"Refugee Policies During the Vietnam War, 1953-1974" by Ethan Healey

Presidential Strategies in Conflict:

Refugee Policies During the Vietnam War, 1953-1974

Ethan Healey

Ethan Healey is a B.A. History Student at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire where he will be graduating this upcoming May. He is currently writing a thesis about Founding Father John Adams during his retirement and why the Early American press made him retire after a nearly thirty year career in politics. Ethan's historical interests are primarily in Early America and the Atlantic World, while also researching presidential politics throughout the centuries. He hopes to be in Graduate School next Autumn. Ethan Healey currently lives in New Hampshire with his partner and Criminal Justice student, Keyanna Matos.

The United States Presidency is one of the most established offices in the world. Different presidents deal with different issues according to their time period. During the Cold War, there were many issues spanning across many presidents of different philosophies. One issue that stands out and is even brought up a lot in the 21^st century is the Vietnam War. That said though, the aspect of refugees from Vietnam is rarely talked about; yet the issue of refugees is a prominent one that affected many countries in the 20^th century. With new presidencies came new policies with how to deal with refugees coming from the communist country of North Vietnam to South Vietnam, and in some cases, how to deal with refugees coming from Vietnam as a whole, to the United States of America. From Eisenhower to Nixon, there was a dramatic shift in the understanding of refugees and how their lives were treated. It is this that resonates with us today, as refugees still exist both around the world and in the United States. Part of the current perception of refugees lies in their treatment during the Vietnam War.

In the 1950s at the beginning of the Vietnam War, America's role was small but impactful. President Dwight Eisenhower believed heavily in his “Domino Theory” which was based on the idea that a country that was communist would make nearby countries also communist by a toppling effect, similar to balancing dominos. This theory ultimately led to the United States involvement in Vietnam when the United States backed South Vietnam’s war against North Vietnam. With a lot of money that was given to South Vietnam to fight communism, many issues rose. One of the main issues was many refugees fled North Vietnam to South Vietnam for safety. The United States saw that a lot could go in their favor if they helped the nearly 500,000 refugees who came from North Vietnam.¹ Eisenhower wanted to maintain that the United States was a superior country, as well as use American ideology to further help South Vietnam.²

The Eisenhower Administration came up with a plan to help resettle the refugees in South Vietnam; the plan was known as the “Seven Point Plan” and one of the major pieces of the plan was to figure out how the refugees can be resettled appropriately rather than just thrown in camps. The Ambassador to Vietnam, General J. Lawton Collins, stated that if the plan worked, “there was at least a 50-50 chance of saving South Vietnam from the Communists.”³ The plan ultimately did work as the President of South Vietnam was grateful for the funds. In a telegram from the Secretary of State, John Dulles, to the Department of State, Dulles writes: “[President] Diem replied that, thanks to US, funds were available to maintain these refugees as they arrived for their day-to-day subsistence.”⁴ There was a cry for the United States being an escape route for Vietnamese refugees, however, the administration felt that their best interest was in keeping the refugees close to home in South Vietnam.⁵ This would change, as both Eisenhower and Dulles saw that by leading refugees into the United States, it would help both domestic and foreign policy. Domestically, Eisenhower’s legislation fulfilled promises he made while running for president and also ease the tensions in the United States Congress who called for helping those in need. Outside of the U.S., foreign policy would only get stronger by fulfilling the bond with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).⁶ This paid off until it reached Eisenhower’s successor, John F. Kennedy.

In January of 1961, John F. Kennedy inherited the presidency of his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower. With this came the knowledge and national security surrounding the war in Vietnam. John F. Kennedy maintained relatively quiet on the subject of refugees and immigration for the majority of his presidency. Immigration became one of the last issues Kennedy wanted to tackle. Of the issues the Kennedy Administration did take on was the subject of refugee Buddhist Priests. Two Buddhists Priests tried to escape Xa Loi Pagoda (a heavy Buddhist area) in South Vietnam to a United States Operations Mission (USOM) building. When the Vietnamese tried to take the priests back, the police demanded that the priests be taken in their custody. The United States was not keen on bringing the priests back considering they wanted refuge.⁷

