs
I lt'

Chopter Five
as a rnodel

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

147

minority was made explicit in thc mid 1960s, its origins lay irr thc triumph of liberalism and thc racial logic of the Cold War. The narrative of Asian ethnic assimilation fit the requirenlents ol'( l rlr war containment perfectly. Three specters haunted cold war Amer.ir,r in the 1950s: the red menace of communism, the black menace of r':r.t' mixing, and the white menace of homoscxuality. on the internatiorurl front, the narrative of ethnic assirnilation sent a message to the Thirrl world, especially to Asia where the United States was engaued in incrcirs ingly fierce struggles with nationalist and communist insurgencies, th:rr the United states was a liberal democratic state where people of col.r could enjoy eq'al rights and upward mobility. On the home front, ir sent a message to "Negroes and other minorities" that accommoclatiorr would be rewarded while militancy would be contained or crushed. The successlirl transformation of the oriental fi.om the exotic to t.lr(. acceptable was a narrative of Americanization, a sort of latter-day ,iril griml Progresq through which America's anxieties about communisrrr, race mixins, and transgressive sexuality might be containecl and event.rrally tamcd. The narrative of Asian ethnic assimilation helped constrll(.r a new national narrative lbr the atomic ase that walter Lippman ha<l chrbbcd lhc Atncrit'an Ocntury.
I

gov ,.rr i:rl discrimination by companies doing business witlr llrt' li'<lt't;tl r uullel]t and established a Committee on Fair Employtttt'ttl I't rtt lit t's' ()flicial racial eqgality notwithslrtrrtlirrg' llr<'

pronouncements of lior ,vlrolesale and brutal incarceration of theJapanese Amerit:atr PoPt tl:r oI ( )rI the west coast underscored, in no uncertain terms, the willirrgrrt'ss tlrt. U.S. government to invoke race as a category of subordinatiort lrr irr ,rr.lrieve if, goals., This willingness to use racial categories would rcsrrlt economic ruin, family disintegration, and psycholouil,lrysical naia.nip, , ,,1'l.rauma fbr more than 120,000Japanese Americans, men andwornctt, r l<lerly and infant, citizen and immigrant' After Pearl Harbor, rhe united states found itself allied with a weak .rrrd clivided China. The Yellow Peril, that alliance of Japanese brains .rrrd chinese bodies that hacl fired the racial nightmares of turn-of-the( ('ntury strategists of empire from Kaiser Wilhelm to Sax Rohmer' had rcmained imaginary.Japan's plans for empire, though couched in Pan,,\sian anticolonial rhetoric, met with resistance in china and elsewhere irr Asia. For the fir:st time, being ablc to tell one Asian group apart fiom Irrrother seemed important to white Americans. Two weeks after the Japarrcse attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United states into thewar,I'ife Irrasazine ran a tlvo-page pictorial entitled "How to TellJaps from the ( llrirrese." The reportet fot Life magazine wrote:
r

World Wor ll qs Prelude

Irorric:rlly. it wrrsJ:rpln's anil( k on Pea'l Harbor ancl America's enrry int. thc Second world war that besan the unraveling of the yellow peril myth. The Second world war was a watershed eve't fbr Asian Americans. Thr. treatment of Asian American ethnic groups brought into sharp fbcus thcr contradiction befween their exclusion as racial subjects and the prornisc of their assimilation as ethnic citizens. America's entry into the war against Nazi Germany and ImperialJapa' made it increasingly difficult to sustain national policies based on theories of white racial supremacy. After Dunkirk, the united States ancl its allies depended on support from their colonial subjects in India, china (not, strictly speaking, a colony), southeast Asia, ancl norrh Africa. The very nationalist movements whose representatives had been surnmarily dismissed by woodrow wilson at versailles were now actively courted by the United states as allies against the Axis powers. In Ausust 1g41, Ibur. months before the United States entered the war, Roosevelt and churchill signed the Atlantic charter recognizing the right of "peoplers" r<r decide their own form of government. Later thatyear, in responsr to tll(' threat by civil rights leader A. Phillip Randolph to lead a rnassive pror('sl march on washington, Roosevelt signecl an Executive ort-lcr- orrtl:rwirrs

U.S.citizerrshavebeenclelnorrstratingaclistressineigrrorarrceonthedelicate question of how to tell a chinese from aJap. Innoce nt victirns in cities

alloverthecountrlaremal]yoftheT5,000U.S.Chinese,whosehomeland
our stanch [sic] allY' . . . To dispel some of this confirsicln, LiJb here addtrces a rule of thrrmb fiom ther inthropomorphic conformati.ns that distinsuish fr-iendly Chiis nese

fiom enemy alienJaPs':J

The top pictr.rre (of the Minister of Eco.jr.rxtaposed ,r-ne above the other. 'nomic

ontherightsideofthearticle,twofacialportraitsoforientalsare

Affairs of the chinese Nationalist government) is captioned "chinese public servant" while the one below (of Admiral Tojo, theJapanese I'rime Minister) is captionecl "|apanese warrior." Although the pir:turcs are the same size andthe proportions of the facial features virtually identical, the notes tell a vasdt differe't story. The Chinese, I'i'fe told its readfold' ers, has "parchment yellow complexion, more frequent epicanthic narrowcr' Sigher bridge, never has rosy cheeks, lighter f acial bones, longe r

lirce ancl scant beard." Tojo, "representative of' the Japanese pcoplt' rts wlrolc . . . betrays aboriginal antecedents, has an earthy ycllow <'otrtlrl<'x
iOrr, ktss f'r-cquent epicanthic
lr<'trvy

lf

ir;tl,

l1'otr<lt:r-

fold, flatter nosc' s('lnctittlt's t't'sy t ltct'lis' shortgt- [:rt'c:trtd trlassivtl t'lrct'k lrrrl.i:twltott<'''

148

Chopter Five

The Cold Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

149

In addition, the Life article showed two pictures whose captions read, respectively, "Tall Chinese Brothers" and "Short Japanese Admirals." Life, taking no chances with its racial ta"xonomy, supplied the following "field" notes: The Chinese brothers were "tall and slender" with "long legs" while the admirzrls were "short and squat" with "shorter legs and longer torso." Hacl Li.le only added blonde hair and blue eyes, it might have create d thc pcrf-ect Aryan Chinaman. Not wzrnting t() uppear unlearned in the matter of racial anthropology, Lifepointcd out thrrl its illustrationswere drawn from Northern Chinese. Southcrn (lhincs<: (trt that time, the overwhelming majority of Chinese rcsidcrrts of tlrt'tlrritcd States) the magazine noted, were short, and "wlrcrr rrri<lrllt' ugrrrl und fat, they look more likeJaps." The LiJe editors wenl ()n t.o lcll tlrc rc:rdcr t.hat
Sorrl.hern (lhincst: lrirvc rrrrur<1, broad faccs, not as massively boned as the .fapanese. [,xcept t.hat t.lrcir skin is darker, this description fits the Filipinos who are lalsol often mistakcn Iirr'.[irps. (lhinese sometimes pass for Europeans, butJaps more olten appro:rch tht: Wcstcrn types.a

rrilitary in times of national emergency and uphelcl Hiralrirylslri's

t ot tvi<

tion (hehadrefusecltoleavetheuniversitylibraryatthcltottt rtplroirrlr'<l lirrJapanese Americans to be in their homes). Likewisc irr tlrt'trtst'ol lirr:d Korematsu, a house painter from Oakland who had evaclctl t t:lo< rt tion, the court held that while race was an "inherently invidi<ltrs" ('rtl('sory for cliscrimination by the state and subject to "strict scrutiny," tlrt' t ourt acceptecl the state's claim of militarynecessiq/for the incarcerati,rt of .[apanese Americans.6 -Despite its massivc mistreatment of Japanese Americans, the still most ol' r ieidly enforced segregation o1'African Americans throughout Ainerican sociery (not least in the Armed Forces), and the deadly antiSemitic policy o1, clenying refuge to Europe'sJews, the U.s. sovernrnent r:ondernned the Nazi's doctrine of racial sr.rperiority and identified the clefeat of racism as one of rhe rcasons "\AIhy We Fight." \{trile Japanese Americans were singlcd out on the basis of their "race," other Asian American ethnic groups began to receive {avorable treatment from the
Iederal government. In 1943, flonsress voted to repeal the (lhinese Exclusion Act. which had for six$r years forbidden Chinese, with few exceptions, to enter the United States. Repeal of exclusion had been a foreign policy goal of successive Chinese governments {br more than half a century. Repeal was pr"rshed through the U.S. Consress on the grounds that it would keep the wavering Nationalist Chinesc government of Chiang Kaishek in the war
againstJapan.T

Lest this confusing racial taxonomy lail Arncricans in this tirne of crireassured its audience that cultural dill'crence could also be identified visually. "An often sounder clue is facial exprcssion, shaped by cultural, not anthropological, factors. Chinese wear thc rational calm of tolerant realists.Japs, like General Tojo, show the humorless intensiqr of ruthless mystics." 5 Aware that readers might be suspicious that this exercise in racial cataloguing was similar to that being practiced by Nazi social scientists, Ily' assured its audience that American physical anthropologists were "desis, LtJe

voted debunkers of race myths." Debunking notwithstanding, Life asserted that the abiliry to rneasure the difference betvveen the Chinese andJapanese "in millimeters" enabled American scientists to "set apart the special gpes of each national group." To lend an air of precision, scientific objectiviq', and authority to the photos and the accompanying text, Life's editors festooned the pictures with handwritten captions and arrows simulating anthropolosical field notes. The same disjuncture between the newly articulated ideals of racial egalitarianism and the practice of racial discrimination can be seen in the Supreme Court's decisions in the Japanese American internment cases. In the case of Gordon Hirabayashi, a student at the Universiq' of Washington who had challensed the right of military authorities to establish a curfew applicable only to persons ofJapanese ancestry the court stated that discrimination on the sole basis of race was "odior.rs to a fi'ee people." Nevertheless, the court refuscd to curb the authority ol' thr:

In the next year, nuo bills were introdttced in Congress to establish immigration quotas for India and the Philippines. These two bills were purr.d in 1946, on the evc of Philippine independence' The repeal of Chir1.r" Exclusion and the effective dismantling of the Asiatic Barred Zone of 1917 had greater symbolic value than immediate demographic effect, since the number of visas issued to Asian countries was still severely resrricted. Nevertheless, the ideological statement implied by the dismantling of racially speci{ic barriers signaled an erosion of white supremacy as a national doctrine.8

Moking fhe Model MinorityMYth

In.|anuary 1966, the published an articlt' r'vitlr the title "success Story:Japanese-American Style," and in Dect'rttlr<'r' 1/.,\. (lhirrt'st' Arrrt't i Neuts Lnd, World, Report published an article focusing on c:rns, "strccess Story of One Minority in the US."!)As tltciI titlt's stttfllr'st ltollr art.ir:les f.olcl the stoty of Asians in Anteri<'l rts lt tt:t|lltlivt' rrl lt itttrr lrlt:ttrl t'lltrrir' :tssitllilltliott.
New Yorh Times Ma,ga.zlna

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth l5l

This new popular representation of Asian anericans as the model .l successful "ethnic assimilation" was created in the crisis of racial polir y that had surfaced ar the highest levels of the Itderal government th<, previous ycar. The policy debate that emergecl in 1965 reflectetl de.1r ideological clivision over responses to the demancls for racial equality that had developed in the tw' decades since the end of the secorrrl World War. Tlre watts riot in the summer of 1964 and the growing demands .l African Americans for economic eq'ity as well as f-ormal pllitlcal rights. along with the srad'al dismantling ofJim crow segregation in the South, plunged racial policy into crisis. The contours of the crisis can be seen irr
mands for racial equality. In March 1965, LynclonJohnson's assistant set:retary of Labor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, published a ReNtort on the Bladt Fa'mi$ which laid much of the blame for brack poverry on the ,,tangle ol'

