One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965

by Jia Lynn Yang

The idea of the United States as a nation of immigrants is at the core of the American narrative. But in 1924, Congress instituted a system of ethnic quotas so stringent that it choked off large-scale immigration for decades, sharply curtailing arrivals from southern and eastern Europe and outright banning those from nearly all of Asia.

In a riveting narrative filled with a fascinating cast of characters, from the indefatigable congressman Emanuel Celler and senator Herbert Lehman to the bull-headed Nevada senator Pat McCarran, Jia Lynn Yang recounts how lawmakers, activists, and presidents from Truman through LBJ worked relentlessly to abolish the 1924 law. Through a world war, a refugee crisis after the Holocaust, and a McCarthyist fever, a coalition of lawmakers and activists descended from Jewish, Irish, and Japanese immigrants fought to establish a new principle of equality in the American immigration system. Their crowning achievement, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, proved to be one of the most transformative laws in the country’s history, opening the door to nonwhite migration at levels never seen before—and changing America in ways that those who debated it could hardly have imagined.

Framed movingly by her own family’s story of immigration to America, Yang’s One Mighty and Irresistible Tide is a deeply researched and illuminating work of history, one that shows how Americans have strived and struggled to live up to the ideal of a home for the "huddled masses," as promised in Emma Lazarus’s famous poem.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, Race, Audiobook, The United States Of America

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2020

About the author

Jia Lynn Yang is national editor at The New York Times. Before joining The Times in 2017, she was deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Trump and Russia. Before becoming an editor, Jia Lynn wrote about business and economics at the Post and at Fortune magazine for over a decade. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started off like a review of the Minorities in America class that I took in middle school, then off into politics. More specifically, stories about politicians, it wasn't what I expected, but that's okay.

[Scottsdale Public Library]

Written in an engaging and well-researched, almost Erik Larson-style, this book is more relevant than ever and opened my eyes to yet another incredible time in American history. Would recommend! – Lauryn P.

[Ari Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off powerfully but loses a little steam towards the end, where it devolves into a kind of review of legislators' memoirs. I wish she had convered more of the why of the 1965 INA instead of the nuts and bolts how of the bill passage process. Would be interesting to know what the impetus behind abolishing quotas for Asians and Africans was. She mentions a bunch of refugee immigration laws which started allowing in non-white immigrants but doesn't go into any detail about these. So the first part of the book, essentially about how the Jewish community argued for welcoming refugees from Europe is fascinating, but the latter half of the book misses what I think was the interesting part of why the country's immigration profile changed.

[Curlemagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment, given I was looking for a more historically grounded analysis. The author is so clearly a features-style journalist, as she’s a very strong writer but organizes the text around strong political personalities with good anecdotes rather than a broader overview. Also no footnotes, but I had an advance reader copy so hopefully Yang added those in a later draft.

Only recommended for those who know nothing about immigration law AND are more interested in the wheeling and dealing of racist and pragmatic congressmen (all men in this era) than in understanding societal changes in attitude towards immigrants and the impacts on passing laws. Each chapter is a collection of mini biographies and does not always go in chronological order.

It would make a great secondary source for AP US History students as an alternate to the textbook but not for the serious adult reader seeking to really understand the history of immigration in this country.

My main takeaways from the book is are a desire to read a full biography of Herman Lehman and a renewed disgust in shallow prettyboy JFK. I’ll continue looking for more in-depth histories.

[Denni Cady-Stid · Rating 5 out of 5]

*not a review, i just needed to tell somebody*


Completely unrelated to how much i liked the work, i was FLOORED to be reading along and see my Aunt’s father’s name mentioned amongst those listed in those teaching ‘masterclasses’ to Ted Kennedy, with Alain Enthoven specifically mentioned because he was a Pentagon weapons system expert.

