Exploring the Political and Cultural Underpinnings of Vietnamese American Conservatism

1 page.The rise of Vietnamese American conservatism is not a new phenomenon, nor is it an unprecedented one. Long standing assumptions of Asian Americans as an ethnic and political monolith continue to exist and hinder critical analyses of this demographic as a powerful voting bloc. To those who are unfamiliar with the political and cultural complexities surrounding Vietnamese American immigration, it may seem like their support for conservative figureheads like Donald Trump is unfounded. To gain a deeper comprehension of this issue, I consulted a wide breadth of existing scholarship on right-wing conservatism and the Vietnamese Catholic experience. I also had the opportunity to connect with three prominent figures in the Vietnamese American community to understand how their lived experiences shaped the development of their political views. My first interviewee, who has chosen to be identified as John Pham, articulates how his robust conservative outlook stems from his devotion to South Vietnam as an anticommunist nation. I then spoke to Rep. My-Linh Thai and Rep. Khanh Pham, who shared their insights on the rise and future of Vietnamese conservatism in an American context. These conversations enhanced the strength of my findings, which ultimately illustrate how anti-communism, cultural stoicism, and the refugee experience impact the nascence of conservative values in generations of Vietnamese Americans today