Moynihan lefl implicit Glazer's ominous thrcat tlrztt Arrrt'r it:ttt s()t t<'ly, ,lt'sltite a commitmelt towzrrcl the former, woulcl bt: "t'tttlll<'ss" itr sttlr on to describe a blatl< <ttllrttt'ol' latter. 1,l,,r*ire the ,.tangle Moynihan wcnt of pathology" born in slavery but "caPllrlt' ()l Pt't' Povcrry'as a the white world."rz ln l)rtlti( trl:tr'' l,t.rtratlng itsel{'wihout assistance from Nl.rynihan identified the prevalence of female-headed h6r-rsch6l<ls :ts rr lru'rier to cconomic r,t.."r*. For Moynihan, the key to both racizrl irrtt'rlr.ution and economic mobility was not in structural chan5;es or ,',',,rganization that misht correct past injustice, but in the rehabilitatiorr , rI "culturally deprived" black farnilies'

socitl

the conflicting responses of the Johnson Administration to black d..-

pathology" of the black family. He admonished Africa' Americans t. rehabilitate their dysfunctional families in order to achieve economic and social assimilation. InJune, at conlmencernent exercises at all-black Howzrrd university in washington, l).c., the president articulated a visiorr o[ r'at'i:rl r:<lrrlrlity t.hrorrrrh swceping social reconstmction in a mas_ sivc Wrr orr I)ovcrty. llollr rrrcrr ucrrrrincly clairnecl to support racial equal_ ity irrrrl civil rielrts, Irrrt tlrcir' lwo tloc:rrrncnts could not have been further apart in thcir anllysis :rnd proposed solutions. The conflict between .folrnson's rcsporlse and Moynihan's rcsponse for-ms the ideological context in which the Asian Americans emersed as the model minoiity. .fohnso''s speech emphasizecl the historicar reality of race in America as compellins losic lbr extending civil rights into the economic sphere. Referring to the disadvantased position of many blacks in the American economic structure, Johnson declared, "you do rrot take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'you are free to .o-p.t. with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.,' ro The president went on to lay the principal responsibility for brack poverty on white racism, both historical and present, ancl he outlined an agenda of government-sponsored social change to ameliorate discrimination and poverty. Moyniha' rook a radically diff'erent political rack. euoring his former Harvard colleag'e, sociologist Nathan Glazer, Moynihan iomplainccl that "the clemand for economic equaliq, is now not the demand for equal opportunities for the equally q'alified; it is now the demand for equaliry of economic results. . . . The demand for equality in educ:rti'. . . . 1.,,,* also become a demand for equality of results, of olrtcornt,s. " r
r

article was quite explicit about the political context of its reportwhen it assertecl,'At a time when it is being proposed that lrrrndrcds of billions be spent on upli{tinu Negroes and other minclrities, own rlre natio.'s 300,000 Chiirese Americans are moving ahead on their an obsessiotr that was r,vith no help from anyone clse." Foreshadowing of t() shape Ricliard Nixons campaign rhetoric a year later' the writer as "havens for law rlre u.s. ly'ezl.r article described America's chinatowns of delin:rrrd order" an<l macle no fewer than six references to low rates Ttre Ils.
ly'ezls

(luency among Chinese Arnerican youth'r:r

Moking the Silent MinoritY 'l'he constmction of the model minority was based on the political sisell'lcnce of Asian America. An often cited example of Asian Arnerican prosrams in 1970. Despite r.cliance was the underutilization o1 welfare incomes rhe fact that I 5 percent of chinese families in New York city had had enrolled to receivc bclow the fecleral poverty level, only 3.4 percent of a assistance. This siatistic has often been used as an example cohesion. An alternative explai:ultural trait of self-reliance and family ''blic rration, grounded in recent Asian American history would stress apprelrension and mistmst of the state's intentions toward them' the reloc:rn comnlunities. The removal to fairgrounds and racetracks, the uncertainty of loyalty oaths, c.aLion to remote, barbed-wired camps, Amerithe separation of family mernbers, all traumatized the Japanese Citizens League's policy of ac,,.r-r .o-*.rnity. The Japanese American srrPt.ommodation with the. war Relocation Authority and its role in had left bitter divisions amons rnllrry lrressing dissent within the camps for the most part' w('r'(' itrrx.i,,port"t. Anericans. Japanese Americans, 'i,,i,,

WartimeincarccrationlradleftdeepwoundsintheJapaneseAmeri-

r,, rebuilcl theirlives and livelihoods and reluctaul. to |t'livt'llrt'ir gcntlllttiott t t'ttt:tittcr I r.xltclic:nr:c. In particular, the American-born Nisci expcrit-trctl trrllil tltt't'tttt'tgt'ttt t'oI Ilrc rtrrriu'litrlrly silt'lrt ulrorrt its t:am1l rtl Asi:rn Arrr<'r'icltn tttoVt'tttt'rtt itr lltt' l1)70s:rrrrl llrt'l{t'<llt'ss Mttvt'trrcttl

152

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Modt'l Mirr' 'rily

Myllr

lfrl"

the 1980s. Social psycholosists have likened the response of Japancs<. Americans who hzrd bcr:n rrnjtrstly incarcerated to that of victims of rapr^ or other physical violrrtion. They demonstrated anger, resentment, sclldoubt, and euilt, all syrrrJrt.oms of post-traumatic stress syndrome.rl \A4rile postw:rr.flrp:rrr llr:carne America's junior partner, the peoplc's Republic of (lhirr:r lx'r'lrnc its principal enemy. AFter the Korean W:u. broke or.rt in l1)50,:rrrrl t'sPecially atter China entered the war in 195 I, the United Strrtcs rrr:r<lt' t.vt:ry eftbrt to isolate communist China, cc<> norni<:ally:rrr<l <lilrl,rrr:rticllly, and embarked on a military policy of confiontaliorr lrirrrr'<l rrl "r'orrttrinine" the expansion of Chinese influenc<r tltr-orrgl ror I Asi:r :r r r< I t I t.' I'lr i rcl \Alorld. 'l'lr. li'rr',l li.rl (llrirr:r t'xtcndecl to the chinese American cornmurrity. Irr I1) 11), ( llrirr.st' r''rrrrrrrrnities in the united states were dMded in tlrcir':rltitrr<l< s r,w:rrrl rlrc t ornrrrurlist revolution. Although the number ol r''rrrrrrrurisls ir ( llrirr<'s<' Arrrcrican communities was tiny, many who w('l(' ll()l < ottttttttttisl ()l ('v('n lt'liist rronetheless fbund some satisf'action irr llrt' Ilrt t llr:rl lr g<'nrrirrt^ly n:rtiorr:rlist, nrltutcdly honest, and apparently
r r

Irr 1955, Everett F. Drumwright, the U.S. constrl irr llorrli l\,'ttr" t:'.tt, tl "rrr.r:, 'r\( .r rcport warning that communist china was mirkilrg llsr' ol deception to infiltrate agents into thc [Jrrit<'<l Sl:tlt " ttttrlr lr:rrrcl ancl
t

()vcr aS immigrants. Drumwright's hysterical and larUt'ly llttstrlrsl'tttlr rrrr,' .r{t.cl report provicled the rationale for massive FBI antl INS t:rirls t llrinatowns iround the cor.rntry to search out pro-Chinlt sttlrvt r'ivr''' ( llrinatowns were floocled with public notices and stree t flyet s wrrr r r ir rt3 ' 'l "innocent residents" wcrt: ('ll( ()trr l)()tential spies and subversives, while :rgccl to report susPected subversives to the FRI' (llriIn 19b7 Congriss authorized the Chinese Confession Prograrn. rrr:se Americans who had come as paper Sons were encouraged to c()ll
(

lllo|t'rlt'rrr,trlrtit govcrrrrrr<'rrl Irlr<l lirrlrllyrrnitcdCtrinaafieracenturyof polili<:rl < llr,s. wt lrli.rr<'ss, lrrr<l lrrrrrrililrion. ()n the othcr hand, Chians

their illegal entry. In return for consideration for an appropriatt' (ltut not guaranteecl) adjustment of their status, the applicant had alstr t() lnake a full disclosure on every relative and friend. Thc informatitlt s:rrhered in the chinese conl'ession ProS;ram was Lrsed to try to deport as supporters of China r lrose who were identilied by the FBI's inf<-rrmants or as domestic troublemakers. Membership in lefiist support organizrtions, in labor unions, in "pro-china" orsanizations melted away in the llrce of the sustained harassment and attack from the conselvative elitel
Icss

l(:ri-slrt'lt's lr,rr,rrrirrrlrrrg Itlrrr1, lr:rrl lolre t'rrjoycrl the strpport ol'the traditiorr:rl t'litcs irr Ilrt' ltrrgt'r'( llrirntowrrs.If, wlrt'rr tlrt' K.r.ctrr wa' bnrl*r in 1050, (lonsress passed the Emer'rrt ucrr<y L)etention Act, which vesterl the U.S. Attorney General with the authority to establish concentration camps fbr anywho might bc cleemed a domestic threat in a national cmeruency. Thc rnere authorization of
such sweeping powers of detention served as a stark warning to chincse Americans that what had bee' done to -fapanese Americans a decacle earlier could also be done to them without effort. The pro-Chiang Kai-shek Chinatown elite, working with rhe FBI, Iaunched a systematic attempt to suppress any expression of support fbr the new commrrlrist regime in China. The Tradinq with the Erremy Act, which prohibited any currency transfers to the Peoples Republic of China, including remittances to family, was used as a tool to attempt to deport suspected communist q.'rnpathizers. Although only a few leftists and labor leaders were actually deported, the threat of deportation had a deeply chilling effect, since many hundreds of Chinese had come to the United States as "paper sons" during the lone decades of exclusion and were in the United States under false pretenses. In 1952 Congress passed the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act, which dismantled racial prohibirions on immigration ancl established an Asian-Pacific Triangle with an immisration quota cap of two thousand visas. Even thor.rsh Mccarran-walter still strirtly lirnitcd Asian immigralion. tlre red scart' lhal wlrs ils irrrpt'lrrs \v:ri (.nt;lgi.lls.

rvithin Chinatowns, and the FBI and INS fiom without'16

ontqining The Red Menqce: The Fordist Compromise

At the close ol'the Second Wortd War, American labor rvas infused with had grown zr renewed militancy. During the war years union mernbership This repre{i.om nine million in 1940 to about filieen million in 1945. sentecl almost thirty six percent of the non-agricultural work force, the highest proportion of unionized labor in the country's history. During dre war y.uir, o.gutrizecl labor hacl agreed to a no strike policy and to curb wage demands as a patriotic obligation t() the war effort. However, at the war's end pent-up wage demands and the problems of reabsorption of millions of men leaving the ser-vice led to a resgrgence of dernands fbr wages and a reassertion of control over work conditions. Labor strife soon boiled over at General Motors and in the oil industry' In 1945 {brty-five hunclred work stoppages, mainly wildcat strikes and sitclowns, involved five million workers. Some of these work stoppages took the form of hate strikes aimed at driving women and black workers fiotrr
thc factory positions they had earned durins the war'17 In 1946, ihc steelworkers went on strike, then the miners. Strike lirvt'r'
lrr sltr.ca<l whcn a gcneral strike was called in Stamford, connecticrrl. general strikes to shut down btrsincss itl I lottsl1)47 rrrilit:rrrt l:rbor callecl ( qlr lrrl<l ( )ltklarlcl' I or r, llot'l r<'st<'t, I'i t slrt tt lrr M:rv l1).'l(i. I'r't.si<lcrrl'l\'rrrrr:rrr s<'izt'<l llrc ltiltrrltlls l() l)l('v('lll :t slt ilir'.

|,t

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

155

Altogcther Truma' would_seize a'd operate ni'e industries unde.powcrs granted the executive branch by the war Labor Disputes Act. Management launched a massive attack on radical, particr-rlirly communist Party, leadership within the labor movernenr. Tiei, -ort "flcctive to.l was the Taft-HartleyAct, passecl in r94g, which o.tlawed the closecl shop, and made unions subject to suit in ledcrar courts for vioration or. contracts. The Taft-Hartley law strippcd collective barsainine rights from rrrriorrs having c,mmrrnisrs among their rt.adership arrd ,...utr?a irr successive purses of the labor movement. Employers and employees courd petition lbr deccrtification elections, and fecleral empl.ry"es were forbidden to strike. state ri{rht-to-work laws were regarizecr, and the presiclent was sive' powcr to enforce eigtrty-day cooling off periods arr.rrg which labor would be compelled to return to work. Thc lons period of economic growth that sustainecr Arnerica,s rise to hegemonic power depenclecl on a sustained accorcl between labor and managernent. This pattcrfi of c.operati'n has been called the ibrclist conrprrmise, sirrcc it sccrrccl t. rrsrr.r i. that stase of capitalism which IJcnry Fo|rl lrrrrl <'rrvisiorr<'rr, irr wlrit'lr lvorkin{r-cra;; cremand for d'rable ('()llrilnll('l gootls rvorrlrl rlr ivt, r.r.orrorrrit. gr.orvdr. .fhe Fordist Cornpro_ tttist' Jlt'tlttlttt<'ttllv irrslitrrtiorr:rlizcrI rrlrrry ol thc I'catures of ,,scie'tific ll)anire('rn('nl" (l)lrl. ha<l lx:cn intr'odrrr:ecl cluring the war. Under the new Pr.drrcti.'-.rienred u.ion leadership, labor contracts developed a pat_ tc'' ol'close collaboralion benvcen labor reacrership ancl management on issues of s'per-vision, productiviry and work rules.,* In returi, r'anagement and the state worked to5;ether to create a working class that had the social characteristics of a middle class. Real income rose by -30 percent between 1945 and 1960. The Forclist compromis. ulro .olr.d fb, u relatively high degree of state intervention, from the mecliation of. labor relations thro.gh the National Labor Relations Boarcl, to the regulation of working conditions throush agencies such as the occ'patiorril suf.ty and Health Administration, to the organization of u ,.*.rfu." dtate,, of perrnanent entitlements for the new "midclre" class, such as social security, subsidizecl housing, educational financi'g, unemployment ins'rance, and increased public higher education. The staie also took on an expanded role in intervening in the economy through an ever-wicler ranse of fiscal control policies and by exercising its ecJnomic power as the purchaser oflast resort. The sustained economic srowth on which the Fordist compr.mise depended was fueled by several sources, but initially it was $40 billion i' wartime personal savings and a pent-r,rp demand for d'rable

secondary boycotts, and jurisdictional strikes in violation of decisions of. the Natio'al Labor Rerations Board;jointly administerecr werfare lunds;