You mean to tell me that on multiple occasions in my life I’ve sat at this man’s dinner table, who until this point i thought his crowning achievement was getting tenure at Standford… (which is still the most incredible accomplishment) and he said was a weapons system expert in the Kennedy administration? IM SO GEEKED. I have so many questions, he’s not gonna know what hit him.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my three followers, thanks, but I am working of a series of novels set in 1923 and felt this text would have some valuable information on the mindset of the early part of the Jazz Age when it comes to immigration. It did not disappoint. The first 100 pages were a wealth of information for my research. I finished the book, and it paints a picture of how government did all it could to limit people from parts of the world it felt were undesirable. Any one not considered Nordic in origin were railed against. Plenty of Easter Block people were not as welcome along with Asian and from Latin America. It is a work of education and presents facts. It is an eye-opening view into a nation of immigrants that really didn’t believe in accepting the tired and huddle masses. More like give us just the people we think are like us.

[Gerry Durisin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For several years, I’ve wanted to take a course on the history of Immigration to the US, but my usual resource had nothing available. When I stumbled onto this book, I hoped it would provide the insight I’d been seeking, and it more than met my expectations. Well researched and written in an engaging style, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide explains clearly the racist origins of our immigration policies, the long and laborious struggles required to revise them, and some of the unforeseen consequences of those policies. The author also points out important concerns and questions to be considered as we continue to wrestle with the question of who is an American.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting account of the events between the 1920’s and 1960’s US immigration acts. I had previously read an account leading up to the 1920’s bill, so this was an interesting follow-up. It was a little heavy on legislative procedural information and a little light on the effects of the 1960’s immigration act. Especially enjoyed the portrait painted of Lyndon Johnson. I guess this is a reminder that immigration in this country has always been a fraught topic and a battle for how the country sees itself.

[Lauryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in an engaging and well researched, almost Erik Larson style, this book is more relevant than ever and opened my eyes to yet another incredible time in American history. Would recommend!

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I certainly learned a lot about immigration policy that I feel is impactful to my understanding of the U.S. The chapters that shined leaned into narrative and policy. The ones that were hard to get through were biographies of various people in Congress that I felt were kind of dry (I don’t know, maybe I’m just not a political wonk). Overall good if you want to know more about immigration

[Witchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965

Reviewer Summary:
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 by Jia Lynn Yang examines the importance of politics and its role on immigration. Yang describes the period between the Immigration Act of 1924 and the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. The author shows readers which senators, activists, congressmen, and U.S. presidents fought for stricter quotas, and which worked tirelessly to abolish them. All while immigrants seeking a better way-of-life were at the mercy of: Congress and the U.S. immigration system.

Review:
I enjoyed the explanation on how the word race evolved from a “biological” distinction to one of cultural roots, and the emergence of terms such as ethnicity and ethnic groups. I liked following the Kennedy brothers and how they championed immigration reform, and the path Ted walked to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Because this book covers a lot of political ground introducing a myriad of characters, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite: the late N.Y. Congressman, Emanuel Celler. Celler spent decades trying to overturn the Johnson-Reed Act. He was also the co-sponsor of the 1965 Hart-Celler Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Future revisions of One Mighty and Irresistible Tide may benefit by including charts, tables, and images. For example, Guarding the Golden Door by Roger Daniels breaks down the number of immigrants allowed in the U.S., percentage, and their country of origin. While included images in Coming to America, 2nd ed., : A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life by Roger Daniels helps readers by visualizing the content.

You’ll like this novel if you:
Generally read nonfiction, and enjoy the inner-workings of politics, policy making, and immigration reform.

Disclosure:
I received a complimentary ARC of One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 from W.W. Norton & Company via goodreads. I’m thankful to the publisher, author, and goodreads for the opportunity to review this soon-to-be May 2020 release. My review is an honest reflection of my thoughts.

[Josiah Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know that America had race and nationality-based quotes for immigration until 1965? Or that these quotas were designed in 1924 to preserve the "Anglo-Saxon racial heritage" of the United States. In Mighty and Irresistible Struggle, Yang documents the battle over immigration kicked stretching from 1924, when immigration was restricted for the first time by a series of racist quotas based on the pseudo-science of eugenics, to Johnson's signing of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965, which ended immigration quotas based on race or nationality and forever changing the destiny of the United States of America. It's an epic story of high political drama, and it's told extremely well, with a cast of characters some of whom you've definitely heard of, and some of whom you've definitely not. Yang delves into how America came to identify so strongly with the concept of a nation of immigrants and will leave you with a better understanding of the origins of our current political stalemate over immigration.

