Speech #870287826

President. I wish to make a brief statement concerning an event which has just taken place. The news that the Department of State has allowed a visa to be issued to Sir Oswald Moseley. the British Fascist leader. will be distressing to all Americans. Indeed. I am particularly distressed as a Senator from New York that the invitation should have been issued to Moseley by a State college in Buffalo. Nonetheless. our devotion to freedom of speech and academic freedom is so strongand the absence of fear that the words of any extremists would have really damaging influence on the overwhelming majority of Americans. young or old. is so deeply ingrained in all of usthat I would have to defend the right of the college to invite Moseley. in spite of the way I feel about him. There are. however. substantial questions of public order which are also involved. and these. it is hoped. will have been answered by our authorities by making the necessary survey in Buffalo before Moseley actually clears our borderas well as on the basis of experience with the Buffalo meeting. assuming it comes off. We must remember that Moseleys antisemitic diatribes in his own country have been marked by serious violence and that the United Kingdom recently deported Lincoln Rockwell because his presence was claimed to endanger public order. Section 212(a)27 of the Immigration and Nationality Act places upon the U.S. consular authorities and the Attorney General the responsibility to determine before admitting him that Moseley will not "engage in activities which would be prejudicial to the public interest. or endanger the welfare. safety. or security of the United States." Moseleys admission also illustrates again the injustice and discrimination of our present immigration law which bars Communists automatically but bars Fascists only if it can be proved that they advocate overthrow of the U.S. Government. Altogether this is a most unhappy development for our country. which I do not believe anyone but native Fascists. of whom very unfortunately we have a few. would approve.