The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, also known as the McCarren-Walter Act, was a controversial law that would revise the national quotas of individuals entering the United States. While it dissolved restricted access to the United States based on race, only a set amount of immigrants from each nation were allowed to enter the country at a time.
This is a letter sent to President Harry S. Truman from Eleanor Roosevelt, forwarding a letter she received from a group of “interned illegal Jewish homeless immigrants on Ellis Island” expressing their distress about the Immigration and Naturalization Bill. While Truman did indeed veto this bill, his decision was eventually overturned by Congress.
This document was identified by teachers in our Primarily Teaching 2017 Summer Workshop at the Truman Library.