requircd the rcinvigot.aliort ol'I lrtr Wartime production hacl in<'rt'ltst'rl lltt' Ittttttpatriarchal nuclear family. l rt:r of women in the labor fbrce liomjust under fourteen rn illiorr i rr l 1)'1 0 to just over nineteen million in 1945.r'gBoth managemcnt art<l li'tl<'r';rl :rgencies worked to encourage and sometimes force women ll:tt:I. irrltt tlre home while work assignments in many plants were resegl'csatt:tl ;rlong racial lines.2o As men returned from war and started families, tht: lrirth rate in the United States grew for the first time in several decades, lcading to the sustained growth of a domestic market for housing, edur:irtion, and durable consumer goods. The nuclear family was the necessary social unit of consurnption for durable goods-the automobiles (fiI'ty-eight million sold in the 1950s), refrigerators, toasters, and televisions whose production drove the economy.
pr'oclucts that drove production. This

consrrl(,r

The realization of the Fordist Compromise could only be imagined in a world in which the United States had reconstructed a sphere of inIluence based on fiee trade and open markets. In the late 1930s and '40s, American policy planners in the State Department and the Corrncil on Foreisn Relations had initially imagined a "Grand Area" of Anrerican influence, to include the Western Hemisphere and the Asia-Pacific area. By the of the war, the United States was in position to supplarlt Britain, France, and the Netherlands in many, if not all, o{'their colonial tcrritories.2l The American postwar project of global transformation supplanted European colonial administrations in Asia with nationalist elites whose economic interests and politicirl allcqianccs were alignccl with American interests. By thc end ()f thc 1940s, ()nc-ilrild of itll nriurrr[]rrtured soods in the world wcrc nraclc in Antctit'rt, rrrr<l [].S. ollitills ctnphasized a high level of cxports as ir critical Iirclot irr :rvoitlirrs 1r l)()stw2rr depression.22 American policyrnakcrs t.ltcnr[irrt l.ool< i( its trrr ill'l.i(]l(r ()l' faith that the reconstruction of a stable, rnultilatcral, c:ill)itrllist t:t'otlotttic system would rely on the unobstructed movement. of capital and labor. America's strategy fbr global reconstruction required 1he reconstruction of both western Europe and.japan as major industrialized trading partners. In Europe, the Marshall Plan funneled millions of dollars into the rebuildins of western Europe. Financing the reconstruction of Europe could not be funded solely through European-American trade, however; imports fiom Europe only amounted to one third of one perccnr of the U.S. gross national product. The United States therefore looked to Asia and the Pacific to close the "dollar gap." The development of a Pacific Rirn economic strategy thereforc be('ilr-ne a central requirement fbr American policy planners direct\ at the w:rr.'s cn(1. Although MacArthur had begun to dismantle prewar cartels srr<.lr ;rs Mitsrri :rnd Milsubishi as a mcans of dcrnocr-atizine the.fapanese

G
The Cold

Wor Origins

c'{

Myllr lltt' Mt"lt'l Mrrr"rrly

156

ChoPter Five

by 7947 the reverse decision was economy along with its political system' economic machine as a foil to a posmade to reconstructJapans prewar manufacturing was to become what sible revolutionary Cfti"t' l:lp""ese "the workshop of the American the Council on fo."lg'l ntiuilo"' called a junior partner in the Pacific lake." Japan was to pit/t tt*14.':lt It lloss" of China'Japan' with American encouraseni* ,,iui.gy. After the

|.lrrndingdocumentsandthepractic(.crll:tt-i:tlt[.ts.tittrirr.rtl.,Ittlt\ttt.tt "."'r"* ,*;11;i:il:ii:;ll, ']l; ,")'i::,:.1,;::i ,::rn socies Mpdar tlt ptt::^0.1;a.';t;;- tltt'w"'l'l '' 1"" for Amenca's role ^ <lilemma"

;]il;;

il11$,,".'*::;T,T::[i#
.l.r-r

ment,focuseditseconomicattentiononsorrtheastAsia'Initsreporton the Institute for Pacifi'c Relations Asian econo-i. atutlop-t"t i" 1952' to play between the United States and spelled out the t"l. t;ij;;;;;^t the Southeast Asian market'
Therecanbelittlequestionthat...thebestareaforJapaneseeconomic for capital and consumer is in Souiheast Asia' with its demands It would seem that'fapan "*f."ri"" .u* and rice surplus' ' ' ' goods, its ^u,"'iul' to develop trading outlets there in the interest of
est

't^"ii"a ;";;:;' ,.,.,.0 ""t"ii'; l:i::H:;','"' riberar iaith' rhc trium'r'rr rir' .'l ' il1'dul'' t''"p"'.u'1^',titl:;::"#;;. bv the victo|v
r

d"rlrot'acy' all

i;.cs'l:'l'i'l i 'lI, ilJ;t]*fiii;;; to bclicrvt' tltrtt have reason

'<r

wluld

Pt'rtt r''

'l'lr'r'

;t:ffi

u" a n :yS;lS::l;l':',:':1ffi il#$?:; "r*"'

forribt.

e c e ss

ary'{ ( )'l

II

shoukl be .rt.ot"ugtd has herselfshown keen interthe overall structure ofPacific secnrity'japan especlalf in Thailand' Malaysia' Indonesia'

in these ,rua" po*'ir'liiiies'

and India.2:r

"Ju':;:ruTl#lil'"T;ilLii:::".*:",1J.":,?:';.J;::ii d f J":" il:: :l:ir.T'll'i.i " "' " " ". " " il*j: [ : i' ::;i?l H #;;t". :::l* ;::.;i15 ;it ffi:ff:T; :iin,n!'Tff: i to a war of contarn * *-,, tr ":' l',':fj'';.' l :,U t if$ J[*lwas ii t] :T J, ",, 0., coincd
a
iI

s'crw

rr

'

ThePacificRimwasnotonlyacrucialmarketforAmericangoodsbutthe crxport.of capital' In addition to also a highly prolitablc region lirr diricct U'S' investment in the Pacific rcclcployrncrt, .rf'.;"1"uttt"j-t'nl'itnl' llinrwlrsittttitjtlt-s()tll.cc.,l1,,.,lit*lirr.ArrrtlricatrCorporations.Whileoverl0 pcrcent p()'u'-t'-'ttlr-ryt"ih" growth scirs ilrv()stlllclrts gl.cw at :tlrotrt investment in the Pacific Rim ratc- ()l <lomcstic invcstrnent-American rcturn on investment' and investoutside Japan brought a 25'5 percent jn 11'3 percent'-Between 1951 rnent in thelupan"'s" "t;";y brought investments in the Pacific Rim and 1976, the book value of American grew from $16 billion to $80'3 billion'24

i,l;,ili.]ill,l'i:' ';;; ':rm '*;;;;; thePeople'so"p-oil;iiit"t'""uIndonesia(withthetacitsupportol' al of:non-aligned nations

the soviet Union) u

"rhiri w,rrd'

ijl

Jnations' largely ':'''f:':;; a"]tt'a' " r'r'" i}'ita worl and cconomtc Bandung, Itd"""'i;:;;; ;;";";J]nt" pc,ples o[ color' ; tn" (ontest beNveen tht' ';; Tatotocitut''"tt-aetermittation' "t";; .lc\/eloDment "t'tuil"''it ;l:i:::1'ili,Iff ::'ll1;'l1l-;-erar intervc''rion on behart or civir t.' :*:.''T' I"x; , g r.,, * p,.' T *t 3;; : : ln :* i I: : " tt' li:il,*lTn 1948' in SheIleY b'i'r ';;;";ing rhe nl''"'1::l';il|;::' the iedcral );";;;;.t''
i

c\tate'
t

Assimilcrtion Contqining The Blcrck Mencrce: Ethnic heard the 'JapaIn 1944, the same year in which the Supremt 9?"t: American Dilemma: putlUsnea An nese internm"r"tt, tuJo-Ctnnar Myrdat
1^heNegroProbkmand'MorlernDemocracy'amassivecollaborativestudyof th. work of a generation of Ameri American .u." ..lu.i,or-rs. Drawing o' sociologist Robert l.'.tutk and his can liberal social scientists' notably thJintellectual discrediting of students, ,A,n ,q'*n'l'on Dilemma signaled and the triumph of the concept biological theories of racial super:iority for explaining and transforming of ethnicity u, tft" ao'lritu"t paradigm cuttltgie Foundation foc.sed .' race relationr. Myt;;it;tpo" to tiit in thc tratiort's

i*s':t::Ti: l;'l Tliil:i*f ;'in m*;;ffiH

lbreign brief stated tt-"

iar r estrit

tio"'

";i;;;;;

I'rcri"d'

"' 'J;tl;::::Xl[?:reign

*l
t
r

rcra-

'ig,,rn*''tR"'Tili""':ffi iKfi&;iiJ'.-p"t'^t"Lath:iTeorlllll : Department's atrt'tn the.Justice DePar in"

1t"tii" policy t-p*^u""'."t'l:^t:::explicitly: rJ"ig']
policy case
Racial dist Theexistenceofcliscriminationagainstminorityeroupsinthe.U.S.lraslrtt *ttn irrri

o"''''"o""t' "'n.'tl"tl;t'it*" "" adverstr tn"tt t'pin ol ottr dcv.lirrtt tr:rti.nfurnish:il;l;thtct'*-"nis(propagandamillsanclrlrilrs('s nali'ns t iftt.'l"t"tlsiN
tl.ttlrts t'tt.tl
{

l'r

x1n.r118

lriendly

"'

ethoslrticulated the disparity bet.ween the egalitarian

lrt: clcnlocrzltic fait}r'28

',li

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Modcl Minor ily

Myth

151)

A decade later, in the aftermath of the watts riots, both.fohnson's

referrerl to this ideological struggle and framed the problem of civil rights anrl social justice in the united States within the global conrext of the cold war. Both initially emphasized the need to provicle the world with a model of the "tr'e American revolution" as an alternative to commuReNtort

Hcrward university speech and the preface to Moynihan's

as well as ethnic relations. This was a nart'ativt' ol tttotlt't ttiz;tli"tt rlr.awn fiom studies of the historical experiences ol l')ttr'o1rr';tlt itrttttigt rtttl gr.oups in American cities. The ethnic component o1 <:ttllt rlrr I ir lt'tr I rlt' tv:rs irtenti{ied with the Old World. Seen as prc-modern :rrt<l rlyslirrr< liorrrrl.

cill

nism. The president opened his speech by declaring,

in the world. B.t nothing in any country to.ches us more profo'ndly, nothing is fieighted with meanins for our own destiny, than the revolution of
the Negro Anterican.2!)

our earth is the home of rev.l.tion. . . . enenries may occasionally seize the day of change. But it is the banner of our movenient which they take. And our own firture is linked to this process of chanse in many lands

o'r

of language, custom, and religior] wcl o t t ltl tst t't tr lcr l :rs the immig;rant became modcrn and American' Since the stagcs of assimilation were based on a uarrativc ol tttliv<'r's:rl rrroclernization and not oll a theory of subordination, the burclt:tt rvlls on the latecomer to moclernization to accommodate the host socitlty' Il rlicl not occur to assimilation theorists that racially subordinated pcolrlt' rnight be reluctant to abandon cultures ol'sur-vival that had been rlevcl,,p.d .rrr.. centuries oI' oppression. The black sociolosist E. Franklin Fiazier, a student of Park and one of the rnost important contributors to t'thnic d.ifference
s
'l'he Atnerican Dile'mma,

wrote:

Moynihan opened his report with the obser-vation that "the [Black] movement has prolbund international irnplications, . . fand that] it was not a matter of chance thzrt thc Negro movement caught fire in America at j'st that moment whe' the nations ot'Aliica were uaining their lieedorn.":r0 IJe went on to invoke the threat of perceived separatist Black Mrrslim doct.r'inr:s or thc "zrttrar:t.ivcness of flhinese ccrmrnunism,' to Arncricirn ltllrcksArrxiorrs to lt'1tla<'r' thc irrvi<liotrs (:?rl.cgofy of race, for which there was littlc scic:ntif'rc.jrrstif it::r1ion and sisnificant political cost, liberal theorists subsurnc<l racc rcl:rtions to ethnicity. Ethnicity theory was grounded in the bcliel'th:rt while certain historically anachronistic patterns of racial
scgregatiorr persisted, modern American society was open to the full participation of all who were willing to participate . Liberal social scientists who promoted the ethnicity paradigm argued that the desired assimilation of blacks into modern American society could be achieved in two steps. The barriers ofJim crow seeregation hacl to be dismantled (over the objections of "pre-modern" sesregationists like the Klan, the \Ahite

Since the institutions, thc social stratiflcation, and the culture of the Negro community are essentially the sarne as those of thc larger community, it is not strange that the Nesro minority belongs arnong the assimilationist rather thin the pluralist, sccessionist, or rnilitzrnt minorities. It is seldom that onc finds Negroes who think of themselves as possessinq a diflerent culture from'whites ancl that their culture should be presen'ed':rr