While Kennedy dealt with a dramatic influx in refugees, they were not from Vietnam, but Cuba. The rise in Cuban refugees led Kennedy to dealing with immigration as a whole, including those coming from Vietnam. Reform came in 1963, two years after his inauguration, where he finally sent a reform package to Congress. Kennedy’s plan deferred immigration in the United States where it gave them visas and made the president have power to decide how many immigrants could come to the United States every year.⁸ There were many opponents of immigration reform in Congress which made it harder to be passed. Kennedy, however, was not able to push his immigration bill further because of his assassination on November 22^nd, 1963. The torch of immigration was passed to Kennedy’s Vice President, Lyndon Johnson who had to carry out an immigration bill by using his own strategy.⁹

Lyndon B. Johnson’s feelings about refugees’ dates back to when he was a Senator in Congress. Politically, he had a mixed review of how refugees should be brought into the United States. Johnson knew how to work with Congress from all aisles, which was partially why John Kennedy picked him for Vice President. Johnson knew that by supporting the Immigration Bill created by the Kennedy administration, it would better his relationship with the “ethnic democrats” in Congress.¹⁰ While the immigration reform eventually passed, it was Johnson’s dealings with Vietnamese refugees that held him partially accountable for being remembered the way he has in modern history. In March of 1965, the Embassy in Vietnam warned the Department of State that the refugee problem in Vietnam was only getting worse and that if not dealt with soon, it would have dramatic consequences. The Embassy wrote, “160,000 men, women and children to leave their home in the hills... they are living huddled in temporary camps, not hungry but unhappy.”¹¹ It seemed as if the Embassy's request was answered by the State Department, as in another telegram a week later, it was noted that the refugees were being treated better, and there were eleven centers that were created in Vietnam to further house the refugees. The homes were temporary, though, until the refugees felt comfortable enough to return themselves.¹²

While the centers helped, it was not enough. Several months later after telegrams on refugees remained positive, Chester L. Cooper, a member of the National Security Advisor Staff, wrote to Johnson’s special assistant for National Security Affairs to discuss the ongoing refugee problem. Cooper wrote that there were a lot of refugees going into South Vietnam for a variety of different reasons. The majority of these refugees were women, children, and the elderly. It was not so much the condition that worried Cooper, but rather, the psychological well-being of the refugees.¹³ Vietnam plagued Johnson’s presidency, as he was stuck on his immigration reform, how to handle each side of the aisle, and how to please everyone. He was unsuccessful at these points which paved the way for his successor who held a dramatically different view.

Richard Nixon tried to run for President of the United States back in 1960 against John F. Kennedy. He unsuccessfully did so. However, his attitude and personality changed which became a key part to how he ran his presidency. One of Nixon’s main goals in the White House was to not just maintain power, but also about “winning the judgement of history.”¹⁴ That said, though, Nixon was conservative and strict when it came to certain policies and judgement. Over the course of his presidency, Nixon and his administration issued ten different orders allowing Vietnamese refugees into the United States, but only as parolees.¹⁵ This meant that the refugees who came would not be considered citizens of the United States and would be deported at any moment. While this didn’t seem like the safest option, anything was better than being in North Vietnam. However, between 1976 and 1977, the Nixon administration made it nearly impossible to come to the United States unless it was to reunite families.¹⁶

The Nixon administration made it harder for Vietnamese refugees to come to America because the war in Vietnam was coming to a slow end. After the hardships of the Johnson administration, it was vital to Nixon to pull all the troops out of Vietnam where a lot of refugees had no homes or places to go. Refugee policies were not on the top of Nixon’s list and it wouldn’t be until the 1980s when refugees would be able to apply for citizenship and live in the United States without worry of deportation.¹⁷ Nixon’s conservatism led to his demise in the later years of his presidency, while also not worrying too much about the lives of those left in Vietnam.

Refugee policy during the Vietnam War was diverse and complicated. Many presidents held immigration at the top of their list whether for political gain or personal obligation, while others left immigration and refugee issues to focus on other aspects of the presidency. By the early 1980s, nearly 1/3^rd of Vietnamese refugees received some form of help from the government, while many others were still unemployed.¹⁸ As of the 2000 census, there were over 1.1 million Vietnamese living in the United States which is 0.39% of the entire population.¹⁹ While it may seem small, their impact on American History is evident as the wounds of the Vietnam War are still fresh from the bullets, turmoil, and strategies used by different presidential administrations.

