Researcher for First Washing Machine

Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT.  He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.)

Aside from the initial dorm misunderstanding, Larry didn’t have problems adjusting. Well, perhaps the language was sometimes confusing. But since his main language was math and physics, he sailed along well. 

Upon his university graduation, he decided he needed to earn some money. So he took a job as a researcher in Detroit.

“I worked for a company that no longer exists called Bendix Aviation Corp.  It’s an old automatic washing machine, one of the very famous products in 40’s and 50’s.” (It was the first domestic automatic washing machine on the market, and would today be considered a front-loading washing machine.)

Meanwhile, Congress passed legislation, signed into law by President Eisenhower on August 7, 1953, offering refuge to 214,000 immigrants to the United States, including 60,000 Italians, 17,000  Greeks, 17,000 Dutch and 45,000 immigrants from Communist countries. Larry was one of the 45,000. 

President Eisenhower signs Refugee Relief Act of 1953

“I lucked out and was able to qualify. I didn’t remember much about the swearing ceremony. It was over very quickly.” 

Larry didn’t think much of the ceremony until he attended a conference in Florida where he had a chance to visit the newly opened EPCOT Center. 

“At the entrance of the American Pavilion, I happen to read an inscription on the wall of the center which talked about the ceremony of becoming a US citizen. The wording goes something like this: ‘A white-haired gentlemen in black robe with a sweep of his hand relieves you of the burden of past history, and welcomes you to a thousand bright tomorrows.’ The words suddenly hit me. Tears uncontrollably start to flow down my face.”

(To Be Continued.  Next: Chinese-Americans Held to Higher Standard.)