[Paul Mirek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yang is explicit in her goal of showing that the 1965 legislation that ushered in the dramatic demographic shifts seen in the last 50 years was not preordained, but the result of dedicated, often thankless work over the course of decades. This is an important corrective for those like me who were raised to think of a multicultural pluralism as fundamental in our mutually agreed American mythos, obscuring the need to be vigilant in its defense. However it does mean that the narrative loses steam as the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act nears, getting caught up in the details of the backchannel congressional negotiations (and, let's face it, that old Kennedy allure). But there are compelling and illuminating side roads throughout, from the Zionist push to limit America's acceptance of Jewish refugees to Mike Masaoka's pragmatic efforts to expand quotas for Asian immigration, bringing him into conflict with those arguing for even greater reforms.

[Hasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more. Immigration is an acute interest of mine and a fissure separating American politics in the 21st century. And it started off promisingly but ended up being a number of interesting people's mini biographies, which was fine but she ended up shorting the bill that changed the face of America: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. I would have preferred if she had focused a couple of chapters about the passage of the bill, the consequences of the law and what it means for the country moving forward. Instead, the chapter about the 1965 law seemed rushed and very short.

I love process especially political process and so I will give the author points for that. But she could have done a lot better.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

On as many as a dozen occasions in the course of the twentieth century, the United States Congress attempted to write the rules for immigration. Twice the result was major legislation signed by the President. The first was in 1924, with the passage of a racist bill that strangled the flow of immigrants for four decades. The second passed in 1965, reopening the floodgates. One law sharply reduced the percentage of foreign-born residents. The other dramatically increased it once again — and, in the process, changed America’s ethnic composition. Now, in One Mighty and Irresistible Tide, journalist Jia Lynn Yang traces the history of that second bill. Her account casts light on today’s immigration debate. It’s both eye-opening and timely.

A contentious issue for two centuries

Immigration has been a touchy issue in America for two centuries. In the 1840s and 50s, the potato famine in Ireland and the failed revolutions of 1848 forced a million Europeans to flee to the United States. Most spoke Gaelic or German and today would be considered White. But they did not feel welcome in nineteenth-century America. A second and larger wave of immigrants landed beginning in the 1890s. They came from southern and eastern Europe, chiefly Russia, Italy, and Hungary. Many were Jews. But Italians and Jews alike confronted a wall of prejudice. Today’s race hatred and widespread anti-immigrant feeling is little different. Only the objects of scorn are different. Now, they’re Mexican, Central American, Chinese, Korean, and Indian. And the origins of today’s fractious debate over admitting new Americans lie in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.

As Yang points out, “It is only from a comfortable distance, in white America, that different immigrant groups can appear to have easy, natural alliances with one another. In reality, there have often been intergroup conflicts, sometimes violent, over jobs, housing, and political representation.”

Contrasting the motivation for the two laws

Yang shows how each of the two major immigration laws was grounded in the governing obsession of its time. In the 1920s, she writes, looking back from the 1950s, “immigration debates had centered on the struggle to control the race and nationality of Americans.” Then, the pseudo-science of eugenics held sway. Members of Congress were “guided by the fear that the United States had to maintain a certain ethnic makeup to protect its democracy. Concerns over Communist infiltration by immigrants had played a supporting role in passing the 1924 law. Now they were taking center stage.” The immigration debate had shifted focus. But the opponents of reform remained resolute in their desire to keep the entry of immigrants to a minimum.

The architects of the 1965 immigration law

In One Mighty and Irresistible Tide, Yang celebrates the leadership of a handful of persistent and often courageous politicians whose work ultimately led to the adoption of the landmark 1965 immigration law. The fight to repeal the noxious “country of origins” formula baked into the 1924 legislation went on for two decades, from the end of World War II to the mid-1960s. The reason, as Yang reveals, was that “more immigrants entered the country in the first decade of the twentieth century than between 1931 and 1971.” That reality was sustained by obstructionism led by two cranky reactionaries, Senator Pat McCarran (1876–1954) of Nevada and Ohio Congressman Michael Feighan (1905–92). The two held key posts that permitted them to choke off efforts for reform for many years. But in the end the weight of history, and the skills of their adversaries, won the day.

