Robert Ray: The Good Governor

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. And we’d love to hear stories from our listeners. That’s you. Send them to ouramericanstories.com. That’s OurAmericanStories.com. They’re some of our favorites. After the United States withdrew from Vietnam in the 1970s, their allies around the region who had fought against the communists faced torture, involuntary servitude, and death. They were on their own. The man to lead the charge to save them: the governor of Iowa, Robert Ray. Here’s our own Monty Montgomery with the story of the good governor. Take it away, Monty.

In the state of Iowa, there’s a unique ethnic group. In fact, there are more in Iowa than anywhere outside of Asia. They’re called the Tai Dam. But how did they end up there? Here’s Matthew R. Walsh with the rest of the story.

Tai Dam means black tie, and they’re called black tie because of the clothing worn by their women. Now, this ethnic minority was from northwest Vietnam. That’s their ancestral homeland around the place called Dien Bien Phu.

But they ended up in Laos after North Vietnam fell to the communists.

But what happens is South Vietnam falls to communism, and these Tai Dam are very scared because they know that the communists remember them and how they fought against them in North Vietnam. These Tai Dam are worried Laos is going to be next. And in May of 1975, they actually crossed the border into Thailand seeking asylum. And it is from Thailand that they write letters to thirty U.S. governors. They want to be resettled as a group. They want all these Tai Dam; they want their fellows to be able to go to the same place. And nobody listened except for the governor of Iowa, Robert Ray. And he agrees to resettle these Tai Dam, but he couldn’t do it immediately because the U.S. government was only accepting refugees from places that had fallen to communism, and the Tai Dam had fled in May of ’75. Laos did not officially fall to communism until December of 1975, so the governor had to kind of bend the rules and say, “Well, can you let me bring these people in?” And Kissinger and Ford agreed, and they basically just said, “Well, these people are originally from Vietnam, and that place has fallen to communism, and we’ll bring them in.” And this Tai Dam group ultimately comes to Iowa in 1975, so Governor Ray brings in these Tai Dam. Vietnam falls to communism in 1975, but it takes a while for the communists to really gain a firm hold

on the south, and thus began a second refugee crisis in Asia.

People were fearful that their sons were going to be drafted into this military and have to fight for the communists.

So, what do they do?

They take to the seas, and it was incredibly dangerous for them.

They got in these small boats, some of them very rickety, unseaworthy. So pirate attacks, rape, murder, people dying of thirst, dying of disease. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the seas, and it’s estimated that one in three actually died. And some people, right when they’re about to get landfall, there’s this joy, but then a boat comes, and they actually tow the refugees back at sea, because these places, like Singapore, didn’t want refugees. Malaysia doesn’t want refugees.

They’re poor.

They resent these people coming in, taking resources. Some of them will actually be stoned to death when they arrive on shore. So Governor Ray watches a basketball game at Drake University, and then he returns from this game and watches a ’60 Minutes’ program. It’s a special report of the boat people done by Ed Bradley, and they’re talking about all that these people have been through.

Well, Ray was very moved, and he’s like, “We have to do something.”

He had already created this refugee resettlement program to help the Tai Dam in 1975.

It’s still running.

So what he says is, “Iowa will agree to accept fifteen hundred extra refugees.” And he then wrote letters to every governor to do more to help the boat people. And he wrote to President Carter to do more

to help the boat people.

He’s one of the first politicians to stand up and say, “We need to help these folks.” So that’s the kind of the second thing that he did, was helping the boat people. It’s the second of basically three big things that Ray did as governor. Bringing in the Tai Dam was first. Helping these boat people refugees come in was second, and the third will be helping people from Cambodia. Well, Ray was born in 1928. He’s from Des Moines. He’s a Des Moines guy, and he just misses out on World War II, but he does join the service. And while he’s in the service, right after World War II, he’s in the East, and he really gets to see the devastation. So I think that made an imprint on him as a young man. It was something that was impressionable to him. He then goes to Drake University, and even before that, I guess I should say at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, he was known for sticking up for the little guy. He wasn’t interested in people bullying others. But he goes on to Drake, and then he studies law and he becomes a lawyer and then basically a chairman of the Republican Party, trying to get Republicans elected to office. And then eventually he runs for governor, and he wins the governorship in 1968 and serves for fourteen straight years. For Ray, it kind of worked. He’s a Christian man, so those Christian ethics, I think are going to be important for Ray helping out others. People complaining about refugee resettlement, they were saying, “Why are you helping out these foreigners? Why aren’t you helping Iowans who you were elected to serve?” And Ray’s response was, quote, “If we don’t have the heart or the spirit to save human lives, then how can we be expected to help those whose lives are already ashore?” And if we’re going to turn our backs on people who are dying overseas, our allies who are dying, well, we’re not going to be all that kind to those who are in Iowa.

So we can do both.

And when we come back, more of this remarkable story, the story of Robert Ray and the refugees here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country, and especially the stories of America’s rich past, know that all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation, culture and faith, are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that are good in life. And if you can’t get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale.edu to learn more. And we returned to Our American Stories and the story of Governor Robert Ray, the governor of Iowa for fourteen years, and the refugees he brought into his state. When we last left off, Ray had decided, even in the face of criticism, to be the first governor to take in refugees from Vietnam, and he would soon take a flight overseas to take stock of the situation in the refugee camps. Here again is Matthew R. Walsh to continue the story.

Well, the catalyst for Ray’s trip overseas is his work with the Tai Dam. He brings in the Tai Dam starting in 1975. But they still have family, they still have friends, still have loved ones who are coming in. So he’s visiting these camps where there are still Tai Dam, and there’s a moving story.

