Lyndon Johnson on Immigration

	Lyndon Johnson on Immigration

Signed 1965 Immigration Act; but not mentioned in his memoir

Theodore White, who lived to see the early consequences of the 1965 Immigration Act, called it "noble, revolutionary--and probably the most thoughtless of the many acts of the Great Society." In his memoirs, LBJ does not even mention the Immigration Act of 1965.

On October 3, 1965, at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965. We live today with its consequences. But most Americans have never reconciled themselves to it, and many have actively resisted.

Source: State of Emergency, by Pat Buchanan, p.240 , Oct 2, 2007

OpEd: Immigration Reform Act of 1965 led to current crisis

We see a political motivation behind the nearly unrestrained flood of illegal immigrants across our borders, where they are granted amnesty. Sen. Ted Kennedy, along with Pres. Lyndon Johnson, may have laid the foundation for the current immigration crisis with the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. Arguably, Johnson and Kennedy saw a potential voting bloc, and they went after it. If they allow as many illegal aliens into the US as possible, these illegal immigrants might all become Democrats. Source: Minutemen, by Jim Gilchrist & Jerome Corsi, p. 32 , Jul 25, 2006

Abolish country-specific discriminatory quotas

We must do something about our immigration laws. Two-thirds of the total immigration quota goes under that law, to people who never use all their quota.

Pres. Roosevelt, with a good Dutch name, proposed the immigration law be changed. Truman, with a good English name, proposed the law be changed.
Pres. Eisenhower, with a good German name, proposed the law be changed.
Pres. Kennedy, with a good Irish name, proposed that the law be changed.
And now a President, L Johnson, with an English name, and with an Irish name, and with German and Scottish and French forebears, proposes this law be changed.

We want to abolish those discriminatory quotas gradually over a 5-year period and raise the overall l 9,000, or 1/80th of 1 percent of our work force. This would permit families to unite which have too long been broken.

We stand for a compassionate nation, not a callous nation. We stand for uniting our country instead of dividing it.

Source: Remarks at Washington H.S., Lake County, Indiana (APP#639) , Oct 8, 1964

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Page last updated: Feb 22, 2022