西奥多·罗斯福的移民“美国化”观及其影响

Theodore Roosevelt’s Idea of Immigrants’ Americanization and Its’ Impact

西奥多·罗斯福自19世纪末开始,持续关注美国移民同化问题,并就移民的“美国化”表达了一系列看法。任总统期间,罗斯福顾及身份,持相对温和的移民“美国化”观,并未强烈排斥移民多样性。卸任之后,他则日益关注美国社会中“美国主义”的纯洁性,积极呼吁针对移民的绝对同化。罗斯福这种移民“美国化”观的转变,既受其“种族观”的影响,亦是“一战”前后美国面临的国内外威胁,及思想界关于“种族”定义与认知影响的结果。罗斯福或许不是移民“美国化”理念最好的诠释者,但由于其特殊身份与罕有其匹的公众影响力,他的观念广为流传,进而引领美国大众的移民“美国化”态度,并间接影响到20世纪20年代美国的移民限额立法。

Since the end of the 19 th century, Theodore Roosevelt kept continuous attention to the problems of American immigrants’ assimilation, and expressed a series of concepts of immigration “Americanization”. As president, considering of political identity, Roosevelt’s immigrant’s “Americanization” was a relatively mild, not yet strong rejection to immigrants’ diversity. And after lefting office, Roosevelt payed more and more attention to the purity of “American creed”, called for absolute assimilation of southeastern Europe immigrants. The changes of the ideas of Roosevelt’s immigrants’ “Americanization” was influenced by the concept of “race”, the threats at home and abroad around World War I, and the academic circles about the “race” definition. Roosevelt maybe not be the best interpreter of the concept of immigrants’ “Americanization”, but due to his special status, position and considerable public influence, he made his ideas popular, thus led the American mass attitude of immigrants’ Americanization, and indirectly affected the immigration quota legislation in the United States in the 1920 s.