Key players in the immigration debate

Among those who played pivotal roles in moving the country toward the 1965 reform were Herbert Lehman (1978–1963), Earl Harrison (1899–1955), and Walter Judd (1898–1994).

** Lehman was Governor of New York throughout the New Deal and a Senator representing the state in the US Senate from 1949 to 1957. In a 1952 radio address, the former partner in Lehman Brothers helped bring the issue of immigration back into the public debate by highlighting the inequities of the law then in force. And he fought doggedly against McCarran and Feighan’s unrelenting campaign to stifle efforts for change.

** Harrison served as US Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization during World War II and reformed the agency during this tenure. He was instrumental in persuading President Harry Truman to address the problems of displaced persons, many of them Jewish refugees, following the war. His work remained influential long after his death in 1955.

** Congressman Walter Judd, a former medical missionary in China, served as a Republican from Minnesota from 1943 to 1963. He was an internationalist who worked closely with President Truman to support the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and foreign aid.

Emmanuel Celler

But more than any other individual, Congressman Emmanuel Celler (1888–1981) emerges as the hero of Yang’s story. The long-serving Representative from Brooklyn and Queens served on Capitol Hill for nearly fifty years, from 1923 to 1973. He was a Democrat, a Jew, and the grandson of immigrants from Germany. Celler led an often lonely fight for less restrictive immigration polices from the time in 1924 when he inveighed against the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 in his first major speech in the House.

By 1949, however, he had risen to the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee. Celler served in that post for all but two years until 1973. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Finally, in 1965 he drafted and managed the adoption of the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which eliminated the racist national origins formula as a factor in immigration.

Three US Presidents

But three United States Presidents played central and ultimately decisive roles in the decades-long immigration debate. Harry Truman (in office 1945–1953) was the first President to advocate lowering the barriers to immigration and eliminating the “national origins” limits. John F. Kennedy (1961–63) “and his brothers Ted and Bobby became champions for immigration reform as they tried to win over white ethnic voters.” And Lyndon Johnson (1963–69) weighed into the battle for immigration reform with his usual combination of charm and arm-twisting. The former Senate majority leader played a central role in the passage of the Hart-Celler Act, which he signed into law on October 3, 1965.

About the author

Jia Lynn Yang is the National Editor of the New York Times. According to the book’s publisher, she “was previously deputy national security editor at The Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Trump and Russia. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. In her website, she discloses that her “family immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in the 1970s and was able to stay in the country thanks to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.”

[Richard Guha · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did learn some important things from this book, there were many gaps, and it was irritating. While it covers the political process in detail, it wastes much time on irrelevant material, such as a lengthy description of how JFK felt when first sitting in the Oval Office. It also barely touches on the societal changes that went with the political actions. There was also little sense of a “big picture.” For example, an overview of how attitudes towards and ways of dealing with immigration have evolved. How did immigrants themselves deal with life in America? How did the country accommodate the education and acculturation of them and their children? Overall, a disappointing book.

[Aloysius · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're a nation of immigrants, right? But there was a time, from the 1920s to the 1960s, when the nativists held tight control on immigration policy and severely limited who could come into the country. This book is an epic tale of how such a restrictive regime was placed on the land, and of who defended it and why. It also details the lawmakers and activists who bravely fought to overturn the xenophobic rule of the nativist laws.

A gripping and relevant read, to be sure.

[Julian Hattem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very much a book about immigration policy and the members of Congress/presidents who set it over a critical period in US history. It might have benefited from a slightly wider lens, but this is a well-written and engaging history of modern US immigration law, which now has a profound impact on our national identity. A reminder that the notion of the US as a "melting pot" and "nation of immigrants" is relatively new and was not necessarily inevitable.

[Mary Bellamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting fluid telling of the legislative history of twentieth century immigration bills and laws. It describes the actions of heroes and villains in Washington and rarely expands beyond that focus. Mostly well-told but every once in awhile you wish that the book were more tightly edited.

