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.

Unwanted Ethnicities

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 embraced communist, socialist and anarchist ideologies, leading to the Red Scare of 1919 and 1920 and the rise of the eugenics movement in American society.

Isolationist Bent

In the years following World War One, many Americans thirsted for isolationist policies in an attempt 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 altogether and disproportionately limiting immigration from Eastern and Southern European nations and the Japanese.

Quota System

The law also set a two percent immigration quota from any given nation—except 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 quota system entirely, which at first received little support in Congress.

Reversed by LBJ

Following JFK’s tragic assassination on November 22nd, 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.