The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (or the Hart-Celler Act) marks a significant turning point in the history of U.S. immigration policy. After President Lyndon Johnson signed the act on October 3, 1965, nationality-based quotas were replaced with a yearly ceiling of 120,000 visas for the Western Hemisphere and 170,000 for the eastern hemisphere. In addition to the overhaul of the quota system, the 1965 act also prioritized admittance for immigrants seeking visas for family reunification and those with desired skills and professional experience.

American political groups have often responded negatively to perceived threats to the economic, political, social, and cultural stability of the United States posed by new immigrants. While language barriers and labor exploitation have historically kept many immigrants in poor working and living conditions in New York and other cities, U.S. politicians and nativist organizations argued that these migrants were incapable of assimilation due to unhealthy habits, low levels of intelligence, and a proclivity for violence and crime. This was especially true, the argument went, for the large numbers of Italians, central and southeastern Jews, Poles, Greeks, and Hungarians who migrated to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a result, a series of restrictive immigration policies defined the post–World War I years through the mid-1940s. Following the trend set by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was renewed indefinitely in 1902, the Immigration Act of 1924 used quotas based on nationality to limit the number of “undesirable” immigrants arriving from southern, central, and southeastern Europe and excluded all Asian immigrants, apart from Filipinos who were colonial subjects of the United States. While the 1924 act defined U.S. immigration policy during the interwar years, World War II represented a shift that would create the context for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Because China was the United States’ ally during the war, Americans were embarrassed by the Chinese Exclusion Act, so politicians responded by passing the Magnuson Act of 1943, which overturned exclusion and granted naturalization rights to Chinese people already living in the United States. During the early 1950s, America’s restrictive immigration policies again became a point of humiliation when the United States was supposed to be a bastion of freedom in comparison with the Soviet Union. As part of Cold War politics, Congress therefore passed the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, which eliminated all Asian exclusion as a way to build good relations with Asian nations. This act, however, did maintain nation-based quotas and instituted deportation provisions for Communists and other “subversive” aliens. As the Cold War raged on and a growing civil rights movement swept through the United States during the early 1960s, support for change in immigration policy influenced debates surrounding the Immigration Act of 1965.

Political officials and everyday Americans debated with one another over the Immigration Act of 1965 and predicted what changes would accompany immigration reform. Some, like President Johnson, doubted that the act would have any impact on migration patterns while others argued that by abolishing race-based quotas, “hordes” of immigrants from all corners of the world would drastically undermine the social, political, and even racial order in the United States. Immigrants who arrived in America following the act, as well as ethnic and racial minorities already settled in the United States, also expressed their views on changing immigration policy. The primary sources in this unit offer varied views from politicians, presidents, and migrants on the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and reflect the policy’s connection to larger political and social trends at the time.