Vietnames Refugees Circa 1975

[cawacko]

Reading a new biography on Gerald Ford and I've reached where the final people were evacuated from Saigon. The House voted against $327 million for evacuation and eventual resettlement of 70K South Vietnamese refugees. It was said Ford never swore but he was so mad when he heard this news he said 'those sons of b*tches'.

The book quoted several of those in Congress including Robert Byrd who insisted on screening out as "undesirables" any "barmaids, prostitutes and criminals" in the refugee ranks. John Conyers asked whether federal dollars should be spent "on Vienamese refugees or should we spend them on Detroit 'refugees'". George McGovern said "the Vietnamese are better off in Vietnam".

By today's standards it seems surprising to see a Republican President supporting refugees while people of the left opposing them and using more nationalistic rhetoric. I do know there was a 8.9% unemployment rate at the time Saigon fell which could drive people to think refugees might exacerbate the situation.

I was but a toddler when this was occurring so I have no personal recollection. For those who do remember, any additional color to add to the mood at the time?

 

[archives]

Reading a new biography on Gerald Ford and I've reached where the final people were evacuated from Saigon. The House voted against $327 million for evacuation and eventual resettlement of 70K South Vietnamese refugees. It was said Ford never swore but he was so mad when he heard this news he said 'those sons of b*tches'.

The book quoted several of those in Congress including Robert Byrd who insisted on screening out as "undesirables" any "barmaids, prostitutes and criminals" in the refugee ranks. John Conyers asked whether federal dollars should be spent "on Vienamese refugees or should we spend them on Detroit 'refugees'". George McGovern said "the Vietnamese are better off in Vietnam".

By today's standards it seems surprising to see a Republican President supporting refugees while people of the left opposing them and using more nationalistic rhetoric. I do know there was a 8.9% unemployment rate at the time Saigon fell which could drive people to think refugees might exacerbate the situation.

I was but a toddler when this was occurring so I have no personal recollection. For those who do remember, any additional color to add to the mood at the time?

Good chance it is Rumsfeld book you read

Not that simple, here’s a few fact checks on the topic:

https://vietfactcheck.org/2020/08/3...d-democrats-were-against-vietnamese-refugees/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-aid-vietnam-refugees/
https://vietfactcheck.org/2020/10/1...rats-oppose-vietnamese-refugees-in-the-1980s/

And Byrd did vote for substantial aid packages for Vietnamese refuges later in the decade

 

[cawacko]

Good chance it is Rumsfeld book you read

Not that simple, here’s a few fact checks on the topic:

https://vietfactcheck.org/2020/08/3...d-democrats-were-against-vietnamese-refugees/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-aid-vietnam-refugees/
https://vietfactcheck.org/2020/10/1...rats-oppose-vietnamese-refugees-in-the-1980s/

And Byrd did vote for substantial aid packages for Vietnamese refuges later in the decade

Rumsfield's book?

This is the book I'm reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Man.../ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


It does look like an aid package was passed after the House voted down the initial one. The book made no reference to Joe Biden and I'm speaking specifically about the initial House bill in 1975 and the rhetoric used then, not in later years.

When I asked about the mood at the time I was speaking specifically about 1975, not later in the decade or the 1980's.

Edit: This is speculation on my part as I was too young. I could understand people being over Vietnam and wanting to wash their hands clean with it, including refugees.

And the author wasn't making some partisan point. He also referenced people like Joe Meany (?) head of the AFL-CIO who supported the refugees so it wasn't some one sided affair. But the quotes in the OP were real and reflected feelings at the time. (Since we do love to view history from a modern lens...)

 

[archives]

Rumsfield's book?

This is the book I'm reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Man.../ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=


It does look like an aid package was passed after the House voted down the initial one. The book made no reference to Joe Biden and I'm speaking specifically about the initial House bill in 1975 and the rhetoric used then, not in later years.

When I asked about the mood at the time I was speaking specifically about 1975, not later in the decade or the 1980's.

Rumsfeld authored a book on Ford where he discussed the same scenario which was years later picked up and run by the Washington Examiner, and consequently fact checked as bogus

The package Ford requested was too general as to where the funding was going, and many of the Democrats didn’t feel it was being spent specifically on the refugee crisis and that is why it was opposed.

First wave of Vietnamese refugees were gladly accepted, they were the better educated who escaped when the Americans pulled out, later groups were the boat people, who some disliked because they were a reminder of our losing the war. None of that was specific to either political party nor that grave, they weren’t scapegoated as we have today, and, in later years Congress passed bilaterally substantial assistance packages

 

[cawacko]

Rumsfeld authored a book on Ford where he discussed the same scenario which was years later picked up and run by the Washington Examiner, and consequently fact checked as bogus

The package Ford requested was too general as to where the funding was going, and many of the Democrats didn’t feel it was being spent specifically on the refugee crisis and that is why it was opposed.

First wave of Vietnamese refugees were gladly accepted, they were the better educated who escaped when the Americans pulled out, later groups were the boat people, who some disliked because they were a reminder of our losing the war. None of that was specific to either political party nor that grave, they weren’t scapegoated as we have today, and, in later years Congress passed bilaterally substantial assistance packages

This book makes no reference to Rumsfeld or his book during this portion so I can't speak to that. Because some people said something isn't necessarily indicative of a whole group of people (or a political party). No large group of people are monolithic on all issues. Jerry Brown in 1975, while Governor of California, made comments that California was already overcrowded and we didn't want Vietnamese coming here. In 2023 it's more eye opening to see someone on the left having said that but it's not indicting the left or all on the left.

What you say makes sense though about the varying Vietnamese refugees/immigrants who came here and the American reaction to them. (Neither here nor there but reminds me of a Vietnamese girl I worked with in L.A. during the aughts that commented on some of her friends being F.O.B. - Fresh Off the Boat)