Assimilationists supported the civil riqhts movement in the dismantling of Southern Jim Crow seuregation and encouraged voting rights ancl electoral political participation. Assimilation theory, horvever, sug-

gested that thc duty of the state was limited to the dismantling of tbrmal, legislated barriers to participation. Since the greatcr part of assimilation iestecl on the accommoclation of the minority to the host society, state resulation of private activity in the interest of equal condition was ,".r-r to huu. little positivc and possibly ureater negative effect' The sociolosist Milton Gordon, who in the early 1960s elaborated and refined Pari's race relations cycle into a seven-stase theory of ethnic assimilation, warned explicitly:
The governm ent must
??.o,

citizens councils, and an entrenched Southern power structr.rre), and non-whites had to accommodate themselves to the "universal" demands
of modernity.

use racial

criteria positively in order to impose

The blueprint for ethnic assimilation was Robert park's theory of a four-stage ethnic or race relations cycle. park identifiecl four stages in a natural and irreversible process of ethnic assimilation: initial coniact between the outsider and the host society, economic and political cor'petition, economic and cultural accommodation of the ethnic to the host society, and Iinally, assimilation into the host society. These patterns of' cultural assimilation and integration were assumed. to be universally applicable to all "newcomers" into the modern city and applicablr: t. r-a

cleseeregation upon public facilities in an institutional a|ea where such seg.egaiion is not a function of racial discrimination directly, but results from discrimination operating in another institutional area or fiom some ol.her
causes.'2 [Ernphasis added.]

science and progress, became the hegemonic ideology of the American

ln the 1950s and early 1960s, Iiberalism, with its universalist claims on

inrpcrirrm. The political requircments of the cold war and the logic of lilti'r'1ll rrrrivcrszrlism required an adherence to a doctrine of racial e quality. l,ilrll-:rl sot'iitl st:it:lrt.ists artic:ulirted a th<:ory of moclcrtrizirt'iorr tllat

l(;o

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth l6l

r:'uld be deployed

as an ideological alternative

similation, would provide a similar nonradical solution to the ,,Negrcr problem." Ethniciry theory mct the requirements of liberalism by articulatins a doctrine of individual competition in a "colorblind" society or, in Milton Gordon's view, a society in which the state played a neutral role . Eth'icity theory articulated a vision of the colorblincl society but evadecl a critiquc oI'the historical category of race altogether. Ethnicity theory offered. a promise of equality that co'ld be achievecl, not rhroush poiitical organization and cornmunity emporvcrment, but only throusllindividual effort, cultural assimilation, ancl political accommodation. For liberals who sought both to develop the Negro and to contain black clemands lbr the systcmatic and structural dismantling of racial discrimination, the representation of Asian-American communities as self:contained, safe, aricl politically acquiescent became a powerful example of thc success of the Arnerican creed in resolving the problems of'race. In 1955, less than a year after the supreme court had shocked the systcm Of southern segreg:rtiorr by declarrine separate but cqual educaliorr irrhcrt'rrtly rrrrcrlrral arr(l rrrrt'orrsritrrtional, tlie tortrlre, lynching, anci
rrrrrtil:rliorr o[ [irrrrrrr.lt 'l'ill, lr lrllr.li Iirrrr.tr.crr-yc:rr-olcl w]ro was acclsed of f lir tirrs wi(lr . wlritt'w()rr1'r, slr'<.kt'<l th. lv.r-ld. The cxo'eration of'Till's killcrs lry a.jrrly ol thcil whitc Lrcel's sisnalcd a strir.tegy of ,,massive resis_ tunc'c" to rirci:rl cquirlity in the south. The murder of Emrne tt Till served

solvins the problem of the Third worlcl. Its clomestic version, ethnic

to communism in reas-

of 12,000 respondents, became an inlnrcrlilrlt'lr<^sl st'll6t. It ;rls<r <llcw the ire of conser-vative churchmen and polit.it ilttts. liot t t';rot littg
srrr-vey

tlrcse activities of Americans, Kinsey was accused of :ti<lirrs rttttl rtlrt ltirrg tlre communist cause and was investigated by the Housc ( lotlttrtillct otr [.]n-American Activities. In the Cold War search for traitors and subversives, hornopltolrirt rrrr<l Irnticommunism went hand in hand. Following on the heels of St'rtrtlor McCarthy's search for communist agents, the Senate launchctl irrvestigations to root out homosexuals irl the federal government. N()lll

foe

('

as the corrnternarrative

ened to undermi'e the liberal narrative oI'Myrdal's American creed so painstakingly assembled and elaborately articulated.

of racial intolerance and violcnce that threat_

Contoining The White Menoce: The Nucleor Fomily os Civil Defense

of yo'ng men went into the armed fbrces and millio's of yo.ng women went into the factories. These young people cstablished ,r"nu piit.rn, of dating and had a more reraxed attitude toward premarital sex than did their parents. During the same period., uay and lesbian public cultrrres emerged in cities around the country.33
Kirrsey's study,'fhe scxu,al llehauior
o.f'the

In 1948, Alfred Kinsey shocked America by reporting that a third of American men had engaged in sorne homosexual u.ti.,ity during the course of their lives and that a rnajority had experienced homoerotic desire. The news should not have come as a surprise. The 1940s ha<l witnessed a rnarked expansion of sexual freedom incl experimentation with new definitions of gender relations. During the war years, millions

in particular, was seen as a threat Itr security. Anticommunist crusaders warned that homosexut the national :rlity weakened the nation's "moral fiber," making it susceptible to both sexual and political seduction. Just as commr.rnism was considered a perversion of the natural economic order, homosexuality was considered a per-version of the natural biological order. \4lhen the sudden turn from American rriumph in the Sccond world war to the high anxiety of the (lold War could only be explained by treason, homosexuals were seen tc) have secret lives much likes spies or foreign agents. Shortly after his inausuration as president in 1953, Dwight Eisenhowcr issued an cxecrrtive order barring gay men and lcsbians from Federal employment'34 The link between anticomrnunism and homophobia was not merely psychological or metaphorical; in the atomic age, reproducins the mrclear family was understoocl to be the key to national survival. In the 1950s and early 1960s, seeking to take advantage of America's advantage in nuclear weapons, stratcgic planncrs stressed sur-vivability in nuclcar war. This stratcgic doctrine relie d on a prosram of civil delense, the mass mobilization and eclucation of the civilian population reuarding their duties during nuclear war. At the heart of civil defense was the belief that the nuclear family was the primary social unit through which the American way of life could be presewed or resurrected.3r' Talcott Parsons, perhaps the most influential American sociologist between 1940 and the ts60s, argued thar the middlc-class family, with its "natural" tlivision of labor between the sexes, was the most efficient and implicitly the highest form of social organization. In the absence of a state apparatus that rnight be obliterated or cut off fiom its people by nuclear war, the ntrclear lamily was a natural social unit that would reproduce America.
Jtroductive sexr.rality, homosexuality

Soyonara:Wqr Bride qs Pocohontcrs

a 1956 {ilm directed byJoshua Losan, is a drama about the 6l iltcrracial romance in the Cold War era. The movie, based orl (published in 1953), is a n:lrnt.lrrrrrcs Mir.lrt:n<'r''s novel of thc sarnc title lir,<' irr wlrillt "rrro<lclrr" irrtcrrucial lovt' lritrrrtphs ot,t'l ltttitt lttottisli<'
Sa4ortnrl,

t1i1ls

Human, Ma,k,, trdry

s.r.i.lrrir.rrl

lt;:

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Motlt,l Mirr.rily

Myllr

l(;:t

racial bigotry. Salona'ra establishes the anticommunist necessity of ethnic liberalism and presents the war bride as a moclel of ethnic assimilation. This triumph of ethnic liberalism opens up the way for the rebirth of a nation, America as protector of the postwar global order. The war Brides Act of 1945 hacl made it possible fbr American military personnel to brins their spouses and dependent children to the united states as nonquota immigrants. In the five years between 1947 (whe' the war Bride s Act was amended to incl'de chinese and..fapanese wives of American citizens) and l9b2 (when its provisions cncled), some 6,000 chinese women came to the united states. Between 1g45 and 1975, some 45,000Japanese wives of Arrrerican servicemen immigrated to the u'ited states.36 only a few.fapanese wonlen came to the U.S. under the war Brides Act itself. It was only after the Mccarran-walters Immisration and Narionality Act of 1952, which allowed the naturalization of Japanese and Korean immigrants and provided nonquota visas for spouses and children of American citizens, that manyJapanese spouses of American service personnel began to arrive.3TJapanese "war brides,' were amon{r thousands of'women from Asia w}ro took advantage of the disrnantlins ol'imrnisration laws tlrat hacl restrictecl their entryinto the unitccl Start:s sirrt'c llrc I'as<'Act ol'1u70. Thousancls of Filipino wives :t('r:onrlxrrricrl Arrrt'r'it::rrr st'rviCcrncn t.O thc Unitecl Statcs or joined huslnrrrls wlro lr:xI irrrrniglir(r'<l uLrlicr'. In thc lg50s ancl '60s women made up thc urcat rrrirjority ol irnnriur-ants fiorn Asia.rs The relatio'ship o1'ge.dcr and sexuality to the process of ethnic assimilation and racial segregation has always been a troubled one. In Az Amt:rican Dikmma, Myrdal ide'tified the preservation of a taboo on marriage and sexual relations between black men and white women as the single hiehest priority of white southerners. A decade later, Emmett Till paid with his life after being accused of breaking that taboo. The Americanization of the Asian war bride-orientalism domesticated-was the

rrnchanging, pastoral, and ahistorical-is immc<lirrl< ly tlislrl.r, r'rl lrt tlrr Opening scene, which Sets up the historical context l(rt ,\(t\1t)tt(tttt '' rr,lrt,r rive of Cold War modernization. The opening shot slrows rr lililrt|r ;, t landing on an airstrip in Korea (the caption tells us thc yt'rtr is l(ll,l). siUnaling the arrival of the active, masculine, and modern Amt:t i< :ttr ( it'r tury. The scene is careful to underscore the fact that the Korcllrr Wrrr is not the Second World War and that the relationship betlveen Asi:t rtrrrl Arncrica has changed. The Sabrejet lands in front of two ground c|t:wrnen working on an older, propeller-driven plane, an obsolete reminder of the Second World War and an earlier era. \Arhen Major "Ace" Gmver (Marlon Branclo) opens his hatch, his war weariness is immediately app?rrent. He admits to moral fatigue. Gruver comments to his Srorrnd crewman, Airman Kelly (Red Buttons), that this time "there was a ts^.uy with a face in that fenemyl plane." Gruver's admission articulates his :rmbivalence about Lhe war in Korea, which, though it is a war against communism, is merely a "police action," a war of containment and not a total war. Although the Korean War occasions the Sayorz ara story, apart from the introductory scenes virtually no further mention is made of the war itself. sayolara is a garrison drama, as such its themes are domestic. The struggle against Soviet communism is not only on the battlefront in Korea but also, perhaps principally, within the American empire. Racial atritudes are critical to the way in which the conduct of Americans inJapan and elsewhere in the Free World are judged. Gruver is told by his commanding officer that he must dissuade Kelly
r

Iiom marrying Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki), the Japanese woman with whom he is in love. \A/trile it winks at casual sexual relations between
American service personnel andJapanese women, the rnilitary establishment strongly cliscourages marriage between Americans and Japanese and forbicls servicemen from bringing their wives to the United States. \Alhen Kelly enthusiastically shows Gruver a photo of Katsumi, Gruvera West Pointer, the son of a general, and a Southerner-responds with hhrnt racism. "I dont understand how a normal American can marry a runt if you like." Gruver Japanese. . . . Go ahead and marry this slant-eyed his fiancee, Eileen webster (Patricia owens), the shows Kelly a picture of daughter of another eeneral, and catalogues the qualities that make her a good potential wif'e for a "normal" American. Eileen is "an American i;irl fwith] fine character, with good background, good education, good F'i leen f arnily, Iancl] good blood"' If not precisely an Aryan superwoman, ideal of its social elite. The racial and class difis thc white rniddle-class lirrcnr:es bctwecn Katsumi and Eileen are marked immediately on the lrorly. Wlrcrr llr<'y cxch:rnee pictures of their respective obiects ol'cl<:sirc,

racial. In this tale of Americanization, the oriental woman was transformed from danserously transgressive into a symbol of domesticity and a stalwart of a restored postwar patriarchy. Meanwhile Asian men remained outside the American family, mareinalized, invisible, and. racially /

restore credibility to the "American creed" that reconstmcted the American family as modern, universal, a'd multi-ethnic, if not exactly multi-

cold war narrative of ethnic assimilation and domesticity that could

other.

