This article examines the representation of Cuban refugees during the 1960s and 1970s in the USA. Positioning the Cuban refugees as `ideologically' valuable, the US government undertook a substantial public relations campaign that sought to secure public mandate for incoming refugees. In order to avoid a national anti-Cuban backlash, the US government and the popular media alike constructed `positive' portrayals of incoming Cuban refugees. These representations played up the refugees' purportedly universal anti-communist stance and the socially and racially desirable qualities of these `good immigrants', who were perceived as `white' and middle to upper class. In order to contextualize these representations, a history of US—Cuban relations and mid-20th-century refugee policies are discussed. Thus anti-communism, whiteness, and middle-class attributes were strategically linked and broadcasted by the US government and public media sources alike.
Bon Tempo, C.J. (2004) `Americans at the Gate: The Politics of American Refugee Policy, 1952—1980', PhD disseration, Department of History, University of Virginia, USA.
2.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001) White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Boulder, CO, Lynne Rienner .
3.
Bonilla-Silva, E. and K.S. Glover (2004) `“We Are All Americans”: The Latin Americanization of Race Relations in the United States', in M. Krysan and A. E. Lewis (ed.) The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity, pp. 149—86. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
4.
Brock, L., and D.C. Fuertes (1998) Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans before the Cuban Revolution. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
5.
Campi, Alicia J. (2004) The McCarran-Walter Act: A Contradictory Legacy on Race, Quotas, and Ideology. Washington, DC: American Immigration Law Foundation.
6.
Comaroff, J. and J. Comaroff (1992) Ethnography and the Historical Imagination. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
7.
Cuban Refugee Center (1962) ` Sponsor Cuban Refugees . . . Fulfill Their Faith in Freedom', Cuban Refugee Center, Records of Health, Education, and Welfare, RG 363, Carton 12, Master Sub Files — CR 15, National Archives II. Miami, FL.
8.
Daniels, R. (2004) Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882. New York: Hill and Wang.
9.
De La Fuente, A. (2001) A Nation for All: Race, Inequality and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
10.
Department of Health, Education and Welfare ( 1963) `Sponsor Cuban Refugees . . . Fulfill Their Faith in Freedom ', July, Miami, FL [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile/cuban-refugees.pdf ].
11.
Dudziak, M. (2002) Cold War Civil Right: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12.
Fagen, R., R.A. Brody and T.J. O'Leary , T.J. (1968) Cubans in Exile: Disaffection and the Revolution. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
13.
Foley, N. (2002) `Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Ameicans and Whiteness' , in P.S. Rothenberh (ed.) White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, pp. 55—66. New York: Worth Publishers.
14.
García, M.C. (1996) Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959—1994. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
15.
García, Juan Ramon (1980) Operation Wetback: The Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in1954. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
16.
Gerstle, G. (2001) American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
17.
Guglielmo, T. (2003) White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890—1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
18.
Hall, S. (1996) `The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power', in Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies, pp. 184—228. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
19.
Hing, B.O. (2004) Defending America Through Immigration Policy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press .
20.
Imada, A. (2004) `Hawaiians on Tour: Hula Circuits Through the American Empire', American Quarterly56(1): 135.
21.
Jones, F.V.W. (1960) `Money to Aid 30,000 in Miami: Ike Releases Million to Aid Cuban Exiles: US Labels Fidel “Red” — Officially ', The Miami Herald, 3 December, p. 1A.
22.
Life (1961) `An Uneasy Life in An Alien Land', Life, 14 April, pp. 30—3.
23.
Lipsitz, G. (1998) The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
24.
Loescher, G. and J.A. Scanlan (1986) Calculated Kindness: Refugees and America's Half Open Door, 1945 to the Present. New York: The Free Press.
25.
Luibhéid, E. and L. Cantú (2005) Queer Migrations: Sexuality, US Citizenship and Border Crossings. University of Minnesota Press.
26.
Masud-Piloto, F.R. (1996) From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants: Cuban Migration to the US, 1959—1995. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
27.
Mayer, Charles (1966) `Women Without Men: Selected Attitudes of Some Cuban Refugees', MA thesis, University of Florida, USA.
28.
Miller, J.N. (1962) Opportunity or Disaster — The Challenge of Cuba's Exiles, Readers Digest, December, p. 70.
29.
Mirabal, N. (2003) `“Ser de Aquí”: Beyond the Cuban Exile Model', Latino Studies1: 366—82.
30.
