United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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“What America Means to Me”

“What America Means to Me”/tiles/collection/2/28103.xml
“What America Means to Me”/tiles/collection/2/28099.xml
“What America Means to Me”/tiles/collection/2/28100.xml
“What America Means to Me”/tiles/collection/2/28101.xml
“What America Means to Me”/tiles/collection/2/28102.xml
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Date

1956

Dimensions

8 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (21.3 × 14 cm)

Accession Number

2008.043.008

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives, Gift of Dr. Eric Saund

Object Details

Campaign biographies were part of American politics from the beginning, but when Dalip Saund published his in 1956, it was like nothing Americans had seen before. Saund was the first Asian American elected as a full-fledged Representative. In fact, until 1949, he and other immigrants from Asia were barred from acquiring U.S. citizenship. Saund lobbied for a bill to gain the right of citizenship. Once in Congress, he became one of the nation’s most convincing advocates abroad. “The American people elected me to their Congress,” he wrote in this pamphlet, “Where else in the world could this happen?”

Rights and Reproduction Information

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Historical Highlight: Dalip Saund
Historical Highlight: Dalip Saund
Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov