Speech #840100558

I do not place any personal blame on the distinguished chairman of the committee. but he certainly was not supported by a majority of his Democratic colleagues. A poll showed that only 2 Republican members of 7 were opposed to the bill. The point is that the President of the United States had done everything he could to obtain action to amend the Emergency Refugee Act of 1953. We did not get a bill on the Senate calendar. although personally I tried in every way I could to have the bill reported. Under those circumstances. it seems to me that the President of the United States has made perfectly clear his views with respect to immigration. He has not hesitated a moment. I think he realized the practical situation which existed as a result of the enactment of the McCarran Act. with a large majority in its favor. He was willing to allow it to operate for a time. Then he came forth with an emergency recommendation affecting refugees which would have taken off the pressures in countries where population pressures were greatest. Those countries are Greece. Italy. Holland. Germany. and the NATO countries generally to which the refugees had fled from behind the Iron Curtain. So. on the whole. I think no blame can be attached to President Eisenhower and his administration for any failure to amend the Emergency Relief Act so as to make it easier of operation. and remove some of the roadblocks.