Morrison, A. (1963) `Miami's Cuban Refugee Crisis: Invasion of 100,000 Exiles Creates Grave Problems for Hard-pressed Negro Laborers', Ebony, June, pp. 96—104.
31.
Newsweek (1961a) `Refugee Eggheads ', Newsweek, 27 February, p. 58.
32.
Newsweek (1961b) `The Agonizing Wait — Then the Hard Realities of a Refugee's Life', Newsweek, 28 August, pp. 23—7.
33.
Newsweek (1961c) `They're “OK” ', Newsweek, 4 December, p. 59.
34.
Newsweek (1962) `Refugee Resettlement ', Newsweek, 26 February, p. 58.
35.
New York Times (1962a) `Cleveland Aid to Cubans Stirs Fury', The New York Times, 25 February, p. 38.
36.
New York Times (1962b) `Cubans Resettled', The New York Times, 4 March, p. E7.
37.
New York Times (1962c) `York, Pa. Mayor Opposes Resettling Cubans There' , The New York Times, May26, p. 17.
38.
Ngai, M.M. (2004) Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
Ong, A. (1996) `Cultural Citizenship as Subject-Making: Immigrants Negotiate Racial and Cultural Boundaries in the United States', Current Anthropology37(5): 737—62.
40.
Pedraza-Bailey, S. (1985) Political and Economic Migrants in America: Cubans and Mexicans. Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press.
41.
Pérez, L.A. (1990) Cuba and the United States: Ties of Singular Intimacy . Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press.
42.
Pérez, L.A. (1999) On Becoming Cuban: Identity Nationality and Culture . New York: The Ecco Press.
43.
Randazzo, Timothy (2005) `Social and Legal Barriers: Sexual Orientation and Asylum in the United States', in E. Luibhéid and L. Cantú (eds) Queer Migrations Sexuality, US Citizenship, and Border Crossings, pp. 30—60. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
44.
Resettlement Re-Cap (1965) ` Church World Service Resettles 15,000 Refugees; Ranks First in Proportion of Caseload Placed', Resettlement Re-Cap, May, p. 2.
45.
Resettlement Re-Cap (1967) ` English Spoken Here — A Word or Two So Far', Resettlement Re-Cap, August, p. 1.
46.
Reimers, D. (1992) Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America. New York: Columbia University Press.
47.
Rosaldo, R. (1994) `Cultural Citizenship in San Jose, California' , PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review17(1): 57—63.
48.
Rodríguez, S. (1988) `A Touch of Magic', in Terry Doran (ed.) The Road Well Traveled: Three Generations of Cuban American Women, pp. 75—83. Fort Wayne, IN: The Latin American Educational Center.
49.
Roediger, D. (1999) Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. London: Verso Books.
50.
Sanchez, George (1999) `Race, Nation, and Culture in Recent Immigration Studies', Journal of American Ethnic History18(4): 66—85.
51.
Somerville, Siobhan (2005) `“Sexual Aliens and the Racialized State”: A Queer Reading of the 1952 US Immigration and Nationality Act', in E. Luibhéid and L. Cantú (eds) Queer Migrations Sexuality, US Citizenship, and Border Crossings, pp. 75—91. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press..
52.
Stepick, Alex, Guillermo Grenier, Max Castro and Marvin Dunn (2003) This Land Is Our Land: Immigrants and Power in Miami. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
53.
Stetson, D. (1962) `Cleveland Finds Cubans Adapting: Exile Group Getting Settled With Permanent Jobs', The New York Times, 27 May, p. 42.
54.
Taylor, H.J. (1965) `Carnage off Key West', Readers Digest, April, pp. 131—132.
55.
Torres, M. (1995) `Beyond the Rupture: Reconciling with our Enemies, Reconciling with Ourselves', in Ruth Behar (ed.) Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba: Cuban and Cuban-American Artist, Writers, and Scholars Explore Identity, Nationality, and Homeland. Ann Arbor,MI: University of Michigan Press.
56.
Torres, M. (1999) In the Land of Mirrors: Cuban Exile Politics in the United States. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
57.
Waters, M.C. (1996) `Optional Ethnicities: for Whites Only?', in S. Pedraza and R.G. Rumbaut (ed.) Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America, pp. 444—54. Belmont CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
58.
Whorton, Brad (1997) `The Transformation of Refugee Policy: Race, Welfare, and American Political Culture, 1959—1997', PhD dissertation, University of Kansas, USA.
