Speech #1050125319

But I wish to look back to an earlier time. some 35 years ago. When I first met Max he was an Assistant to President Eisenhower and Secretary to the Cabinet. One of his many duties in the White House was to be the principal refugee adviser and coordinator for refugee affairs. As a junior member of the Judiciary Committee at that time. I recall working closely with him to enact the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 to facilitate the admission of refugees from the Iron Curtain countries of that period. Under this act. the United States relieved internal economic and population pressures in the struggling post World War II Western European countries. Max can take credit for giving hundreds of thousands of refugees a new lease on life and for participating. in a true sense. in the economic recovery of those countries devastated by the war. Again. in his humanitarian tradition. he participated with our Judiciary Committee colleagues in late 1956 in utilizing for the first time the parole provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow some 38.000 Hungarian refugees to enter the United States following the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Of course. since those days Max and I have met many. many times in a social and business context. Throughout the years. his wisdom and ingenuity have contributed toward enhancing the democratic and humane image of the United States. both nationally and internationally.