Dear list members,

I'm heartened to see support for Dr. Lee, and the struggle to bring light unjust practices of our government. I was in the midst of organizing a Wen Ho Lee awareness campaign on my campus when news of his imminent release took the momentum away. Though I am skeptical until he
is actually free, I'm going to recast the issue as a broader Asian American issue.

Our struggle since the 1800s has been a painful one, full of endless tales of sacrifice and injustice, but it seems many of the my generation have forgotten that the state of equality and
privilege they enjoy now is the result of past activism for our rights.

You might be interested to note the parallels of Dr. Lee's case with that of Tsien Hsue-shen, a brilliant scientist in the 1940's and 50's who was expelled from the US because of his ethnicity -- expelled right into the arms of China. You can learn more about it in Iris Chang's "Thread of the Silkworm."

What we should remember is that the effects of racial profiling, selective prosecution, and other injustices on one man reach far beyond, impacting the lives of all of us. Just because this case might be drawing to a close doesn't mean the issues go away too. In fact, the case only highlights the issues more and demands that we as Asian Americans and minority Americans continue to fight for equality and justice, or else we will suffer the same injustices, time and again.

--Steve Chu
Duke University 2002

From: John K. Taber
To: FreeWenholee@egroups.com
Sent: September 12, 2000 11:56 AM
Subject: Tsien Hsue-shen (was RE: [FreeWenholee] Student activity

Help me out on this. Wasn't Tsien Hsue-shen the missile scientist
forced to return to China due to the racial suspicions of our security apparatus?

Or am I confusing different scientists?

John K. Taber

Hi

It doesn't appear that you have read Iris Chang's book: "Thread of the
Silkworm", which is a detailed history of the life of Tsien while he was
in the United States, at least. There, you'll learn that he was
DEPORTED, and exchanged for something like 75 American POW's from the
Korean War plus other American nationals who happened to be in China
when China joined in that war. That is, China got Tsien, and the US got
its own people back.

bye -- Kent Dedrick

Dave Lee wrote:

I read the story about Dr. Tsien in the Time magazine 35 years ago. He was also house arrested for five years before he returned to China. He was not allowed to buy or read any technical books. He was also guarded by two FBI agents as Dr. Wen Ho Lee was in jail. Not only Dr. Tsien went back to
China, 120 of his students returned to China with him, too. After Dr. Tsien left the United States, we lost competition to Russia in the space program. I hope the government learns from that experience. Instead, it repeats it mistakes.

Dr. Tsien was representing the U.S. Government for acceptance of all missiles and related designs from Germany after the World War II. His career was ruined by the FBI. According to the Time magazine, Dr. Dr. Tsien was teaching in Caltech and joined a tea club with 10 cents per month. One
of the members was Dr. Obenheimer, father of atomic bomb, who was accused as a communist. The FBI accused Dr. Tsien as a communist because he was a friend of Dr. Obenheimer. Both of them were professors in Caltech, joint the same tea Club and club members met once a week. When they met, they talked to each other. FBI said that they were exchanged information.

I don't remember what happened to Dr. Obenheimer. I remember clearly that Dr. Tsien chose to return to mainland China, a communist country. FBI asked him why he chose to return to China. Dr. Tsien told the FIB agent something like this: I came to this country as if I come to visit a friend. If the host
does not like me, I have to return home.

Sorry, I don't remember the exact words he used. That was how Dr. Tsien was forced to get out of this country.

David Lee

From: Steve [mailto:syc@duke.edu]
Subject: Re: Tsien Hsue-shen (was RE: [FreeWenholee] Student activity



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Tsien Hsue-shen was the Robert Goddard Chair of Jet Propulsion at
Caltech and helped lay the foundation for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and the American space program. Tsien made the decision to become a US
Citizen in 1949, but was swept up in McCarthyism in 1950. He was accused
of being a former Communist member, put in jail for 2 weeks, put under
FBI surveillance house arrest for 5 years, then deported to China.

"It is the story of one of the most monumental blunders the United
States committed during its shameful era of McCarthyism, in which the
government's zeal for Communist witchhunting destroyed the careers of
some of the best scientists in the country," writes Iris Chang.

Sound familiar? The witchhunts in the name of political power ultimately
cost America dearly. For Tsien, he became the father of the Chinese
missile program, a legacy that haunts the US and others. We can only
imagine what damage the US will suffer from the Wen Ho Lee case. And
if we don't continue to pursue those responsible for Dr. Lee's witchhunt,
it will only be repeated again.

--Steve Chu