Shot agai'st the serene background of a h.rshJapanese garden, with gracefully arched footbridges and a watercourse , Sayonara's title sequence establishes the tension between the modern west and the premodern East. Thc classically orientalist image of.fapan-aesthcticizt:cl,

Iti4

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

(i5

Gruver remains silent on Katsumi while Kelly comments enthusiastically

rolt's alized theater in which male actors play both tnal<: rttt<l li'trrrtlt'
op."p.u., discomfited by the idea, Eileen seems clearly

on Eileen's figure in a swimsuit. In response to Cruver's racist slur, Kelly's sharp retort, "Don't ever talk to me like that asain," signals his independence and principled fearlessness in the face of a superior. It establishes Kelly's role as representative of the working class in this film. Class diffcrcnces, coded as military rank, are underscored by the revelation that Kelly, a forthright but devoted and hardworking soldier, has been promoted and demoted four times for insubordination. Kelly shows Gruver the military's pamphlets warning about "the dangers" of intermarriage. Kelly defies the military bureaucracy by writing his congressman to get permission to marry. His class analysis is straishtfor-ward and populist: "There's the generals for the officers and congressmen fbr the peasants." This secures Kelly's position as spokesman for the workingman and helps to mobilize populist
Iegitimacy for his desire to marry Katsumi. In what seems an absurd irony, after forcing Gnrver to apologize for his racist slur toward his intended, Kelly asks him to serye as best man at his wedding. This is where the filrn's liberal individualism exerts itself as a containmcnt o1':r morr: rzrdical slr'rrctural critique. \A4rile Airman Kelly is mcirsrrr.tr<l lroth lry his plirrciplr:d s(:urcl against the undemocratic state (r'r'ltrcscnt<'<l by tlr<' rrrilitirry arrllroritics) ancl by his personal fealty to his supclior ollir:cr', ()r'rn'cr is rrrt:astrrccl lty his personal loyalty to his men ovcr and abovc his olrcclicnr:e to the rulcs. Kclly and Gruver share a possessive individualisrn that is ofl'ended by the state's intervention in the (private ) decision to take a wif'e. At the same time, this reliance on individualism safely contains the radical potential of Kelly's protests, both against racism and against the privilege of class or rank. Japan is presented as a sexual wonderland, beginninu with Kelly's first description of an all-male Kabuki theater and an all-female Matsubayara dance troupe (based, presumably, on Tokyo's famous Takarazuka Theater). The exoticism ofJapan is ironically underscored by the surprise arrival of Gruver's fianc,6e, Eileen, the daughter of his new commanding general. Eileen Webster represents the conventional white middle-class ideal of sexual attractiveness. Yet it soon becomes apparent that Eileen is dissatislied with the prospect of a conventional family life shaped by the demands of a shared military career "like our parents have." However Eileen s rebelliousness is contained by her intense romanticism; she can identify her own pleasure and fulfillment only through a husband. She explains to a somewhat befuddled Gruver, "No woman wants to live any way except body and soul with the man she loves." Cruver's first introduction intoJapanese high culture is a trip to lht' Kabuki Theater arransed by Eileen. Kabuki is a classit:al irrrrl lrighly r itrr-

(.JustliketheydoatPrinceton,,'chirpsEileensmotlrtlr-).Wlril<.(ltttv<.r. titill.tt'<l rttttl t'tt ol llrt' thusiastic about the exotic and potentially transgressive ttattttt' l()rri performance; she reads aloud from a brochure that the Kirllrrki ;l( ,,the grace of a woman and the power of a man" in olrt: lXrrly. combine Gruver becomes clearly uncomfortable with the homoerotic ptltt'rrlilrl in the Kabuki performance and, in what appears to be a homo^pltolri< panic, insists on a disruptive public displav of heterr-rsexual affectiorr' bil.".r, on the other hanJ, uses the performance to pr.d Gruver's sexttal lion iD lt anxiety. \Alhen Nakamura turns the character of the lady into a for you now' po*".i.rl dance, Eileen twits Gruver, "Is he man enough
Lloyd?":o

Montalban) is an elaborate costuming scene that interjects an extraordinarily disruptive moment into what, until this point, has been a densely heterosexual discourse focusing on the exchange values of Japanese and American

ih. fi.rt view of the Kabuki actor Nakamura (Ricardo

Women.Inthecourseofputtingonhishear'ywhitefaceandbodypaint'

and his female costume, Nakamura's race and sex are simultaneously role' transformecl and deconstructed. As a male actor playing a female when Nakamura Nakamura's sex is temporarily obscured' Nevertheless' is displayecl in a direct frontal shot wearing a codpiece' there remains little doubt as to his physical sexual identity as a rnale' Preparing for the stage, Nakamura applies a healy white greasepaint trnderthat obscures his visual identification as Asian, although the ritual of the Kabuki scores his cultural identity as Japanese' The whiteness This makeup also marks Nakamura as potentially racially transgressive.
M<-rntalban is a double masquerade, since Nakamura is played by Ricardo

in yellowface. The casting of Montalban in this role achieves a ntrmber of p..rpos"s. It uses the Cuban-born actor's image as a romantic sophisexotic ticate (based on another ethnic stereot)?e) to create an ethnically The audience is thus reyet racially acceptable potential rival to Gnrver. Eileen assured that if Nakarrriru nin Montalban does have an affair with since beneath the white webster, no racial taboo will have been broken, paint and the yellow paint there is a white man' The film next turis to its second spectacle ofJapanese sexuality, the clanceoftheMatsubayarashowgirls.Thedancersfirstappeardressedin school prim kimonos marching from their dormitory to their theater like demure femininity is their girls. 'fhe sinule exceplion to this display of and t.hic['dancer, Hana o.qi, who is dressed in pants, turtleneck sweater, is the rnirror imase ()[ li.irtlrt,r.t.<[ hir{. FIitna ilg-i, u transvestite woman, N:rllrrrtrrllr. (ilrrvt'r'is tolrl lhat "t.hc t.all oncs play lrloll's Pirrts'"

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority Myth

167

ii

,n

i
I

Postwar spectacles:

The Matsubayara Dancing Girls with Hana Ogi (Miko Tara) center stage in Saytnara Still courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art Film Archives
l

\Arhite lace on yellow face:

Ricardo Montalban as Nakamura in SayonaraStill courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art Film Archives

The Matsubayara performance displays an virtual butl'et of imagined Japanese sexuality. Against a line of dancers in lam6 tights, Hana Ogi first appears in a sheer kimono as a Geisha; then, in short succession, in top hat and tails, a western-style ball gown, a formal kimono, the costume of a Shinto priest, in Samurai costume, and finally as a princess. The sexual fantasy that she represents and appears to offer crosses gender, racial, and cultural boundaries. Although she refuses to meet him, ovcr the course of the next few months, Hana Ogi parades in front of Gruver on her way to and from the dormitory. This parade reproduces the male drag fantasy of her dance performance as she wears a variety of sexually signifying mens hats: a brown fedora, a golfing cap, a straw hat, and a
gaucho hat. Contrasted to the rigidly heterosexual gender and family codes of thc United States, represented by General and Mrs. Webster, Japan is polyrnorphous, transgressive, and exotic. Both Nakamura and Hana Ogi rcpl'cs(ir)t :r sr:xrrality that is transgendered and unpredictably daneerorrs.

l68

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

169

The scene in which Hana Ogi and Gruver are finally introdrtccd is an in Orientalist shtick. The meeting is arranged to takt: plact: in Kelly's small Japanese-style house. There is the traditional burnpirrg of Western heads on low ceilings; much is made of the ritualized ctiquette of sake drinking (in contrast to the two-fisted whisky drinker that Gruver is presumed to be-signified by the bottle of whiskey he brings as a gift). Hana Ogi is presented in formal kimono; predictably the inexercise

"-I'ht: tall orrcs play llrc rrrcn's p:rrts": Ilana Ogi in rnale drag meets Gruver (Marlon Brando). Still courtesy of the Museum of Mode rn Arr Film Archives

The homosocial tension between Gruver and Nakamura in a potential rivalry over Eilecn (whose fascination with Nakamura is made evident) is over-whelmed by the homoerotic tension between the two characters. Gruver and Nakamrrra mirror each other visually and narratively. The scene that introduces Nakamura pays close attention to makeup and robing as an elaborate transgendering ritual. In this scene, Nakamura sits erect and appears energized by the erotic power expressed in his acting. This astounding fetishization of the 'Japanese" male body stands in stark contrast to a parallel introduction of Gruver. In that s6sns-G,r-uyg1'5 post-flight medical examination-Gruver sits on examination table, also naked from the waist up. But his body, in contrast to the erect Nakarrrura, is slouched, flaccid with physical and moral fatigue. In a later scene, Gruver confides to a Marine Corps officer (James Garner) that an acring experience in high school had "changed [his] world" but that he had repressed his youthful desire to be an actor (like Nakamura) in favor of West Point and the military career chosen for him by this father.

troductions take place over the mutual pouring of sake. Despite her former aloofness, Hana Ogi immediately and unconditionally assumes the subordinate Orientalized position. She asks Gruver's forgiveness for hating Americans because she has held them responsible for the deaths of her family. To this reminder of America's still recent encounter with .fapan, it must have been unsettling for audiences to hear Gruver reply simply, "there were a whole lot of Americans killed too and it's best we forget." 40 In the West, the gaze is traditionally appropriated to masculine power. Therefore, when Hana Ogi says, "I have been watching you, too, and you have not looked like a savage," and adds, "Katsumi-san lwhom Gruver has kissed, somewhat reluctantly, at her weddingl has told me how gently you kiss," it is a startling moment for Gruver. The admission by the Native Woman of looking and inquiring captures the eroticism of the exotic. On one hand, the admission seems to betray innocence; Hana Ogi appears not to know better than to reveal her interest in G'ruver. On the other hand, it reveals her appropriation ofthe gaze; she can exercise the power of surveillance. She can categorize him as "ttot a savage." Hatta Ogi goes on to spin a fantasy of innocence , dangcr, attd <lcvotiotr thzrt would make Madame Butterfly blush: "l havc rtcvcr bccn itt love, though I have dreamed and thought about it. . . . There is danser o1'discovcry for both of us, danger of weakness when it is ovcr. . . . I will never fall in love again, but I will love you, Lloyd-san, if that is your desire." This combination of submissive innocence and assertive sexuality is the epitome of Orientalist fantasy. The gauzy romanticism of the alfair between Cruver and Hana Ogi is sharply contrasted to the Kellys' marriage and subsequent double suicide. Kelly and Katsumi settle into a small house offbase in what appears to be a working-class neighborhood. Kelly makes an attempt to learn Japanese and takes great pride in knowing aboutJapan and thingsJapanese. Katsumi is portrayed as an ideally devotedJapanese wife-submissive, docile, and obedient. It is not out of any gesture of independence or individuality on Katsumi's part, but precisely out of her obsequiousncss, that the only occasion for Kelly's anger with his "model" wife arises. I(clly is zurgcrcd by Katsumi's suggestion that she wants to have an

l7O

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Mt,,[,] Mrrr, 'r rly Myllr

I'il

operation to remove the epicanthic folcls from her eyelids, a literal selfeffacement to make herself acceptably "white." Kelly takes sreat umbrage at this self-denying and naive idea and commands that she remain as she is. Kelly's objection and command reveal the disparate power relations between the white American husband and theJapanese wife. First, it underscores Kelly's complete domination over the supine Katsumi, who is willing to undergo mutilation to please him and then meekly accepts his decision to veto the idea. Second, although it signals Kelly's resistance to racist assumptions about beauty, Kelly's refusal of permission can also be read as a sign of his desire for Katsumi to remain exotically 'Japanese." Third, Kelly accepts Katsumi for who she is, or at least how he, and not others, has created her. Katsumi's aborted plan to have her eyelids "fixed" and Kelly's difficulty in learning to speakJapanese are meant to suggest that the utopian dream of "going native" or "passing" is not a viable alternative. The Kellys, and all the other interracial couples under military command, are made to endure increasing harassment ordered by a bigoted Sonthern colonel who is the executive officer under General Webster. Symbolic of this prcssure and representative of the ostracism that may f'ac:c intcrr':r<i:rl corrplcs on Llrt:ir rcl.urn to the Statcs, the colonel places tlrt:ir- lrorrrt:s oll-lirrrits to otlrcl Arrrcrir':rrr pcrsonnel. l.'itr:ctl witlr srrrlrlt:rr or<lcrs l.() r'ct.llrll l.o ilrc Statcs, and unable to bring Katstrrrri with hirn, Kclly cornnrits srricide with Katsumi. Their suicide is literally fbreshadowed in b'un,rtthu, a shadow puppet perfbrmance that ends with a romantic double suicide . Short of havins the couples attend Madame Butterflry, the audience could be given no clearer notice of the inevitable. Suicide is Kelly's final utopian, Butterfly-like sesture. Kelly, who has been portrayed as rigidly principled, cannot now think of any praematic response that will preserve his sense of honor and justice. Kelly must make some final gesture, however futile and romantic, of resistance. Of course, he takes a stereo$picallyJapanese course of action. It is only in the wake of the Kellys' suicide that the anticommunist

thatherbigotryis damaging to the political:rlli:rrrt t'lt<'ltvt t'tt

States andJapan.

llt|

I rilrl, rl

The colonel then orchestrates the harassment ol'ittlt't r:tr i;tl l.ttrrtlt, '' lurd the sudden transfer of Kelly to the States, making tht: I(t'llt's' srtrr tr lt inevitable. The Kellys' suicide touches off anti-American clctttottslr;tlt, rtr: 1nd a near riot (assumed to be communist-inspired). Witnt:ssirrP tlrrs. (l.ruver is given to understand the global importance of ethnic lilrt'rrrl ism. Racial bigotry of the old Sor.rthern variety is thus revealed to provitlt' "srist for the communist propaganda mills." It is the Kellys' suicide rurrl {he subsequent recognition of the political significance of their owll r-elationship that finally brings Gruver and Hana Ogi together permarlently. Despite her embarrassingly obse quious professions of selfless and rrndying love and devotion, Hana Ogi is more Pocahontas than Madame Butterfly. The Pocahontas leuend, repeated and embellished over three centuries, has assumed the status of a myth of national origins.ar Pocahontas could be viewed as the sexual, maternal, self-sacrificing, fertile native woman who symbolizes the fiuit of conquest. She can serve as a tritrmphal metaphor for the assimilation of the "ethnic" woman into the benevolent paternalism of American society.a2 In these narratives, the native woman, the princess of a def'eated or soon-to-be defeated nation, Ialls in love with the white conquering hero and rcalizes the moral superiority and liberation of American society. The native woman becomes a tme woman through her love of the white man. Having become a true woman via this transforrnativc love, she becomes a candidate for the motherhood of the new natiolt. As in the lesend of Pocahontas and John Smith, Flana Osi "saves" C}ruver. Hana Ogi saves Gruver frorn himself, fiorn his own exhaustion, self-doubt, and "southern" racism, and from his crisis of masculiniry through his heterosexual affair with her. Since Hana Ogi's dance has assured us ofher desirability as a heterosexual object ofdesire, her apparent transvestitism allows Gruver to simultaneously express and contain

logic of ethnic liberalism explicitly reveals itself. After Gruver's initial racist comment in Korea, he is gradually transformed from a Southern racial bigot to a national racial liberal. Racism is clearly identified as a Southern pathology; the racist villains of the film are General Webster's
executive officer, a colonel, and Eileen's self-ser-ving and status-conscious mother. Both are Southerners who represent an anachronistic, if still

persistent, racial bigotry.

