The United States has always been seen as the land of immigrants. Its own foundation and government was founded by the sweat and blood of those known to the land as foreign. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, before WWII, immigration was open to all who wanted to enter the United States. However, by the 1880s, this unlimited freedom began to fade behind politics and nativism. Throughout this time the United States was fearing that the wave of immigrants making way into America were only trying to take over and disrupt the American way of life. Acts and quota systems on immigration were passed to reduce the amount of immigrants coming to the U.S. Thus in the initial stages of World War II the U.S was not open to refugees, denying the safety for many needing a safe zone.
In 1907 the House and Senate established the United States Immigration Commission, which was under the leadership of Senator William P. Dillingham, who issued a report in 1910 promoting a reduction in immigration because they believed the groups of incoming immigrants were “racially inferior”. It called for a passage of a literacy test to preserve the great American values. Congress passed the legislation but President Taft vetoed it saying that illiteracy was a result of a lack of educational opportunity not native intelligence. In 1915 Woodrow Wilson became the third president to veto it also stating it went against the American policy of open doors. However, by the wake of the U.S entering World War I and growing resentment against foreigners, congress went against Wilson’s veto and enforced the literacy test. However the test did little to reduce the amount of immigration. In 1920, immigration began to increase rapidly, along with American fear that million of refugees from war-torn Europe were all waiting to get into the U.S.
Much of what backed up the concept of immigration restrictions was the idea of scientific racism. Political figures, such as Warren G. Harding, wanted the United States only to let people in whose background and racial characterization would have the capability to adopt American values and principals. There were even authorized magazines that claimed that laws of biology proved that the inferior race “Nordics” would deteriorate physically and mentally if intermarried to other races. It was even said that the human race was like a huge snake; the Nordic race was the head while the inferior race was the tail. This type of scientific argument is what mostly fueled and contributed to the creation of the 1921 quota system on immigration.
Early in the year 1921, the House of Representatives passed Johnson’s bill that wanted a two-year suspension on immigration. However there were still a few who did not believe in the total ban of immigration, fearing it could stop access to European labor for business groups. Thus Senator William Dillingham offered a quota plan that would hopefully satisfy both business and labor. The policy claimed that each nation would receive a quota of immigrants equal to five percent of that country’s population in the U.S. before the approval; however, Johnson changed it stating the quota would be reduced to three percent and set 350,000 as the maximum amount of legal immigrants for one year. Even though President Wilson had vetoed it shortly after leaving office, President Harding called for a session on May 19, 1921, which led to the approval of the House to pass the Emergency Quota Act. The approval of the Emergency Quota Act led to one of the most important changes in American immigration. It severely reduced immigration into the United States. The first year the act was enforced only 309,556 people legally entered the country, compared with 805,228 the previous year. Under the 1921 law, boats that were filled with immigrants waiting for the arrival to the opportunist United States were returned to their homelands.
During the time America feared and argued over the concept of over flowing immigrants entering the U.S, there was so much devastation in Europe because of the rise in Nazism. This devastation made many Europeans want to escape and leave to America. However, under U.S policies, many whom desired to enter the U.S for safety were denied that satisfaction. There were strong quota systems only allowing a few lucky refugees to enter into the U.S. Even the Jewish population that were under intense pressure for emigration were somewhat denied entrance to America. American anti-Semites and antagonists of immigration during economic bad times did not even accept proposals such as the Wagner-Nourse proposal, where restrictions were reduced for victims of Hitler. President Roosevelt did not want to fight this hostility but he did order to maximize Jews’ access to visas under quotas that were for Germany and Austria. World War II also caused so many DP cases, where many displaced people, refugees, needed homes. At that time however, since the U.S. was not taking in immigrants, many where found to be homeless and hopeless.