In 1975, Washington Governor Dan Evans watched in “stunned disbelief” as the evening news broadcast desperate scenes from Saigon. CIA employees and South Vietnamese civilians were clamoring to board U.S. helicopters as communist troops closed in on the capital. Fearing reprisals, 100,000 refugees fled the country in the next few days, many in rickety vessels.
When California balked at welcoming the refugees, Governor Evans was outraged, telling a news conference:
"This whole country and virtually everyone in it, with the single exception of the American Indians, came here as refugees in the first place. Most people came because they were either dissatisfied with where they were or were forced out of the countries in which they once lived. For us now to say that it is time for us to close the door just behind us, I think, is the worst kind of hypocrisy.”
The three-term governor opened Washington’s door — wide. Thousands of sponsors from all walks of life answered the call. Washington’s refugee resettlement program became a model for the nation.
In the decades afterward, millions more refugees fled oppression and violence in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Tens of thousands came to Washington, where they have worked hard, raised families, and started businesses, weaving their cultures into the fabric of the Evergreen State.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the refugee resettlement program, the Office of the Secretary of State has produced “New Land,” a richly illustrated, 340-page book. Written by John C. Hughes, Legacy Washington’s chief historian, and fellow historian Edward Echtle Jr., “New Land” features compelling stories of courage, hope and resilience. First-generation refugees and their descendants recount their experiences in the eventful half-century since those first arrivals in 1975.
In his preface to the book, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs — the proud son of a Japanese immigrant — writes, “Generations not yet born need to know who paved the way” for the landmark resettlement effort.