In an early scene,

where the marine officer

played byJames Garner and hisJapanese date are turned away frorn the officers' club by the colonel at Mrs. Webster's insistence, it is madc cleirr

his repressed desire fbr Nakamura. The triumph of Gruver's "naftrral" heterosexuality is realized in the domestication of Hana Ogi's previously transsendered sexuality. \Alhen Hana Ogi declares finally that Gnrver's love has made her, as she says, a "real woman," it signals the triumph over his own suppressed homoerotic desire for Nakarnura. In declaring that Gruver has made her a real woman, Hana Ogi has made him a real man. lf Flileen is the conventional definition of the ideal American woman,
I

lanl ()gi is her

opposite. Eileen demands a romantic break from

172

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

173

about romantic misalliances among a group o1'yottttg (lltirrcs<'AIrrt'r'icans and the conflicts that arise when their hopes fbr rotttittt< <' r'ottli otll

the traditional expectations of their immigrant parenl.s-Jrtotttolt'tl

it

.....',1

'",,!',:.

popularvision of the universal possibilities of ethnic assimilittiorr. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was loosely based ott tltt' t tovt'l of the same title by the Chinese American author C. Y Lee. l,cc's ttovt'l was a more dark-humored exploration of the difficulties of assirrtilltion and generational conflict among American-born Chinese and thcil irrrmigrant parents. When Flawer Dru.m Song opened on Broadway as a ligh t. hearted musical, the reviewer for Time rnagazine said that the theme ol romantic triumph over cultural conflict had already become hackneyccl after South Pacif,c and 'fhe King and 1, both Rodgers and Hammerstein productions. Besides, tlte Times reviewer noted, San Francisco's Chinatown was less genuinely exotic than the "real" Asians of The King and l.aa Commonweal, a liberal journal that had long actively promoted ethnic assimilation and racial harmony, praised the musical's emphasis on virtue and its civility.a5 The reviewer for the New Yorher was less kind when she
wrote,
The authors' attitude toward exotic peoples in general seems to have changed hardly at all since they wrote "South Pacific" and "The King and I." If friendly, the natives have a simple, primitive, childlike sweetness. If girls, they do not know how to kiss, but once they have been taught they are wild about it. They also beg to inquire, please, just what it is that is said with flowers. In their conversation, as you may have gleaned, there is more than a smidgen of pidgin. . . . It seems to have worried neither Mr. Rodgers nor Mr. Hammerstein very much that the behavior of war-torn Pacific islanders and nineteenth-century Siamese might be slightly different from that of Chinese residents of present-day California, where "Flower Drum Song"
is

Irr a l<rvc st:cnc in Sayn,altr,, I lirna ()gi is <lrcssc<l in a traditional kimono. Still < orrltt'sy of'lltt. Mrrs<'rrrn ol Mo<lt:r'rr Art !-ilrtr Archivcs

middle-class family life and an escape into the exotic (although her

flir-

tatious relationship with Nakamura is deflected). On the other hand, Hana Ogi (for whom the theater has been family and the source of order since the death of her father and brother) breaks from the exoric to reconstruct a familial life with Gruver. Ultimately Hana Ogi, like pocahontas, will give up status and prestige in her native land to live in the imperial metropole, where she will represent the domesticated exotic.
Assimilated, with her transgressive sexuality in check, she is now a real woman. In the last scene of the film, when Hana Ogi and Gruver decide that love will conquer all, they resolve the question of their (future) multiracial children by making them America's future. Like pocahontas portrayed as a lady of the Elizabethan court, Hana Ogi, with Gruver as husband, is now portrayed as the mother of a new nation.a3

fictionally

sung.a6

Flower Drum Song's Chinatown is a yellow{ace version of State Fair's small-town America. Set down on San Francisco Bay, Chinese America is representative of ethnic Americans generally. Ironically, in a film in which ethnicity displaces race and cultural transformation is a measure of assimilation, it is 126s-2nd the tradition of not being able to tell one Asian from another-that lends the film its supposed authenticity. Although the all-Asian casting of Flouer Drum Song represented a

"l
In

Enioy Being A

Girl": Flower Drum Song

1960, fouryears after Sayonarawas released, the filmFlozuerDrum Song showed Asians in America as, if not yet a model minority, at least perfectly suitable candidates for ethnic assimilation. The musical comedy-

breakthrough for Asian American performers (with the exception of .|uanita Hall, a veteran African-American singer cast as Auntie Liang); none of the actors, except Benson Fong, who played the patriarch of the Wang clan, was actually Chinese American. The cast included Miyoshi Urneki (from Japan) as Mei Li, a recent arrival from China; James Shigcta (.fapanese from Hawaii) as Wang Ta, the serious and sincere eldest

17

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Modcl Mirror ily

Myllr

lTlt

son of the Wang clan; Patrick Adiarte (Filipino American) as Wang San, the hyperassimilated teenage son of thc Wang family;Jack Soo (Korean American) as Sarnmy Fong, a somewhat sleazy, somewhat hip nightclub owner; and Nancy Kwan (Scots-Irish ancl Chinese from Hong Kong) as

then marries Mei Li and Sammy Fong marries Lirrtl:r l,ow. All's lvcll llr;rl
cnds well.

These alliances set up a universal generational cortlirrrl:rliorr irr ctlr nic families between the modern American-born second gcl t<'t :t liorr :r r rr I

Linda Low, the femrne fatale nightclub dancer. The complcte reliance on the racial appearance of the actors in establishing the show's ethnic credentials is underscorcd by the use of statrc sets. In the openine number, when Mei Li sings "One Hundred Million Miraclcs" in a "Chinatown" park, the Asian passers-by who gather are, without exception. dressed as middle-class white Americans of the period; rnen in suits and
ties, women wearing sensiblc Republican cloth coats. The crowd in China-

town includes an apparently Chinese policcman who gives them directions to the Fong household. The lilm's premise is set by the arrival in San Francisco of Mei Li and hcr father (Kam Tong) as undocumented immig;rants. They have come to the United States so that Mei Li can be married to Sammy Fong, a somewhat spoiled nightclub owner whose mother has arranged their betrothal. Sammy, however, is not ready to get married and has a girl{'riend besidcs, the exotic dancer Linda Low. He tries to pawn offMei Li on the wcalthy \At:urg farnily. Mzrstcr Wirng, or \Arans Chi-yang, who is looking for an tplrropliatt'ly tmrli{ionul wili' lirl ltis <:lclcst stln Wang Ta, approves of thc olrcclit:n1 aurl rcsl>c< tlirl Mt:i l,i. I lor'vt:vcr sincc Sammy has resisted a conrnritnrcnt l.() rllal'ri2rgc, [,irrtla Low, with an cye to the main chance, has bcen uoing out with Wang Ta. Resolving the plot complications is a rnattcr ol'appropriate ly rnatching up the marriage pairs. With the hopc ol'introducing Mei Li and Wang Ta, Master Wang

girl to a party to celcbrate Wang Ta's college graduation Auntic Liang's Anerican citizenship. Much to everyone's surprise, and Wang Ta announces his engagement to Linda Low. Sammy Fong sabotages the engagement by inviting the Wang family to the nishtclub, where they discover that Linda is an exotic dancer. Scandalized, Wang Chiyang forces Wang Ta to break their engagement. Meantime, Mei Li has fallen in love with Wang Ta at first sight, but believing that he loves his devoted friend Helen (Reiko Sato), Mei l,i fbrces Sammy to honor
invites the
his contract of marriage to her. Wang Ta now realizes that he really does love Mei Li, despite the fact that she is his father's choice fbr him. Finally, all is resolved when Mei Li announces that she must release Sammy from his obligation to marry her because she has deceived him by coming to America as an illegal "wetback." This allows Wang Ta to marry her voluntarily and with full knowledge of her immisration status. In a double wedding ceremony, Wang Ta

the traditional immigrant generation. In Flower Drum Son,g tltt' rtrrrsir :rl comedy, the theme of an ethnic generation gap is substitutcd lol tlrt' interrogation of racial exclusion that organizes the novel. Fl,otaer l)nt.trr Sbrzg creates a paper tiger conflict betlveen an anachronistic (if quaint), str.rltifying (if wise), oppressive (if loving), traditional world view held by the immigrant generation of Chinese parents versus the shallow (yet glamorous), modern (yet materialist), romantic (yet rootless) world view t-rf American-born Chinese kids. This is played out in a sons and dance routine, "\Atrat Are We Going to Do About the Othcr Generation." Flower Drum Song's generation-gap depiction of ethnic assimilation is weak tea, however. It provides neither space for Wang Ta to negotiate between the sterile traditionalism of his father and the vacuous rootlessness of his younger brother, n<-rr the racial history which might enable him to critique Chinese America. At the graduation/citizenship pargr in which the Wang family celebrates its entry into American society, the family organizes a square dance to a song titled "Chop Sr.rey." Not only is the sqr.rare dance, like the quilting bee or barn raising, a nostalgic icon of American culture, it is popularly identified with a specifically white Arrrerican rural community. Chop suey, the hash invented in San Francisco and served in Chinese restaurants throushout the country is cmblematic of the inventedness of ethnic' ickrnlily. Itcrlilrmccl togcthcr, song and dance simultaneorrsly cclcbr-irtc tlrc lrlrsor'ptivt' t:uput ily ol tlrt: American melting pot and rurclcrscorc its rrrotlt:ssrtcss. Atttt't'it:t is it vltst chop sueyjoint in which anyonc can consurlrc irrr t'tlrrric irlt'rrtity. OIrop suey ethnicity erases from memory the history ol' tht: ( lhitrt:sc itt Atttt'r.it rt as a racialized minority, a history that makes Mei Li and hcr-I'athcr illc{ral immigrants and constmcts Chinatown as an Oriental fantasy world in the Iirst place. Chinese Americanness is reduced to little more than paper
lanterns and chopstick hairsticks.aT In Flnwer Drum Song's world of assimilation, it is the women who know the way out. Linda Low, Mei Li, and Auntie I-iang, despite their obvious differences, are all liberal pragmatists. They hold the keys to successful

ethnic assimilation.'Like Hana Ogi in Sayonara, Linda Low represents thc clesired exotic. It is no accident that Nancy Kwan, who hadjust made lrcr movie debut as a Hong Kong bar hostess in the World of Suzie Wong (1960, also directed byJoshua Logan), was brought in to replace the <'xrrbr:r:rnt but considerably less sultry Pat Suzuki, who had played the

t'it;

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

177

wage earner) readily satisfied. Being a "girl" means lrt:irrg :r < ottstrrrrt't ol lirrs, perfume, a sporty car, and a nice house. To be sure, Linda Low represents a modern girl. Shc is irrrl<'lrcrrrlt'rrl rrnd sexually assertive, but what she wants is a husband. Firl l,irrrlrr l,ow, it is less "a man to share her life with" than a man with whorrr lo slr:rlt' a lifestyle. In the dream sequence "Sunday" [picture here], [,in<llr irrrrl

in nightclothes, surrounded by the luxuries ol'rni<kll<r life, including children playing cowboys and Indians. In Sa,yur,rrxt, Ilana Ogi must be domesticated before she is allowed entry into tht' American family, and her sexual domestication is itself a sign of Amcrir:an triumph.In Flower Dntm Song, Linda Low is already safely domesticated; in her we see what Hana Ogi can become. On the surface, Miyoshi Umeki's Mei Li is a reprise of her role as Katsr"rmi in Sayonara: a "traditional" Asian immigrant woman, self-effacing :rnd self-denying. Like Katsumi, who thinks that an eyelid operation will Ibol her oppressors, Mei Li is always positive, willing, and innocent in the Iace of adversity. Her theme song is, after all, "One Hundred Million
Sammy lounge
t:lass

Miracles."