[Fraser Kinnear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yang tells the story of immigration in the first half of the 20th century, cumulating with President Johnson’s passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended our country’s race-based quota system, and transformed the nation. As she summarizes in the epilogue, we benefit from the law to this day:

The primary weapon used by lawyers who argued that Trump’s ban was illegal was the 1965 immigration law, with its clause banning discrimination against immigrants based on race, nationality, or ethnicity. Because it abolished the national origins quota system – arguably one of the most explicitly racist ideas ever signed into American law – the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act deserves a place in history alongside this country’s most significant civil rights breakthroughs.

Probably the most powerful statistic in the book:

The number of immigrants living in the United States has mor than quadrupled since the law’s passage, increasing from 9.6 million in 1970 to a record 44.4 million in 2017. Perhaps most striking, the foreign-born population has now reached its highest share since 1910, returning the country to the very state that supporters of the national origins quotas wanted to unwind a century ago … In 2015, Pew Research estimated that without post-1965 immigration, the country [in 2015] would have been 75% white, 14% black, 8% Hispanic, and <1% Asian. Instead, it was 62% white, 12% black, 18% Hispanic, and 6% Asian, and was on its way to having whites constitute <1/2 the total population in the coming decades.

The legislation had this outsized impact, because the writers didn’t appreciate the amount of chain migration and refugee acceptance (e.g., from Cuba and Vietnam) the US would accept.

Strangely, Yang doesn’t seem to comment on the importance of immigrants for powering our economy. She seems satisfied with just the moral argument. Fair enough! But, in general, this not really a book about policy, economics, or sociology. Rather, Yang is focused on the political history of the key players who pushed the pendulum of openness between the 1920s and the 1960s. It’s a wonderful, frequently heart-warming story. On occasion, the politics made strange bedfellows, which in turn made for great story-telling!

I come away really wanting to learn more about Truman, and, of course LBJ. Maybe I’ll finally attempt the Caro biography…

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book you must read because immigration is at the heart of our country’s divisions, as it was in 1924-1965. What does it mean to be American? Who deserves to call this place home? What’s the future we can paint for a sense of collective identity that is more just and inclusive?

Yang, a NYT editor and a daughter of immigrants herself, writes a thoughtful narrative of how we got to the immigration reality we have today in the US. The book shines in its engaging depiction of the legislative battles for immigration laws between the immigration liberalization advocates— folks like Manny Celler and Herbert Lehman, and the immigration restriction hawks— like Pat Mcarran. You will learn about the competing motives, fears, and public narratives used as different polices were deliberated.

Yang details the history of numerous ethnic groups as they aimed to get accommodation for increased rights and increased ability to bring family, including the stories of Chinese, Japanese, and Jewish asylum seekers during WWII. The book is a reminder of the tragedy that can befall when a lack of humanitarian aid is extended to people fleeing unconscionable violence.

Do not skip the epilogue, it’s my favorite part of the whole book. All in all, I loved this book, and highly recommend it in audiobook form.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think a more fitting title for the book would be “The epic ~political~ struggle over American immigration.” It wasn’t so much about the “mighty and irresistible tide” of immigrants coming to the country, but more so how hard politicians have fought to stem the tide.

But despite that - I learned a ton! I picked up this book to prepare for my new job as an immigration reporter and I feel more equipped.

The history is complex, but Yang untangles some of the country’s most transformative immigration-related laws in such a clear and captivating way. Her attention to details, such as past president’s mannerisms and congresspeople’s personalities, made me forget sometimes that this isn’t fiction (although sometimes I wished certain parts were fiction 🙃).

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished this audiobook- a really good history of immigration policy and the politicians who were involved. a little boot-licky of politicians, but still good. could have done without knowing how many of the people in charge of our nation drank straight up milk regularly. was particularly enraging given current immigration debates and the overt racism politicians were - and still are - allowed to espouse.

[Graydon Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about the history of America’s immigration laws throughout the 20th century, so I really enjoyed the book. Great writing, great stories, and important context for today’s multi-cultural society and political debates!

