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CREATED:20260414T154144Z
DESCRIPTION:About the talk: In 1959, Hiram Fong became the first Asian American, Chinese American, and Republican to serve as U.S. Senator for the newly-admitted state of Hawaiʻi. During his 18-year tenure, he positioned himself as a moderate. A Cold War warrior, Fong was hawkish on communism, stood by Taiwan, and stayed true to the mission of the Vietnam War and the simultaneous battles in Cambodia. Though he had ties to labor, he was also a friend of the business community across the islands and on the mainland. When it came to civil rights and immigration, Fong generally championed liberal positions evidenced in his support of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Hart-Celler Immigration Act.\n\nWhile Fong developed a multiracial alliance of supporters, Fong especially garnered a loyal following of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans in Hawaiʻi and across the lower 48. In Fong, his supporters –especially Asian Americans – saw a figure who went up to bat for his community in Washington. This talk focuses on Fong's impact and legacy as one of the 20th century's most prominent Asian American political figures. Zarsadiaz argues that Fong helped establish a modern image of Asian American conservatism during his tenure, shaping how the Asian American right moved in U.S. politics in the decades that followed.\n\nAbout the speaker: James Zarsadiaz is an award-winning historian of the United States. He is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. His first book, Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A., won the Organization of American Historians’ 2023 Lawrence W. Levine Award for the best book in American cultural history. He is currently conducting research for his second book project, which is a history of Asian American conservative, libertarian, and Republican Party activism since the Cold War.\n\nZarsadiaz is a 2024-25 recipient of the Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection travel award.\n\nRegister here: https://tinyurl.com/2n8vwzap\n
DTEND;TZID=Pacific/Honolulu:20250505T230000Z
DTSTAMP:20260414T154144Z
DTSTART;TZID=Pacific/Honolulu:20250505T220000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260414T154144Z
LOCATION:Zoom
PRIORITY:5
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Talk by James Zarsadiaz: Hiram Fong's Asian America
TRANSP:OPAQUE
UID:177621730444075web-support-l@lists.hawaii.edu
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