34 The nature of American politics
and in many cases ‘foreign-sounding’ names were anglicised. Furthermore,
the educational system was an overt instrument of Americanisation, to in-
stil values and beliefs, in particular the tenets of the Constitution, into the
children of immigrants. The pressures were all on the need for homogeneity,
and for a very good reason. The fear of subversion, not necessarily in the
sense of treasonable actions, but in the sense of undermining the consensus
on which the political system depended, was ever present. The Vietnam War,
and more recent immigration, legal and illegal, have brought about a change
in these attitudes. The Vietnam experience and the way in which dissent was
legitimised damaged the confidence of Americans in their cultural identity.
The effects of this experience coincided with a large-scale immigration of a
group of people – Latinos – who did not wish to be assimilated in the way in
which earlier immigrant groups had been. By 2004 there were over 41 million
people of Latino or Hispanic origin in the United States, and their numbers
continue to increase. Federal government programmes of bilingual education
began in 1968 to provide education for Spanish-speakers, but the question
then arose whether this kind of programme was intended to help Latinos to
assimilate to the English language culture of America or to be able to survive
in that culture whilst retaining Spanish as their first language. In 1974 the
Supreme Court ruled in Lau v. Nichols that teaching students in a language
they did not understand was a violation of their civil rights, thus giving an
impetus to bilingual programmes. Legislation was passed requiring that
election registration forms, ballots and election materials should be made
available in languages other than English in districts where a significant
minority spoke a language other than English as their first language. The
language problem took a new turn in 2006 with the launching of a Spanish
version of the American National Anthem, entitled ‘Nuestro Himno’, bring-
ing about a chorus of condemnation from conservative groups.
Predictably there was a backlash against this ‘Latinisation’ of America.
Moves began to establish English as the ‘official language’ of the United
States, and to try to limit immigration from Latin America. By 2005 twenty-
seven states had legislated to make English the official language of the state,
and a Bill making English the official language of the federal government
was passed by the House of Representatives in 1996, but did not reach the
statute book. The nature of the Latino challenge to the established ‘Anglo’
culture of America has great political implications. The Spanish-speaking
section of the American electorate is growing, and will continue to grow.
Their influence at local level, such as in cities like Los Angeles, is already
considerable and their voting power at state and eventually federal level
will continue to increase. The long-run effect of Latino immigration on the
American political system is difficult to predict, although it will certainly be
profound. The Latino population is not as coherent as the African-American
population; it is drawn from a number of different countries, with differing
ethnic origins, white, black, American Indian. However, in 2006 the Latino
community found a new basis for solidarity against the ‘Anglos’ with the de-