Speech #1010246270

Mr. President. just in the way of wrapup of the discussion and debate. again I thank all of my colleagues for their involvement and their participation. I remember back in 1952 when President Truman vetoed the McCarranWalter Immigration Act. and at that time Congress overrode that veto. Included in that legislation was a national origin quota system that said you could not come to the United States if you were from certain regions of the world. There was an Asian Pacific triangle in effect which excluded all Asians from coming into the United States. the numbers were less than We changed that in the 1965 act and eliminated those aspects of racist policies that had existed. But we realized at that particular time we had a further way to go. So really this evening is really part of a continuum of the efforts that have been made over the period of the last 35 of 40 years. I can remember the second book that my brother wrotehe wrote the first. "Why England Slept." when he was in college. and the next book he wrote was "A Nation of Immigrants" that spelled out the historical patterns of the United States immigration policy. and also the guidelines as to future immigration policy. I cannot help but think this evening that a number of those ideas. recom. mendations. and suggestions were picked up and incorporated in the select commissions proposals. and now have been included in this excellent conference report. Again.