Date of Award
1-1-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in History
First Advisor
Jarod H. Roll
Second Advisor
Rebecca K. Marchiel
Third Advisor
Darren E. Grem
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
This dissertation examines an American resettlement program for displaced Eastern and Central Europeans following World War II. Between 1948 and 1952, nearly 395,000 displaced persons (DPs) resettled to the U.S., and each resettled individual or family had an American sponsor who committed to providing housing and employment. The lobbying and creation of the resettlement legislation and the implementation of the program reflected the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural tensions both at home and abroad in these early Cold War years. DP resettlement occurred at a time when the U.S. and international community considered and adopted emerging human rights language that embraced Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” and his concepts of individual economic rights. This represented a case of bringing the ideas and spirit of the New Deal to the world. Simultaneously, domestic politics began and continued fracturing, in both major political parties, over issues of race, labor, and the role of the federal government. DP resettlement reflected and exemplified these domestic and foreign tensions, with American sponsors exploiting the displaced for their own economic, political, and personal needs. This project examines this program through two nationally-focused chapters and three regional case studies to demonstrate differences and similarities among regions. These case studies look at DP resettlement on plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana, in the citrus industry in California, and in various industries in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The project also explains how DPs resisted their exploitation and took matters in their own hands to remove themselves from problematic sponsors. More broadly, this project demonstrates how postwar ideas of humanitarianism and capitalism intersected and influenced one another and challenged the efficacy of extant immigration policies.
Recommended Citation
Marion, Andrew Joseph, "Humanitarian Capitalism: Displaced Persons Resettlement in America, 1948-1952" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2696.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2696