\Atrile Mei Li is portrayed throughout the film as traditional and

"(

ilrop

Sr

rt

"

s<;r

urr

t'

l:r

rr <

t': I ltc r ral

rr':rl izlrl ior r/gr':r<lrrat

ion p:rrty

rl tlr('Wrngs' itt liltntut I)nrnt

part ()n Broaclway. Despite the lact that Miyoshi Umeki had won an Academy Award for her earlier role as Katsumi in Sayonara, it was Nancy Kwan and her image as suzie wong that was featured prominently in all of the billboards and promotionals for Flower Dnrm Song. Like Hana Ogi, Linda Low is the personification of sex'al fantasy; indeed the fact that both are dancers allows the use of the dance to display the exotic. The dance scene ar the nightclub is similar to that of the Matsubayara review in sayonara; it presents a pastiche of international sexual commodification. The song and dance that defines Linda Low, however, is not transgendered in the way that Hana Ogi's clance was. "I Enjoy Being a Girl" is uncompromisingly-and, to its presumed audience, reassuringly-heterosexual. Linda Low's sexuality is contained and domesticated by its transformation into consumption. The song fetishizes the female body, which the Barbie doll (a new hit on the toy market that year) was making into a new vehicle of consumption. l,ike Barbie, which had started out as an "adult novelty" in Germany but had been_cleaned up for her debut in the United States, Linda Low is sexy but not dangerous. Like those of the American Barbie, Linda Low,s desires are transparent, understandable, and (for the micldle-c:lzrss rn:rlc

Srrnrlay rrrolrring in the American dlcam: l ,irrrl;r l .or'v ( N:rnt v l(wan) and S:rrnnry Fong (.Jack Soo) daych'earn of assimilation int<r I 1)50's srrlrrrllrirr in lihntrr l)nrn Song.

l7l^i

Chopter Five

The Cold

Wor Origins of the Model Minority

Myth

179

respectful of her elders, the wealthy, and men in general, her story suggests more agency than is conveyed on the surface. It is she who has brought her aging and somewhat ineffectual father to the United States, stowing away in a ship. She demands that Sammy Fong uphold his agreement to marry her, and she decides to break off the impending wedding ceremony. \A4rile Mei Li and Linda Low are played as opposites, they ultimately

share many

of the same characteristics. Both Mei Li and Linda Low

demonstrate the same instrumental need for husbands. In 1960, finding a husband is the expected route into the world of middle-class consumption and assimilation. A husband is required for a life in the United
States.

For Mei Li, like Linda, it is the consumption of American popular culture that makes her American. Linda's status as an All-American girl is measured by her clothes, perfume, jewelry and cars, items that transfbrm the Asian body into an American body. Mei Li is transformed into an American by television. The solution that Mei Li comes up with to lree herself (to marry Wang Ta) and Sammy (to marry Linda) comes fiorn zr TV show. Mei Li, it is rcvcaled, has been an inveterate consumer of tclcvision sin<:c hcr. irrriv:rl in ilrc Uni{.ed States. Through television, shr: has absorl>r'd (hc plain lansrurec (the ironic ref-erence to wetbacks)
:rnd pr:rurn
ut

ic virl r rcs :r rr<l sol

rrl i orr s o['

Arnerican liberalism.

Arrntic l,iane is tht: lil>cral pra5;matist and paragon of ethnic assimilation who rncdiatcs bctwccn older and younser generations. Unlike Wang Chi-yang, who hidcs his money under his bed, she is not afraid of modernity. She shares Wang Chi-yang's conservative goals (the marriage of Wang Ta and Mei Li), but she recognizes the nee d for new modes of behavior to achieve them. She admonishes the elder Wang to let the children decide for themselves whom they will marry just as she scolds him for not trusting in banks. Marriage for love, and savings accounts, are part of the modern world with which one must come to terms. The liberal pragmatism represented in these women is critical to Flower Drutn SoTzg's narrative of ethnic assirnilation. Unlike the men who struugle over the meaning of tradition, the women use it or ignore it as it suits their purpose. Mei Li invokes traditional forms of deference and television, as the situation dictates. Tradition is good only as it is useful; it is only the individual freed of the burden of history who can successfully negotiate modernity. Nevertheless,I-lozuer Drum Song's liberal pragmatism is only instrumental; the ends of its ethnic assimilation saga are conservative. The musical's Oriental women have become Arnerican without making a sound in American society.
Sa,yonara

liberal narratives of national origin. Liberalism was thc i<lt:olos-it::tl t:orc of'the decentralized political structure of American irnpt:r.irrlisrrr. l,t'ss rr national ideology than a world view, liberalism is the ideoltlgy ol rrrork'r'nity, deeply identilied and aligned with science and, like Marxisrrt, ttrt ivt t salist.as As a science of modernity, Iiberalism could be deployed clotttcstically as a progressive but moderate response to the demand for raci:Ll cquality and internationally as an alternative to the anticolonialist t:r'itique and socialist promise of Lenin and Marx. Sayonara and !-lower Drurn So'ng both celebrate American liberalismln these Iilms, ethnic assimilation is the vehicle through which the social identities of race, class, sex, and nationality can be displaced by the individual embrace of the modern. The "naturalized" (heterosexual and Americanized) nuclear families simultaneously fetishizc ethnicity as cultural artifact and render race invisible as a social relationship of power. The nuclear family, the end result o['both thcse lilrns, is expr:cted to produce a new American: a liberal indivicltralist lvlto tr:rnsccnds social origin. Befbre they can becomc tltc tnothct-s ol'tht: ncw Attlt'ricatl nation, Hana Ogi and Linda Low rnltst bc dotttcstit:atc:cl, ttalttralizccl, t.ransformed fiom exotics into American girls strit.:rblc lor nt:rrt iagc zrttd motherhood. Sayonara a:nd Flouer Drum Song follow in the Pocahontas tradition as narratives in whictr the woman of color becomes mother of the nation through a process of ethnic assimilation; the history of race relations is effaced in favor of romance and individual transformation. The Oriental woman is assimilatetl through the domestication of her exotic (racialized) sexuality. In Sayon,ara as in the Pocahontas legend, marriage between the woman o{'color and white man embodies the highest stage of
assimilation. Hana Ogi is the native daughter of a conquered tribe whose erotic difference is domesticatccl by her devotion to her white man. In I'-louer Drum Song, the Oriental woman is assimiiated through the corlsumption of Amcrican culture and marriage. Linda Low's all-American sexuality is revealed to be only an expression of her saf'e (satiable) desire [br durable consumer goods. In both cases, the domestication of exotic sexuality re-creates the Oriental woman as a naturalized woman, ready Io assume the mantle of mother of a newAmerican empire.

in 1956 and

Flower Drum Song

in

1960 were

Holllwood's ncw

I l' 'i== i'- l" ''re=' I 'l

; i tr:-:

-=- I

Notes to Poges 120

-141
YellozLt

.65. Gina Marchetti, Romance and, the

Peril: Race,

Sex,

and l)iscursiue Strate-

rlnrltheSupremeCourt:ADocumenLrl'r1lli''sl'ttty(Wl.rl1rr,rIlllllllr=;r:il....iil 87. SeesuchetaMazumdar,"cOlOniallrrtlrltttltttrll'rilr1,rlrl li|rliir'1li*rrl"lli: lli'r*r't; ;rr tlt' L'it t United states," in Labor Immigration Llnder crlittt.li.tr/. ,ltt,ttt StatesbeforeWort,d,Warll,ed'LucieChengandEdrral}trttlltirIr(llt.rlrlrtl,tti''l /'rr.rrrr1,,'l'trtttt ltttltrr \zi't* ,ioToriurir"."iapress, 1gg4),316_336; andJoanJenscrr,
Illt{l{t In,,ilianlmmigrantsi,nNorthAmelica(NewHaven:YaleUnivt:r.sityl,tt.::. singhT-hind, cited in Kim, Asirzfl, Antrtrtrtttt,rtt,l llt, stil,tes a. Itha,gat
Bg. unitirl
Supreme

1992). 528.

,sinHollyuoodFi'ction(Berkeley:UniversiryofCaliforniaPress,1993),14' 56. Ibid.,10. 57. rbid.,1B. different way' 58. Ibid., 21. Gina Marchetti makes this point in a somewhat nor assimilated' hence ggesting that Tori becomes neither excluclibly alien
rpotent.

1870s-WWil (Providence, R'I': Unpublished Ph'D' dissertation' -crwn University, 1997) 34-102. 'lB' 60. Gina Marchetti, Romance and the YellotLt Peril' "Restructuring the 'Family,"' 73-87 ' 61. Eileen Boris,
zn Oriental)sm,

59. l.lu.i Yoshihara,

Women's

Asia: Americtt'n Women and the C'ende'ring of Amer-

Court,536.

89. ibid.,540. 90. Ibid.,540. 91. Ibid.,541.

92. Morrison u. California, cited ibid', 410'

62. Cited in Said, Orientalism, 149' 63.LindaGordon,Henlesin,theirOwnLiues:ThePoliticsandHistoryofl,amill

iolenu (Boston: Virago, 1988), 219'

64. rbid.,223.

65. Broken Blossomg D. W. Griffiths, dir' 66. Ibid., 149. 67. Gordon, Heroes, 216. 68. rbid.,225. 69. Lothrop Stoddard' 'fhe Rising Tide of

Mulh Five: The Gold Wcrr Origins of lhe Model Minority Asian-American 1. Frank Chin et aI., eds', Aiiieeeee! An Anthotogl of

Writers

Color againsL

Wite

World-SuPremaq

(Washington, D-C.: Howard University Press' 1974) ' national security but 2. In this case, the goal was not to meet a real threat to government's preparedness and to mobilize support to ease anxieties about the Weglln ' Years of for policie s of austerity ani sacrifice' See' for example' Michi (New York: William MorStory of America's Con-centratirtn Camps

tr|o-1'
can

New York: Scribner's Sons, 1920), 20'

row & Co., 1976) ; and pete'

The Llntold,

H'

lrons,Justice aL War: The

SLory oJ theJapanese '

Ameri-

70. Ibid.,20. 7r. tb\d.,226. 72.Llniterlstatesu'Ptha,grtisinghThincl,citedinKim'ed''AsirtnAmerican'sa'nd

he Supreme

1983) Internment Cases (Oxford: Oxford University Press'

Court,536.
Tide of Color, 240
'

194I' 33' Tell Your Friends fiom theJaps ," Tinte, December 22' ltl' 4. "How to TellJaps fiom the Chinese"'

3."HowtoTellJapsfiomtheChinese"'/'r/z'Decemberlg'1941'14;"Howto 5. Ibid.,14.
6.
Korematsu

73. Stoddard , The Rising

74. rbid..236. 75. rbid.,240. 76. Ibid.,235. 77. rbid.,240. 78. Ibid.,220. 79. Ibid.,219. 80. Ibid.,220. Bl.SrrchengChan,ed.,EntrlDeni'ed,:ExclusionandtheChineseCommuni$in 1991); andJeffery America, 1SB2-1943 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press' Court' l740L"rr"., :'Al*uys Outsiders: Asians, NaturJization and The Supreme |()44," AmnasiaJournal I2:1 (1985-86) ' 83-100' Natiaism 1860tt2. John Higham, Strangers in the Land': Patterns of American York: Atheneum, 1985). 1925 (New

n'ni' u. Unitetl S'a'as in Flprne-chan Kim' ed'' Asian Americans

the

Sutru*uCo*t,833-S6T.Under"srictscrutiny"'discriminationbythestateon
thebasisofraceisheldtobeillegitimatcrrniessthestatecanshowanover.rid_ a "suspect category'J' became ing national interest. This ruling, that race is a racial discrimination. Unmich_cited justification of subse[uent rulings against Yasui were granted a new trial in Hiratayashi' and

d.er coramrzo&lq Korematsu, the government decided not to 1984. In 1986, Hirabayashi was viniicated' and Red'ress and' See Yasuko I. Takezawa, Ilreaking the silenu: contest the other cases. 1995) ' Ethnicity (Ithaca: Cornell Universiry Press' Japanese American 7. FredWarrer-tRigg,lP'n"I'resonCongress: ASturLloftheRepealofChineseExclusion (New York: King's Crown Press, 1950)
'

8'ReferencetoAsiaticBarredZoneoflglT.Asianimmigrationwas..normalized"undertheprovisionsofthelmmierationActoflg24'whichhadestablished
a system

t]3.Cite(linYujilchioka,..TheEarlyJapaneselmmigrantQrrestforCiti4"2 zt'nslrip: The Rackground of the lg22 Ozawa Case"' Amerasia Journal
(te77), t-22.

ofvisas equivalent of national quotas' Each country was assigned a quota

to5percentofthetotalnumberofimmigrantsfromthatcountryoforiginwh<l
residedintheUnitedStatesinlg05.TheresultingquotaforChinesevisaswltslr linrited to 100 lir|t'rr.lr rnere 105 per year, and Indian and Filipino visas were
country.

tt'I. lLt'printed
135. lbi<1.
521J.

ir-r

Kim,

Asian Americans and the Supreme Court'

375'

{lt.'litkrrttOztt.trttttt llrri,t,tilsktkts,c:itedinl{ytu-rg-chanKim'ed''ArianAm(rit(tn\

252

Notes to Poges I

49-157

Notes to Poga:;

5tl I /.l

9. William Peterson, "Success Story:Japanese-American Style," Nzzr YorkTimes Magazine (January 9, 1966), 38; "Success Story of One Minority in the U.S.," US. News and, Workl Report (December 26,1966),73. 10. Lee Rainwater and William Yancey, The Moynihan Report and the Politics of Controaersl (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1967), 79.
11. rbid.,124. 12. Ibid., 49. The likelihood that Moynihan also drafted Johnson's speech does not negate the point that the speech and the report reflect two quite different ideological tendencies. 13. "Success Story of One Minority in thc U.S.," 73-78.

