Immigration Act of 1924

[Music] today on the daily dose the Immigration Act of 1924 in a country made up almost entirely of northern European immigrants America's open door policy of the late 19th and early 20th century brought with it a Melting Pot diaspora of foreign cultures and Notions of non-democratic governance leading to Growing ethnic pushback from the nation's predominantly northern European majority from such places as England Ireland and Scandinavia during the early 20th century however the steady arrival of immigrants from Eastern and Southern European nations and Asia led to an uptick in job competition fears increased labor disputes and

a steady rise in immigrants who Embrace communist socialist and Anarchist ideologies leading to the Red Scare of 1919 and 1920 and the rise of the Eugenics movement in American society in the Years following World War One many Americans thirsted for isolationist policies in an attempt to weed out radical outside influences leading to the Immigration Act of 1924 which was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on May 26th effectively embracing a form of strict racial discrimination regarding who could come to America under the new law only immigrants with a college degree or specialized skills were

allowed entry while denying Mexicans all together and disproportionately limiting immigration from Eastern and Southern European nations and the Japanese the law also set a two percent immigration quota From Any Given Nation except of course immigrants arriving from northern Europe based on ethnic percentages counted during the census of 1890 which was later dropped in 1927 in lieu of a total immigration cap of 150 000 foreigners per year while the Immigration Act of 1924 Drew immediate and steady opposition by most left-leaning politicians the isolationist law would remain in effect until President Kennedy introduced a bill to abolish

the quotas system entirely which at first received little support in Congress following JFK's tragic assassination on November 22 1963 however incoming president Lyndon Baines Johnson took charge of Kennedy's unfinished business pledging to honor the memory of our late president known for his ability to push legislation through Congress on October 3rd 1965 LBJ signed the immigration and nationality act which effectively ended ethnic immigration favoritism for Northern Europeans for the first time since the nation's founding making the Immigration Act of 1924 one of the most racially discriminatory laws in American history and there you have it the

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