Bibliography

Adamson, Michael R. “Delusions of Development: The Eisenhower Administration and the Foreign Aid Program in Vietnam, 1955-1960.” Journal of American-East Asian Relations 5, no. 2 (1996): 157–82.

Bon Tempo, Carl J. Americans At the Gate: The United States and Refugees during the Cold War. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 2008.

Hersch, William R. “Images of Inherited War: Three American Presidents in Vietnam.” Air University Press, 2014, 203.

Humphrey, David C., Edward C. Keefer, Louis J. Smith, and Glenn W. LaFantasie, eds. Vietnam, June-December 1965. Vol. 3. 35 vols. Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1996.

Humphrey, David C., Ronald D. Landa, and Louis J. Smith, eds. Vietnam, January-June 1965. Vol. 2. 35 vols. Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1996.

Jespersen, T. Christopher. “Kissinger, Ford, and Congress: The Very Bitter End in Vietnam.” Pacific Historical Review 71, no. 3 (2002): 439–73.

Keefer, Edward C., and David W. Mabon, eds. Vietnam, 1955-1957. Vol. I, Part I. 29 vols. Foreign Relations of the United States 1955–1957. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1985.

Keefer, Edward C., Louis J. Smith, and John P. Glennon, eds. Vietnam, January-August 1963. Vol. 3. 30 vols. Foreign Relations of the United States 1961–1963. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1991.

Kelly, Gail P. “Coping with America: Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1970s and 1980s.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 487 (1986): 138–49.

Reeves, Terrance J., and Claudette E. Bennett. “We The People: Asians in the United States.” Census 2000 Special Report. U.S. Census Bureau, 2004.

Rumbaut, Ruben G. “Vietnam.” In The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1945, edited by Mary C. Waters, Reed Ueda, and Helen B. Marrow. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2007.

1^ Edward C. Keefer and David W. Mabon, eds., Vietnam, 1955-1957, vol. I, Part I, Foreign Relations of the United States 1955–1957 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1985), Document 28. 

2^ Michael R Adamson, “Delusions of Development: The Eisenhower Administration and the Foreign Aid Program in Vietnam, 1955-1960,” Journal of American-East Asian Relations 5, no. 2 (1996): pg 163.

3^ Edward C. Keefer and David W. Mabon, eds., Vietnam, 1955-1957, vol. I, Part I, Foreign Relations of the United States 1955–1957 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1985), Document 28.

4^ Keefer and Mabon, I, Part I:Document 50.

5^ Keefer and Mabon, I, Part I:Document 42.

6^ Carl J. Bon Tempo, Americans At the Gate: The United States and Refugees during the Cold War (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, 2008), pgs. 36-37.

7^ Edward C. Keefer, Louis J. Smith, and John P. Glennon, eds., Vietnam, January-August 1963, vol. 3, Foreign Relations of the United States 1961–1963 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1991), Document 263.

8^ Bon Tempo, Americans At The Gate, pgs. 90-91.

9^ Bon Tempo, pg. 91.

10^ Bon Tempo, pg. 91.

11^ David C. Humphrey, Ronald D. Landa, and Louis J. Smith, eds., Vietnam, January-June 1965, vol. 2, Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1996), Document 202.

12^ Humphrey, Landa, and Smith, 2:Document 214.

13^ David C. Humphrey et al., eds., Vietnam, June-December 1965, vol. 3, Foreign Relations of the United States 1964–1968 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1996), Document 163.

14^ William R. Hersch, “Images of Inherited War: Three American Presidents in Vietnam,” Air University Press, 2014, pg. 130.

15^ Gail P. Kelly, “Coping with America: Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1970s and 1980s,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 487 (1986): pg. 140.

16^ Kelly, pg. 140.

17^ Kelly, pg. 141.

18^ Kelly, pg. 147.

19^ Terrance J. Reeves and Claudette E. Bennett, “We The People: Asians in the United States,” Census 2000 Special Report (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004).