As Constructing the American Past suggests, manifestations of racism in the US - including anti-Semitism - were seen by some as potentially undermining a war effort which itself used racism to depict and condemn the "enemies" of democratic principles. The FBI, formed with the first World War, investigated potential subversion by Axis "Fifth Columnists" and in 1943 pursued "draft dodgers" - the greatest number of which were found in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The climate of opinion, then, included distrust and fear, and - after five years war and eighteen months of direct US involvement - anxiety about the duration and future of the conflicts.
In the wake of press and investigative committees criticizing US involvement in World War I and the uncertainties during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the US government determined to organize more diligently propaganda supporting the World War II effort. As in World War I, to be "patriotic," one had to sacrifice. For young males, the ultimate sacrifice was life. For those on the homefront, sacrifices included food and fuel rationing and collection of materials to be recycled for the war effort, as well as abrogation of some free speech rights. Young married women left the home and took jobs in factories, and southerners migrated north and west to work in defense and other businesses. At the same time, attempts were made to constrain unions from active pursuit of workers' interests; attempts that the coal miners challenged through strikes in May 1943.
These uncertain times demanded commitment, and teenagers were in particularly difficult circumstances. Groups criticizing females in the workforce denounced the development of a population of "latchkey children," whose mothers were at work instead of waiting for them at home after school. Teens themselves responded to the war years in ways reminiscent of the popular youth culture of the 1920s: by separating themselves from adults through dress, behavior, and language, while concommitantly adopting aspects of adult dress, behavior, and language. Erik Erikson has argued that those crucial teen years represent for many a period of "marking time," a period between childhood and adulthood that includes efforts to develop identities and separation as well as the security of community. Mauricio Mazon (The Zoot Suit Riots) and others have pointed out that in statistical terms, juvenile delinquency - i.e., youth crimes - and prostitution increased during the war years, but that the perceptions that Mexican American male and female teens were primarily responsible in places like LA were based on deeper historical and circumstantial issues. As Mazon eloquently argued, "Zoot suiters transgressed the patriotic ideals of commitment, integrity, and loyalty with non-commitment, incoherence, and defiance." (p. 9) . . . zoot suiters were seen as "culturally and aesthetically un-American." (p. 69)
In contrast, the servicemen assigned to bases in and around the Mexican neighborhoods of Los Angeles - almost all Caucasian and many from the South - were the embodiment of Americanism. They had been separated from families and towns, humiliated and de-individualized by basic training, uniformed, and now awaited an uncertain future, "trained for combat, piqued and depressed by military life." The popular view of the military was that their "faults were exceptions, sins pardonable, and righteousness monolithic." (p. 59)
The war affected culture and consumerism in many ways. There were many shortages and high prices for consumer items and housing. Cloth production was limited and a portion diverted to the war effort, leading to many changes in clothing styles (including smaller bathing suits). The use of yards of material for the zoot suit clearly contradicted this trend. Swing bands and the jitterbug dance were popularized by a multitude of films and magazines, along with songs and even cartoons referring to the zoot suit.
Conflicts between Anglos and Mexican descendents went back to the 1800s, as migration into Spanish, then Mexican territory proceeded and acquisition followed. (See Pike) US business investments and ownership of Mexican lands in the nineteenth century became part of the focus of the Mexican revolution of 1910. By 1918, US military forces led by General Pershing invaded Mexico to "arrest" revolutionary leader Pancho Villa and US-Mexican relations were strained by the interception of the so-called "Zimmerman telegram," in which Germany offered to assist Mexico in recovering land from the US in return for support for German war aims. This uneasy relationship between the US and Mexico was helped little by the pronouncement of the Good Neighbor Policy in 1934, as the Mexican government under Lazaro Cardenas nationalized US (Standard) oil interests and the US "re-patriated" thousands of Mexicans, many of them American-born, during the Great Depression.
As the US expanded its participation in the war, however, more workers were need in agriculture and the service sector. The US signed an agreement with Mexico in 1942 to bring in temporary workers under the bracero program. US-Mexican cooperation deepened with the declaration of war by Mexico on the side of the Allies and joint military and even social activities undertaken in southern California in 1942 and 1943 (including a Cinco de Mayo parade). US government interest in congenial relations with Mexico nevertheless was not necessarily translated into cordiality by Anglos towards Mexican-Americans in the United States.
The most recent antecedent to the Zoot Suit Riots of June 1943 was the Sleepy Lagoon case of August 1942 in Los Angeles. The trial was seen by many at the time as a travesty of justice. The victim, Jose Diaz, was not definitively found to have been murdered and the convictions of the Mexican-American youths jailed for almost two years for the murder were finally reversed in October 1944 by the Second District Court of Appeals. Since 1942, the media had focused on the "Zoot Suiters" and portrayed them in the media as members of murderous and dangerous gangs. In fact, the role of the media in the "zoot suit riots" deserves special scrutiny, not only because of the nature of the media at the time but also because of the portrayal of teenagers by the mainstream media today.
At the end of 1940, the Office of public opinon conducted a poll which listed nineteen adjectives that might be used to describe Central and South Americans. Eighty percent chose "dark-skinned," a description very disturbing to the elite of Latin America through the centuries. Between 40 and 50 percent of the respondents chose "quick tempered," "emotional," "superstitious," "backward," "lazy," "ignorant," and "suspicious." Sixteen percent chose "progressive," "generous," "brave," "honest," "intelligent," and "shrewd." Five percent chose "efficient." The images of Latin Americans in the media were few until the Good Neighbor era, when Disney was given a government contract to create "Latin" figures: the result was Jose Carioca, the "emotional" parrot. Exchanges of sports teams, music groups, and even heads of state did little to change the perceptions in the US about Latinos or their histories and cultures. And with most immigrants and native-born Latinos concentrated in a few urban areas, most had little or no associations that could help them form their own opinions.
The Zoot Suit Riots tell us something about cultural conflict, and also tell us something about differing views of the use of public space. Like other ethnic minorities, Latinos served in the US military during this war and subsequent wars with no expectation that their Americanism would be challenged. As you study this case, consider how many of the adjectives listed above might still be selected by many to describe Latinos - and if others would be added.
Held in the Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, September 1943
(In the space: picture of a zoot suit outfit - needs to be described, along with description of "Argentine ducktail" hairstyle.)
As the meeting convenes, the above participants are discussing their views about the Zoot Suit Riots: why they occurred, what exactly happened, why they ended, and what should be done to insure that they do not recur.
Mr. Y begins by asking each of the witnesses present to describe, for the record, exactly what a zoot suit is, where it originated, and why it became popular.