CHAPTER 5. Advancing Racial Equality and Internationalism through Immigration Reform

Abstract

This chapter examines the U.S. government's systematic monitoring of the political activities and loyalty of Chinese Americans in the country in response to the communist revolution in China and the outbreak of the Korean War. It considers the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which related racial equality to the advancement of the U.S. Cold War foreign policy of internationalism, as an illustration of America's attempt to contain communism. Focusing on the 1951 Chinese extortion racket and the 1956 Chinese slot racket, it also demonstrates how the government incorporated Chinese loyalty into its expansionist goals in Asia to promote the extension of civil rights to Chinese Americans through immigration reform. It argues that immigration reform helped secure the rights of all and promote the credibility of U.S. democracy during the early Cold War years.