HOUSE PASSES IMMIGRATION BILL EXCLUDING JAPANESE 322-71
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 13, 1924, The Sunday Star reports the passage yesterday of the Japanese Immigration Bill* by the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 322-71.
The proposed legislation, which includes "a Japanese exclusion provision," was met with vigorous protest by the government of Japan. The Star states that "no effort was made to eliminate the Japanese section" despite that objection and there was only "brief and perfunctory discussion" of the bill.
Representative Albert Johnson** (R-Washington), chairman of the House immigration committee, said after the vote that when differences in the House and Senate versions are ironed out, House managers will "insist to end...the Japanese exclusion provision."
JFK+50 NOTE
The Statue of Liberty, which greeted immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th & early 20th centuries, bears the inscription "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
The anti-immigration movement of the 1920s, however, ushered in a "dark chapter" in our immigration history. A New York Times headline of April 1924 describes it best..."LAND OF THE MELTING POT COMES TO END."
The pendulum swung back, however, when LBJ signed into law The Immigration & Naturalization Act of 1965 which eliminated the quotas set in the 1920s & increased the number of visas issued yearly.
JFK's "A Nation of Immigrants," available at the JFK Library's Museum Store, is described by Amazon.com as "a most worthy and relevant contribution to the contemporary debate on immigration reform."
*President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) into law which prevented immigration to the United States from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from Eastern & Southern Europe.
**Albert Johnson (1869-1957) was born in Springfield, Illinois & worked as a newspaper reporter & editor before serving in the US House of Representatives 1913-1933.
SOURCES
"Japanese Banned As House Passes Alien Bill 322-71," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., April 13, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigration and the Politicians Who Pushed It Back," by Anna Diamond, May 19, 2020, Smithsonian Magazine, www.smithsonianmagazine.com/
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