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Unguarded Border
American Émigrés in Canada during the Vietnam War
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2023
About this book
The United States is accustomed to accepting waves of migrants who are fleeing oppressive conditions and political persecution in their home countries. But in the 1960s and 1970s, the flow of migration reversed as over fifty thousand Americans fled across the border to Canada to resist military service during the Vietnam War or to escape their homeland’s hawkish society.
Unguarded Border tells their stories and, in the process, describes a migrant experience that does not fit the usual paradigms. Rather than treating these American refugees as unwelcome foreigners, Canada embraced them, refusing to extradite draft resisters or military deserters and not even requiring passports for the border crossing. And instead of forming close-knit migrant communities, most of these émigrés sought to integrate themselves within Canadian society.
Historian Donald W. Maxwell explores how these Americans in exile forged cosmopolitan identities, coming to regard themselves as global citizens, a status complicated by the Canadian government’s attempts to claim them and the U.S. government’s eventual efforts to reclaim them. Unguarded Border offers a new perspective on a movement that permanently changed perceptions of compulsory military service, migration, and national identity.
Unguarded Border tells their stories and, in the process, describes a migrant experience that does not fit the usual paradigms. Rather than treating these American refugees as unwelcome foreigners, Canada embraced them, refusing to extradite draft resisters or military deserters and not even requiring passports for the border crossing. And instead of forming close-knit migrant communities, most of these émigrés sought to integrate themselves within Canadian society.
Historian Donald W. Maxwell explores how these Americans in exile forged cosmopolitan identities, coming to regard themselves as global citizens, a status complicated by the Canadian government’s attempts to claim them and the U.S. government’s eventual efforts to reclaim them. Unguarded Border offers a new perspective on a movement that permanently changed perceptions of compulsory military service, migration, and national identity.
Author / Editor information
DONALD W. MAXWELL is an assistant professor of history at Indiana State University. Having always lived in the center of a state in the center of the country, he has always been fascinated with borders.
Reviews
"Unguarded Border offers an able introduction and overview of the draft dodger phenomenon, along with thoughtful assessments of certain sub-topics. . . . Readers interested in this subject will find much to dig into in this volume."
— Social History/Histoire sociale“Unguarded Border: American Émigrés in Canada during the Vietnam War is an intelligent and engaging volume that carefully examines the forces that propelled and impacted American migration to Canada during the course of the Vietnam war. Skillfully steeped in a rich array of primary documentation and secondary source materials, Unguarded Border is an outstanding work of scholarship.”
— Christopher Kirkey, director, Center for the Study of Canada and Institute on Quebec Studies, SUNY Plattsburgh"Skillfully tells the complex, little-known story of the thousands of U.S. citizens who emigrated to Canada to escape military service during the Vietnam War. . . . [The] book succeeds admirably in highlighting an underexplored aspect of the Vietnam War—no small accomplishment given the massive scholarship that the war has inspired—while offering provocative new insights into U.S.-Canadian relations and immigration history."
— Pacific Historical Review"Turns U.S. immigration history on its head. . . . Historians can learn much about the history of the United States by listening to those who choose to leave. Maxwell's book represents a much-needed addition to what is still a relatively small literature on the topic."
— The Global Sixties“Why did more than fifty thousand American men and women leave their country during the Vietnam War era? How did they adapt to Canada? Donald W. Maxwell explores the arrival of thousands of Americans to Canada and the support that they received in their adopted country. More than an immigration study, Maxwell offers a new perspective on the Vietnam War and its political and social consequences on both societies. This fascinating study is a great read for anyone who wants to learn about this large wave of migrants that happened during the 1960s.”
— Marcel Martel, professor, Department of History, York UniversityTopics
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Frontmatter
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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
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1. ESCAPING OVER THE BORDER The Americans Who Went to Canada
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2 THE WELCOME MAT IS SPREAD ALL ALONG THE BORDER How Americans Found Their Way to Canada
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3 RELIGION AND POLITICS AT THE BORDER Canadian Church Support for American Vietnam War Resisters
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4 “KNOWLEDGE HAS NO NATIONAL CHARACTER” Americans in Canadian Universities and the Movement of Ideas over the U.S.-Canada Border
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5 “THESE ARE THE THINGS YOU GAIN IF YOU MAKE OUR COUNTRY YOUR COUNTRY” Defining Citizenship along the U.S.-Canada Border in the 1970s
123 -
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6 AMERICAN VIETNAM WAR–ERA ÉMIGRÉS AND THE BLURRING OF BORDERS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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APPENDIX Rate of Population Moving to Canada, by State, 1966–1972
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NOTES
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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INDEX
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
281
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 10, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9781978834057
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978834057
Keywords for this book
vietnam war; america; canada; us; united states; draft; military; policy; draft dodging; immigration; emmigration; deportation; undocumented; illegal immigration; politics; history; 1970s; 1960s; war
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