It’s the State of Iowa

Department of Transportation map that was their symbol of hope. And on this map there were pins where different Tai Dam families had resettled and where these folks hope one day they would be reuniting with these loved ones. He’s visiting the Tai Dam in Thailand at the refugee camp Non Kai, and then he makes an excursion to the Cambodian refugee camp. And that’s when, you know, he sees one person die.

A young girl died, and her head fell in the lap of one of Ray’s aides.

Governor Ray, very avid, a photographer, and he went around the refugee camp and was snapping photo after photo of these kids: crying, people sick, losing hope. They didn’t have running water; they had hardly anything.

And they were escaping a group of people called the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge—this is basically meaning ‘red people’. They tore through that place. They were cutting open people. And these Khmer Rouge communists forced people out of the cities and into the countryside to work as slaves.

They separated families.

One man slit so many people’s throats that he developed arthritis in his forearm and had to develop a different technique for plunging his knife into people’s throats to kill them. And many people starved to death. And Ray visited the Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand in 1979, and he was just devastated by what he saw. He wrote a great speech and delivered it to an assembly of his church. And this is him talking about visiting the Sa Kaeo refugee camp. Have you ever stood in a small, muddy spot? About two hours, well, five people died around you. I did two days ago. Those deaths were only part of the more than fifty that died in that one camp on that one day. To see little kids with sunken eyes and protruding tummies trying to eke out a smile, will bring a tear to the eyes of even the most callous. And when he returned, he came up with this idea of Iowa Shares, and he handed out that film that he had taken, didn’t even know it was on it. He gave it to The Des Moines Register, the major newspaper, and they published an article. And it showed some of these photos and what Governor Ray had seen in the refugee camp, and the newspaper helped publicize and get donations for Iowa Shares. And ‘Shares’ stands for ‘Iowa Sends Help to Aid Refugees and End Starvation.’ And what Iowans did is they purchased a ‘share in humanity,’ which was the price of a bushel of corn, and they donated money to the governor’s office. And the governor’s office used this money to send medicine, Iowa doctors and nurses, and food to these starving Cambodian refugees. And one woman sent in her engagement ring to the governor’s office, and they had to give it back.

They said, “We can’t accept this.”

A nine-year-old boy named Eric Sharp donated his Christmas money as Ray basically announced this Iowa Shares program. He said, “In a world where there is hate, there is more reason to love.” And a world where there is hunger, there is more reason to share. In 1979, Iowans through this Iowa Shares program raised over five hundred and forty thousand dollars. Some people backed this movement because of Judeo-Christian ethics. Some in the Jewish community, seeing those people starving to death in Cambodia, sparked memories of the Holocaust: people being liberated from the camps and looking so terrible because of the mistreatment. So rabbis from synagogues helped out; people in the Christian church served as sponsors, trying to help people get resettled. And a lot of people felt guilty about Vietnam and the destructive force America played there.

Helping refugees was…

a way for them to heal from the wounds of the Vietnam War. And Ray’s work with refugees also kind of gave people pride because to be a public official in the early ’70s, people were frowning upon you.

It wasn’t much to be proud of after the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal.

So Ray helped keep people’s faith in public government. And what I find amazing is during this controversial era, Ray’s approval rating was over eighty percent. It’s quite fascinating, but a lot of people liked him, and that’s why they were willing to help. The Tai Dam early on did fairly well. Within a handful of years, they were able to have a vast majority of people own their own automobiles, and a majority of Tai Dam would become homeowners in just a short time period. What they did is they pulled their resources. They tried not to rent. They might be multiple families renting, but just for a little bit, everyone will pitch in, and we’ll get you your house. And then after you have your house, you and others are going to pitch in, and then you’re going to get me my house.

So they bought a lot of homes.

They might be modest homes, but they became homeowners; they became automobile owners. They helped each other out, so the community served as their safety net.

Initially.

The first group of people who came here, they were professionals. That was very helpful. The first, that first one hundred and thirty thousand people that I spoke about, a lot of them were officers in the military, politicians, people with good careers. Early on, a lot of them fell into becoming blue-collar workers. So there’s stories of bank owners becoming janitors at banks, so it’s tough for that first generation. Now, the second generation did quite well, and, you know, they’re flourishing. There are people who are in the medical community. They’re doing great work. But we do have a very diverse and rich state, and a lot of it stems from this refugee resettlement that began in 1975. There’s more Tai Dam in Iowa than anywhere outside of Asia. They created their own community center on the north side of Des Moines, and they named their community center the Robert D. Ray Welcome Center. You can go there for a festival. Every year, they have a big festival that celebrates their

coming to Iowa. They honored Ray at that festival.

There’s also something called the Asian Gardens that we have here in Des Moines that honors Ray’s work with these refugees. One woman—this is a quote from her—named Sombat Kham, said about Ray, “I love the man forever. He will be our savior. He is almost like our Abraham Lincoln.”

“He freed us.” They really do revere the man.

When he died, Governor Ray rested in state at the U.S. Capitol building, and all these refugees came to say farewell, to lay their wreaths and ribbons and other things on his burial site. He’s a very beloved figure, especially amongst the Southeast Asian refugee community.

And terrific work on the production by Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to Matthew R. Walsh’s book, The Good Governor. Go to local bookstores or go wherever you buy your books online. Also a special thanks to our own Jim Watkins for putting this story together. And what a story about what happened after the communists took over, and it was America and Iowa in particular who came to the rescue. What a story about Iowa’s heart, about the American heart, and about love and compassion. What a story—the story of a good governor and a good country. Here on Our American Stories.