Speech #820214788

Many people believe it was provoked by the policies followed by President Roosevelt and Secretary of State .Hull. or at least that they precipitated .the attack. at the time when it came. .Others think it was an integral part of a policy originating in Berlin. Others may say it was due to economic presIsures. Others. that it was because we .told Japan she must not move south. but certainly one cannot say with correctness that it was due to the policy on Japaniese immigration which our country has had. Today I heard General Ridgway speak at the joint session. and I noted his statement that those who wish to see a strong Japan must sit down at a conference .table with some understanding of the problems involved and with some desire to reach a solution which will make it possible for Japan to have access to raw materials and markets for the products of those raw materials when processed in order to provide a viable Japanese economyto use General Ridgways term. He did not say. however. that we should increase the quota of Japanese to be allowed to enter our country. as a means of avoiding another Pearl Harbor. The final argument which I believe should be challenged is the suggestion that by our national immigration policy or by continuing a policy of basing immigration on the historic percentages of nationalities in the United States. we shall be playing into the hands of the Kremlin. that if we continue to pursue this policy it will give communism an effective weapon in the cold war. Mr. President. if that argument were true. it should not be advanced by an American. Do we not have the right to determine who may enter our country? And. what is the policy of the Kremlin with regard to immigration? Does Russia invite these people to share her resources? I do not know what policies Russia has for all immigration matters. but I have witnessed the result of one of her policies with respect to peoples. She was the instigator of the policy by which 11.000.000 persons were expelled from some of the territories she put behind the iron curtain at the conclusion of World War II. I think it is to the shame of the allies who were associated with Russia in World War II that they sanctioned the movement to uproot millions of persons who. up to that time. had spent all their lives in those countries. and whose forebears had lived there in some instances for 200 years. It is a matter of tragic fact that some 11.000.000 persons were expelled from Czechoslovakia. Poland. and the other territory which was put behind the iron curtain following World War II. and were crowded into what remains of Germany. Russia has no policy for inviting the Immigration of peoples from other parts of the world. If she maintains an iron border against outside nationalities even to the extent of expelling these millions. it is ridiculous to say that because we have a policy of maintaining the historic proportions in this country. we are playing into the hands of the Kremlin. Mr.