Speech #780070590

Any person who is so little interested or so mentally limited as to be unable after 20 years to speak. read. and write simple English. and to pass a mental examination that would be easy for any normal child of gradeschool age seems to me to be hardly worthy of the precious privilege of American citizenship. In opposing such purely sentimental proposals as this. I want to stress the fact that citizenship for the foreign born is indeed a privilege. and nothing more than a privilege. It is in no sense a right of any alien. but merely an opportunity which may be granted at the discretion of the American people in return for certain assurances. among them that the individual will offer his undivided loyalty and devotion to the country of his adoption. and that he may reasonably be expected to live as a selfsupporting. productive unit in the national family of which he asks to become a part. Wherever national. rather than private. interest has influenced our immigration and naturalization policies. I am afraid it has always been emotional. rather than rational. Keenly aware of our own priceless privileges and opportunities. we have always been generous in our willingness to share with peoples less fortunate.