diff --git a/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/impl/DeadCodeElimination.java b/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/impl/DeadCodeElimination.java
index 68504bb..9ee0239 100644
--- a/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/impl/DeadCodeElimination.java
+++ b/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/impl/DeadCodeElimination.java
@@ -2032,10 +2032,7 @@
    * context).
    */
   public static OptimizerStats exec(JProgram program, OptimizerContext optimizerCtx) {
-    Set<JMethod> affectedMethods =
-        optimizerCtx.getModifiedMethodsSince(optimizerCtx.getLastStepFor(NAME));
-    affectedMethods.addAll(optimizerCtx.getMethodsByReferencedFields(
-        optimizerCtx.getModifiedFieldsSince(optimizerCtx.getLastStepFor(NAME))));
+    Set<JMethod> affectedMethods = affectedMethods(optimizerCtx);
     OptimizerStats stats = new DeadCodeElimination(program).execImpl(affectedMethods, optimizerCtx);
     optimizerCtx.setLastStepFor(NAME, optimizerCtx.getOptimizationStep());
     optimizerCtx.incOptimizationStep();
@@ -2043,6 +2040,21 @@
     return stats;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Return the set of methods affected (because they are or callers of) by the modifications to the
+   * given set functions.
+   */
+  private static Set<JMethod> affectedMethods(OptimizerContext optimizerCtx) {
+    Set<JMethod> modifiedMethods =
+        optimizerCtx.getModifiedMethodsSince(optimizerCtx.getLastStepFor(NAME));
+    Set<JMethod> affectedMethods = Sets.newLinkedHashSet();
+    affectedMethods.addAll(modifiedMethods);
+    affectedMethods.addAll(optimizerCtx.getCallers(modifiedMethods));
+    affectedMethods.addAll(optimizerCtx.getMethodsByReferencedFields(
+        optimizerCtx.getModifiedFieldsSince(optimizerCtx.getLastStepFor(NAME))));
+    return affectedMethods;
+  }
+
   private final JProgram program;
 
   private final Map<JType, Class<?>> classObjectsByType;
diff --git a/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/OptimizedOnlyCompilerSuite.java b/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/OptimizedOnlyCompilerSuite.java
index 0a69664..b95797c 100644
--- a/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/OptimizedOnlyCompilerSuite.java
+++ b/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/OptimizedOnlyCompilerSuite.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.optimized.CastOptimizationTest;
 import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.optimized.JsOverlayMethodOptimizationTest;
 import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.optimized.SpecializationTest;
+import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.optimized.StringOptimizationTest;
 import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.test.HasNoSideEffectsTest;
 import com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.test.RunAsyncContentTest;
 import com.google.gwt.junit.tools.GWTTestSuite;
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
     // $JUnit-BEGIN$
     suite.addTestSuite(ArrayListOptimizationTest.class);
     suite.addTestSuite(ArrayStoreOptimizationTest.class);
+    suite.addTestSuite(StringOptimizationTest.class);
     suite.addTestSuite(CastOptimizationTest.class);
     suite.addTestSuite(JsOverlayMethodOptimizationTest.class);
     suite.addTestSuite(SpecializationTest.class);
diff --git a/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/optimized/StringOptimizationTest.java b/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/optimized/StringOptimizationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc11f17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user/test/com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/optimized/StringOptimizationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016 Google Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
+ * use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
+ * the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package com.google.gwt.dev.jjs.optimized;
+
+import com.google.gwt.junit.DoNotRunWith;
+import com.google.gwt.junit.Platform;
+
+/**
+ * Tests that the String class gets optimized properly.
+ */
+@DoNotRunWith(Platform.Devel)
+public class StringOptimizationTest extends OptimizationTestBase {
+
+  private static String createString() {
+    return new String();
+  }
+  private static native String getGeneratedFunctionDefintionThatTriggersStringClinit() /*-{
+    return function() {
+      tmp = @StringOptimizationTest::createString()();
+     }.toString();
+  }-*/;
+
+  public void testStringClinitIsRemoved() throws Exception {
+    String functionDef = getGeneratedFunctionDefintionThatTriggersStringClinit();
+    assertFunctionMatches(functionDef, "tmp=''");
+  }
+
+}