29. Rainwater and Yancey, T'he Moynihan Report,,79. 30. Ibid., 17;thefulltextof Glazer'sessayisinNat.harr (lllrzcr, illfrttrttttrt,rltrt crimination:EthnicInequalityandPublicPoliey (NewYork; Ilasic lirol<s, I1)7Jr) 31. E.FranklinFrazier, TheNegrointheUnitedStates,rev. c<l. (Nt'w\irrli; l\l,rr millan, 1957), 681. 32. MiltonGordon,AsslmilationinAmericanLife(NewYork:OxlirlrIIIrrivtrsrr\
Press, 1964),249.

33. John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters,282.

14. Yasuko I. Takezawa, Breahing the Silence: Redress andJapanese American Ethniciry (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell Universiqr Press, 1995). 15. See H. Mark Lai, "The Chinese Marxist Left in America to rhe 1g60s," in
chinese

34. rbid.,292-293. 35. Elaine Tyler May, Homewatd Bound: American Famili.es In The Cokl

Wt,y l',nr

Amnica: History and Perspectiues (san Francisco: chinese HistoricalAssocia-

tion of America, 1992), 3-82. 16. See Bill Ong Hing, Making and Remaking oJ'Asian America through Immigration Poliq, 1850-1990 (Stanford: Stanford Universiry Press, 1993); Robert G. Lee, "The Hidden World of Asian Immigrant Radicalism," in The Immigrant Left in the United States, ed. Paul Buhle and Dan Georgakas (Albany: SUNYPress, 1g96), 256-288. 17. George Lipsitz, Rainbow at Midnight: Labor and Culture in the 1940s (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994) . 18. David M. Gordon, Richard Edwards, and Michael Reich, Segrzazterl Worh, Diaid,ed Workers: 'I'he Historical'l-ransformation of Lahor in the Llnited State-s (New york:
Cambridge University Press, 1982), 170. 19. Claudia Goldin, Understanding the Gender Gap (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 152. 20. George Lipsitz, Rainbozu at Midnight,69-95. 21. Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter, Im,perial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations ancl United States lbreign Polic_y (New York: Monthly Review Press,1977). 22. In 1960, the United States still enjoyed a favorable balance oftrade ofsix billion dollars. 23. Cited in Noel J. Kent, Haanii: Islands unrJer the InJluence (New york: Monthly Review Press, l9B3), 95. 24. Noel Kent claims that in this period the United States' direct investmenr abroad grew by approximately 10 percent annually, or twice as fast as the U.S. economy as a whole. Ibid., 97. 25. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democrag, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1944), lxxii. 26. See, for example, Franz Schurmann, T-he Logzc of World PouEr: An Inquirl [nto the Origins, Currents, and Contm,r],ictions of World Polltlcs (New York: Pantheon R<roks, 1974), 16-19, 9l-114, and passim. 27. Mary 1,. Dudziak, "Desegregation as a Cold War Imperarive," Stanforri Law llruirzu 4l (Novernber l9BB): 105.

(New York: Basic Books, l9BB), 102-104. See also Guy Oakes, The Imagi,na,rl Wr,r: Ciuil Defense And American Cold, War Culture (New York: Oxford University l'rtss, 1994). 36. Bok-Lim Kim, "In the Shadows: Asian Wives of U.S. Servicemen," Amtttt:;itt.

Journal4 (1977):97-98.

See also Michael C. Thornton, "The Quiet Immigratiorr: Foreign Spouses of U.S. Citizens, 1945-1985," rn Racia@ Mixed Peopk in Amn i, tt, ed. Maria P. P. Root (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1992),64-76. 37. David M. Reimers, Still the GokLen Door: T'he T'hircl Wodd Comes to Ameriut, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1 985), 2 1 - 28. 38. Hing, Mahing and Remaking Asian America, and Kim, Asian Arnericans and the Supreme Court.

39. For a somewhat diff'erentview of the theme of homeroticisral'in Salonara, Marchetti, Romance and the Yellow Pnil, 1 36 -143. 40. This is a significantly revisionist response for 1957. One might note that the less forgiving Bridge on the Riaer IQLtai beat Sayo'nara for the Academy Award lor best picture that year. 41. Although Pocahontas was a historical figure, the legend of her relationship to John Smith is fiction. Rayna Green establishes an Orientalist folkloric tradition for the Pocahontas legend itself. She traces the legend to popular rnedieval tales about the European adventurer captured in an "Oriental" land and his rescue by the Pasha's or Sultan's daughter who has fallen in love at the vely sight of the pale and handsome stranger. The princess follows the stranger back
see

to his country where he is about to marry a noble woman of his own people.
Once reminded of her presence, the stranger throws over his intended to marry the darker beauty. In most versions, the princess converts to Christianiry and the two live happily ever after. "The Pocahontas Perplex," in Unequal Sisters: A Mu,lLi,cultural Reader In U.S. Women'.s History, ed. Ellen Du Bois and Vicky Ruiz (New York: Routledge, 1990), 17. 42. For an account of Pocahontas as archetypal of the exotic ethnic Arnulican woman, see Mary Lawlor, "Exoticization," inThe Oxford Companion l,o Wnutt.'s Writing in the United States, ed. Cathy Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martirr (Nt'w York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 290. 43. Simon van de Passe, Pocahonlas (1616), published in.fohn Srrritlr, (i,rrr'rrrl/ HisLorie (I624), reprinted in William M. S. Rasmussen :rnrl ll.olrt'r't S.'l'iltorr. /'rr t:a.hon.la,s: Her Lif: a'nd Legend (Richmond: Virginia Histoli< irl Socicly, l1)1) l), I I

?lJ. Ibirl.. | 10.

14. 'l'imc, Dcccnrbt:r 13,

l95f'1,

I'r

254

Notes to Poges 1 73

- 1 88
April 14' 1959'
57'

I l"le-: i" l"t;1e=

15. See Hing, Mahing ttrttl lil'rrtrrlir tt1', \tr'r tt Itttt 16. U.S. Census Bureau l{cpolt, l1l(l I 17. See Lowe, ImmigrantAt:Ls, l5,l - l'llt; ,rrrrl(

Uti l"'
"r

r="

45. "The
46. 47. For

Stage: The Peaceable Kingdom," Cotnmonueal, The Neu Yorker, Decernber 13, 1958, 73'
a

t"t
r

r preon Chinatown: Musical Discourscs in Flouer Dntm Sorzg" (unpublished pape (krnference, 1992) ' sented at Ohio University Filnr 48. Despite its *'iveisalisl claims, liberalism is historically identified with the Enlightenment traclition zrnrl thc clemocratic states of the west as "the outstanding Joctrine of Wcstern .ivilizatio.." HaroldJ. Laski, The Rise of European I'i'beralBarnes & Noble isln: An Essay lrt htl,eflntlrt,t;trt ([,.'clon: Unwin Books, New York:

similar reading of this dance scene, see Peter Feng, "Looking Down

)ttF1

t,rl . i i, \',;'' t:ii;il

/irrrrrrei

tion, 164-196.

18. 1994 U.S. Census RePorts. 19. 1994 U.S. Census RePorts.
Worh, Diuid,erl, Worke.rs;andJoyce Pantheon Books, 19BB) '

(lrtrl,rtt r'l ,tl , \r]'trr'rrl"l 20. Bluestone andBennett, Thectreat(J:Iuttt; l)ilvitl

Kolko, Raslrucluting Lln
Wrnf rl I't rttt,ttttl' ( NIrr' \ ' 'r l'

Inc.,1962).

21. Ong etal., The New Asian Immigtation' 22. GinaMarchetti, Romance and the "Yellou Peril"'212' 23. See SusanJeffords,TheRemasculinizationof Am,ehca: Otu,d,utttrtl lltr'l'it'ltrtrttt
War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989)
'

Six: The Model lhinoritY os Gook

l. See, fbr example, Bennett Harrison and Barry Bluestone, The c,reat (l-Turn: Books, 1988) . corporate Restructuring and the Pttlarizin,g ot' America (New York: Basic '2. An Enquiry Into the origtns of nuroia Harvey, The condition 0f PosLmotluni$: cultural change (oxford fEngland] and cambridge fMass.l: Blackwell, 1989),
Chapters 9-1I Passim.

24.I'eelacocca,Iacocca,AnAutobiograpl21'(NewYork:Bant:rrrt'11)lJ4)':tll''

Seven: After LA l. See, for example, the various readings in Robert Gooding-willi:tttts. t'rl.'

:.eaUOng,EclnaBonacich,andLucieCheng,eds',TheNewAsianImmi'gralion in Los Angekl and, Global Rest:ructuring (Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
1994),14.
New class war: Reagan's At(New York: Pantheon, 1982) and Barry tach on the welfure state and. Its clnseqzr,an ce.s Bluestone and Bennett Harrison, The Deinelustrialization of America: Plant Clos(New York: Basic Communiry Abandonment and, the Dismantling of Basic Industrl
ings,

l{ortll<'rlgr" Read,ingRodnry xing, ntaatnsflrbanLprising (NewYork and Londotr: 1993). t'l (.lrrttt' 2. Peter Kwong, "The First Multicultural Riots," The village voirtt

4. Harrison and Blueston e, The Great U-Turn,29 ' 5. Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. cloward, The

it'l'ltr"\tttr' 1992): 29, 32; and Edwarcl chang, "America's FirstMultiethnic Riots," and, Resistance in the 1990s, ed. Karin Aeuilar'*Slrrr.lr r:r rr of Asian America: Actiuism
(Boston: South End Press, 1994), 101-117' ( 3. Miyamoto Musashi, The Booh of Fiue /?irzgi translated by Thorrr:ts llt'rtr v in the United States by Random Horrst', l'l)1)'l ). (Boston: Shambhala: clistributed 4. KarelvanWolfren,TheJapaneseEnigma (NewYork: AlfredKrt<l1ll' l1)l]11). Samuel P. Hunringtot-r, "rn. clash of civilizations," Foreign Al/it,i.r's 72:"\

Books, 1982).

6. David M. Gordon, Richard Edwards, and Michael Fieicll,

7.
Har-vey, The Cond'ition of Postmoderniry, 20

segtnenterl Work,

5.

DiuidedWorkers, \60.

(Summer 1993),22-49.

1-301 ar'd passim'

with Mary lis: university of Minnesota Press, 1994). See also Thomas Byrne Edsall The Impact oJ Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics D. Edsall, Ciain Reaction: (NewYork: W. W. Norton, 1991). 9. See David A. Bell, "The Triumph of Asian Americans," T'he Neu Republic' July 15-22, 1985, 24-31.
..Why Do Asian Pupils Win Those Prizes?,' The New Yorh Timeq Jarluary 29, 1 9BB, A35. 12. "The New \Arhiz lltds," Time Maeazine, August 31,1987 ' 47 '

B.HowardWinant,Raci'alConditions:Politics,Theory,Comparisons(Minneapo-

6. rbid.,29. 7. rbid.,24

10. Ibid.,30.

11' Stephen G. Graubard,

13.TheU.S'CensusBureauestimatesthatbytheturnofthecenturytwelve million Asian Americans will make up 4 percent of the national population, and percent of by the middle of the next century Asian Americans will account for 10
the U.S. population'

ol tltt 10. Samuel P. Huntington, "If Not Civilizations, \Mhat? Paradigtrts World," ForeiEn Affairs 72 : 5 (November 1993), 186 - I {)4' Post-Cold War 11. Ibid.,190. 12. Ibid.,191. 13. Ibid.,191. 14. See Nicholas Mills, Arguing Immigration,'l'he Debata our the olt.rutg'irt;4 lit"'"f Immigration (New York: simon and schuster, 1993); "Demystifying Mtrlli|rrltrrr All.rr alism-i'issue of Nati,onalReaiew,Febntary 21, 1994; William F- Ilrrtl<lt^y:rrrrl ,,\44ry Kemp and Bennett are wrong on Immigrati<t|r," Ntr.litttttrl lit' Brimelow, Al.int Ntttittrt: ( ttttt uzez,, November 21, 1994, 36-4b,76, 78; and Allen Brimt:lt>w,
monSenseAboutAmerica'slmmigrationDisasfer(NewY<rrk:l{lrrrtlorrrllotrsr" 15. Brimelow, Alien Nation, 277-272'
l1)1lfr)

8. Ibid., 25 9. rbid.,27.

14. See Bill Hing, Making and, Remahing rf Asian America: Yen lispiritu, Asian(Philadelphia: Tcmplc A,merican Pan-Ethnicity, Brir)ging Institutions and, Identities Ncztt Asian Immigra'l'ion [ ) rriversity Press, I 992), ancl Ons et al., The

16. Michaelcrichton, Ilisingsun (NcwVrrk:

I1)1)iJ) '

Allittl l(rropl, l1)1)2)l/itrtrt1l

'\rtrt

(Pt:tt:r K:urlinart, Twenticth Ot:ntrrry liirx,