Library
Library
Camps, airlifts, laws, rescuers, and themes.
The library collects the history behind the stories on this site: the camps where refugees waited, the airlifts and programs that carried them, the laws that let them in, the diplomats who helped them escape, and the themes that run through their lives.
Camps and Way Stations
Guam and Operation New Life (1975)The Pacific island that became the first stop for more than 100,000 people leaving Vietnam.Fort Chaffee, ArkansasA U.S. Army post that received Indochinese refugees in 1975 and Cuban arrivals in 1980.Camp Pendleton, 1975The Marine Corps base whose tent city was the first mainland home for Vietnamese refugees.Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, ThailandThe camp in northeastern Thailand that held tens of thousands of Hmong refugees from Laos.Khao-I-Dang, ThailandThe Thai border camp where Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge waited for a new life.The Philippine Refugee Processing Center, BataanWhere refugees bound for the United States learned English and American daily life before they flew.Camp Kilmer and the Hungarians (1956 to 1957)The New Jersey Army camp that welcomed refugees from the Hungarian revolution.Displaced Persons Camps in Germany and Austria (1945 to 1952)Where millions of people uprooted by World War II waited to learn where they could go.Kakuma, KenyaThe camp in northwestern Kenya that became home to the Lost Boys of Sudan and many others.Dadaab, KenyaA complex of camps near the Somali border that has sheltered Somali refugees since the early 1990s.
Operations and Programs
Operation Frequent Wind (April 1975)The helicopter evacuation of Saigon in the war's final hours.Operation Babylift (April 1975)The airlift of children out of South Vietnam in the war's last weeks.Operation Pedro Pan (1960 to 1962)The quiet airlift of thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children to Miami.The Freedom Flights (1965 to 1973)Twice-daily flights that carried hundreds of thousands of Cubans to Miami.The Mariel Boatlift (1980)The six-month sealift that brought about 125,000 Cubans to Florida.The Orderly Departure Program (1979 onward)A legal route out of Vietnam that replaced, for many, the danger of the sea.The Comprehensive Plan of Action (1989)The international agreement that brought the Indochinese boat crisis to an end.Operation Allies Welcome (2021)The resettlement of Afghans evacuated after the fall of Kabul.The Kindertransport (1938 to 1939)The rescue of about 10,000 children from Nazi Germany and the territories it controlled.
Laws and Policy
The Displaced Persons Act of 1948The first major U.S. refugee law, written for the survivors of World War II.The Refugee Relief Act of 1953A Cold War law that admitted refugees and escapees from Communist Europe.The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966The law that let Cubans in the United States become permanent residents.The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975Congress's answer to the sudden arrival of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia.The Jackson-Vanik Amendment (1974)The trade law that tied U.S. trade benefits to the freedom to emigrate.The Lautenberg Amendment (1989)A law that eased refugee admission for religious minorities from the Soviet Union, later extended to Iran.Special Immigrant Visas for Iraqis and AfghansVisa programs for people who risked their lives working with the United States.How Refugee Admission to the United States WorksThe steps from a camp abroad to a new home in an American city.The State Department's Refugee BureauHow the Department of State became the lead U.S. agency for refugee assistance abroad.
Diplomats Who Rescued Refugees
Hiram Bingham IV: The Vice Consul in MarseilleThe American diplomat who helped refugees escape Nazi-occupied France.Lionel Rosenblatt and Craig JohnstoneTwo young Foreign Service officers who went back into Saigon to get their colleagues out.When Diplomats Become RescuersA short history of American diplomats who used their posts to help refugees.
Laos in Depth
The Secret War in Laos (1961 to 1975)The covert war that tied the Hmong and other people of Laos to the United States.Lao and Hmong Americans TodayCommunities built by refugees from Laos, and their place in American public life.Crossing the MekongThe river that separated danger from safety for people leaving Laos.
Themes
Refugees Who Became Secretary of StateTwo of America's chief diplomats arrived as refugees.Refugees Who Became U.S. AmbassadorsFormer refugees who led American embassies and missions.They Went Back: Serving Where They Once FledDiplomats who returned, as Americans, to the region they escaped.Child Refugees Who Became DiplomatsMost of the people on this site fled as children.Special Agents, Consuls, and SpecialistsFormer refugees in the Department's security, consular, and specialist ranks.Women Who Fled and Came Back to ServeFormer refugees who broke ground as women in American diplomacy.