Speech #770167461

In view of the obvious threat to our efforts through espionage. sabotage. and fifthcolumn activities. these precautions have generally been accepted as wise. By these restrictions. however. we have brought to light a glaring gap in Federal and State statutes relating to our nativeborn citizens. millions of whom are finding it a complicated. prolonged. and often quite expensive process to establish proof of time and place of birth. By Federal law we have long since established careful and exact methods of providing certificates of citizenship for naturalized citizens and their children who acquire citizenship derivatively. Unfortunately. however. there is no provision by which a nativeborn American can secure a certificate of citizenship quickly and cheaply. The matter has been left entirely within State and local jurisdiction. but now we come to the amazing fact that vitalstatistics records have been kept by States and communities generally only for a comparatively few years within the recent past. As a result. millions of Americans who are now of middle age or over find it difficult. if not almost impossible. to provide acceptable proof of their citizenship. The naturalized alien and his children have the documentary evidence in their certificates of citizenship. Younger persons who had the good fortune to have their births recorded as a part of a State or local vitalstatistics record may secure transcript certificates which are acceptable as legal proof of citizenship. But this other vast group of Americans is required to assemble a mass of such evidence as it may be able to ferret out of private records. such as family Bibles. census transcripts. church and school records. marriage certificates. insurance policies. and old business papers.