False Summits: A History Podcast about the American West
The American West has been capturing the imagination for hundreds of years. Hollywood being one of its biggest promoters it gave it an almost mythical status in minds worldwide. Depicted as a rough and tumble place but with a bit of grit and termination on could achieve love and prosperity. Dose the realty hold up to the image? And if so, does it the same ring true today?
Dive into the blurry side of the American West with this darkly comedic history podcast. Join Mason Orlando, Jess Leigh, and Marcelo Aguilar as they explore the wild, weird, grim often terrifying events that create what the American West is today.
From bizarre outlaws and forgotten massacres to eccentric hermits and religious followers attempting to create utopia, this podcast takes a sharp, absurdist twist on Western American history. With a blend of dark humor, historical insight, and a dash of heathy commentary, each episode we cover weird, unsettling, and sometimes hopeful stories that may challenge your conception of the wild West.
False Summits: A History Podcast about the American West
Operation Wetback
This week Marcelo takes us thru a dark chapiter in American History, the grotesquely named immigration law enforcement initiative “Operation Wetback” that used military style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants, often ignoring residential or citizen status. Eerily like the headlines of today, we will explore the motivations of those who created and carried out the constitutionally questionable act and the repercussions it had on the communities, economies, and families of those displaced.
#WesternHistory #TexasHistory #NewMexico, #ArizonaHistory #CaliforniaHistory #USHistory #immigranthistory #Chicanohistory #DeportationHistory #FalseSummitsPod #Eisenhower #JosehMaySwing
Sources
Los Angeles Times. “Operation Begins With Swift Roundup of Aliens in Pre-Dawn Sweep.” June 18,
1954.
San Antonio Express. “In the Loma Park sector, several informants tipped off authorities to an entire
family suspected of entering illegally. All members were removed by 5 a.m.” July 22, 1954.
El Paso Herald-Post. “WETBACKS FLOOD BORDER – Roundup Imminent.” June 16, 1954.
Kelly Lytle Hernández. *Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol*. University of California Press, 2010.
Mae M. Ngai. *Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America*. Princeton
University Press, 2004.
Juan González. *Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America*. Penguin Books, 2011.
Matt García. *A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles,
1900–1970*. University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
Oral History of José Ángel Gutiérrez. University of Texas Libraries Archives.
U.S. House Appropriations Committee. Testimony of General Joseph Swing. 1954.
Congressional Record. Remarks by Congressman Jack Anderson. 1954.
Diocese of Corpus Christi Archives. Letter from Father Raymond G. Vonnahmen. 1954.
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). National Newsletter. August 1954.
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