[Ginget Poulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

So wonderful to sit and read this book written by my old high school classmate. Such an important read and so apropos right now. The epilogue is so moving. Thank you and congrats Jia Lynn!

[Nathaniel Valle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer to the political history of immigration during the 20th century.

[RipsOrDrips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book RIPS.

[Aaaschless · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and well written history of twentieth century immigration policy. Of great interest are the unintended consequences of the 1965 bill, which have resulted in the development of a multicultural society beyond anyone of that era's imagining.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging study of the period of American immigration history when arrivals were controlled by national origins quotas. Yang effectively covers the pseudo-intellectual and political origins of restriction, resistance to the quota system, and its eventual replacement by the current system emphasizing family reunification and skills.

[Peter A · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of immigration to the United States is not well known to most of us. This book offers a focus on this issue, primarily bookended by 1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, which limited immigration, to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, reversed course and had impact on the United States, certainly more than many realized in 1965. The author outlines the historical context around the 1924 acts (Chinese exclusion act of 1882, World War I and its aftermath) and the arguments used to limit immigration based on national origins formula, which aimed to limit immigrants from certain “undesirable” countries and religions. The rest of the book discusses the struggle to get to the 1965 act that removed national origin and race as a criteria, although for the first time it did introduce limits on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. And the 1965 bill set criteria for immigration, involving issues we still consider today: based on family member, on needed technical or scientific expertise, … on claiming to be a refugee.

The author brings to life the key actors on all sides of the debates. One of today’s little-known people involved in the struggle to prevent and then to overturn the 1924 act is Emanuel Celler, who was a US Representative from New York (City) from March 1923 to January 1973. He is a thread that moves through the 1924 act, to multiple attempts to reverse the nation-based quota system, through many presidents, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. LB Johnson is a person who also plays a prominent role in this book, from when he was still a Congressman and through his presidency.

What this story also uncovers is the strengths and weakness of our congressional system, where a chairman of a committee can bury any legislative agenda he/she does not agree with. Also, the book highlights how the human animosity can negatively impact any attempts at compromise, or how personal connections can help create compromise. The story also relates how different groups would sometimes work together and sometimes separately, with emphasis on the Japanese-American experience and the Jewish experience, both played out in the backdrop to events in World War II.

This book also raises the troubling issue, that we see play out in today’s politics, namely opinions around what the United States should be when it grows up: a white nation from northern European stock, or a multicultural society. These issues were around in 1924, the arguments did not change much (except eugenics was used in 1924 but had been discredited by 1965). And these are the fault lines that the current President his exploiting in today’s issues.

It is clear that the 1965 law changed our country in terms of the percentages as well as numbers of people participating in US society and economy. Moreover, there is a directly line from the limitation on immigration from the Western hemisphere to today’s issues at the border with Mexico.

As we, as a nation, face some of the questions raised by the author (pp268-269, and below), she has made clear that the current anti-immigration faction has studied the history more than those who are pro-immigration. THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS, which needs to be heeded in the days, months, and likely years ahead!

A well written book that covers the history, the arguments and the people involved in our ongoing struggle, particularly between 1924 and 1965, as a nation to decide what type of society we want to shape.

And for those who live today, who have grown up since 1965, that think multiculturalism is normal, we need to think again. This is a constant struggle that this country faces and we need to consider questions the author raises:
• Do “we embrace a nationalism centered on a shared set of civic ideals or share ethic origins?”
• Are immigrant “here to benefit business or to fulfill humanitarian more obligations?”
• Do we “believe borders take precedence over human rights?”
As we go “forward and look for alternatives to today’s immigration system and consider alternatives: Do we want the more open borders we had a century ago? And if not, who exactly should have priority to enter? Will we judge based on need? On ability? On family status? Should we draw such distinctions at all?”


From the signing 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act ceremony on October 3, 1965 on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, President Johnson stated “Our beautiful America was built by a nation of stranger … From a hundred different places or more they have poured forth into an empty land*, joining and blending in one mighty and irresistible tide.”

* Of course, the land was not empty, it was inhabited by First Nation Peoples