Speech #860269053

I believe that you have been misled by those who supplied YOU with information dealing with matters of considerable complexity and a wide legal and historical background. The following is submitted for the purpose of correction and clarification: 1. Soon after the cessation of hostilities-. in 1946. to be exacta few of us in the House of Representatives originated an effort to repeal the exclusion clauses based on race then effective under the 1917. 1924. and 1940 immigration and nationality laws. Our efforts were partially successful when. In 1948. we succeeded in removing from our "suspension of deportation" statute the racial restrictions applicable to orientals. Further attempts to delete from our inmigration and nationality laws the main oriental exclusion clauses resulted. in 1949. in the passage by the House of a bill which. unfortunately. encountered delays in the Senate. 2. Having enlisted the support of the late Senator McCarran of Nevada. I succeeded In providing for the final and definitive repeal of the oriental exclusion clauses by the WalterMcCarran Act. enacted in 1952. For the first time in the history of the United States an immigration and nationality law contained a sentence which was unanimously praised as the "Magna Carta" for oriental immigrants and their descendants. The sentence reads as follows: "The right of a person to become n naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of race or sex * * *" etc. (sec. 311 of the Immigration and Nationality Act). By virtue of the same law. ineligibility to naturalization because of race was abrogated as a bar to immigration. All countries of Asia and the Far East have been assigned immigration quotas pursuant to the WalterMcCarran Act. 3. The late Senator McCarran and myself have been rather lavishly praised and awarded honors which I do not intend to list. by several countries of the Far East and by organizations of American citizens of oriental descent. My personal files and records are replete with the most touching expressions of gratitude and appreciation for what the WalterMcCarran Act has done with respect to immigration and naturalization of orientals. 4. The results of the repeal of the oriental exclusion clauses are clearly indicated in the statistical reports published annually by the Department of Justice. While in the last prewar decade. 193140. the total immigration from Asia amounted to 15.344 persons. there were 42.385 Asians admitted into the United States as immigrants in the first 5 years following the enactment of the WalterMcCarran Act. (This figure is. of course. unordinately large due to the fact that during those years there occurred a sizable influx of "war brides" and "GI fiances.") However. the longrange effects of the WalterMcCarran Act on immigration from the Orient remains readily ascertainable in the statistical figures published annually by the Attorney General of the United States. Here are some abstracts from the Department of Justice reports for the years 195659. pertinent to the erroneous assertions Of your article. Immigrants admitted: Natives of-- 1956 1957 1958 1959 China --.....---- 4.450 5.425 3.213 4722 Japan .....---------- 5. 586 6.354 6.543 5. 851 Xorea ------------- 703 648 1.604 1.720 Philippines -------- 1.873 1 996 2.236 2.63 I A5720 Since the enactment of the WalterMcCarran Act. total admissions of immigrants from Asia were as follows: 1953 ------------------------------ 8. 029 1954 ------------------------------ 11.751 1955 ----------------------------- 12. 131 1956 ----------------------------- 17.538 1957 -----------------------------23.102 1958 ----------------------------- 19.867 1959 -----------------------------24.312 5. You have devoted a considerable portion of your article to deploring the fact that the United States does not admit a sufficient number of immigrants from such countries as Burma. Cambodia. Malaya.