Introduction : Asian American Racial Formation and the Image of American Democracy -- Legislating nonwhite crossings into white suburbia -- Living in the suburbs, becoming Americans -- Asian American firsts and the progress toward racial integration -- McCarran Act persecutions and the fight for alien rights -- Advancing racial equality and internationalism through immigration reform -- Conclusion : Cold War America and the Appeal to See Past Race
Summary
During the Cold War, Soviet propaganda highlighted U.S. racism in order to undermine the credibility of U.S. democracy. In response, incorporating racial and ethnic minorities in order to affirm that America worked to ensure the rights of all and was superior to communist countries became a national imperative. This book explores how Asian Americans figured in this effort to shape the credibility of American democracy, even while the perceived "foreignness" of Asian Americans cast them as likely alien subversives whose activities needed monitoring
