When Congress passed the 1924 Immigration Act, which imposed a near ban on immigration from Asia and restricted immigration from Europe through the national origins quota system, Rep. Albert Johnson (R-Wash.), one of its sponsors, was clear about the motivation. He called it “America’s second declaration of Independence” and argued that “the United States is our land … if it was not the land of our fathers, at least it may be, and it should be, the land of our children. We intend to maintain it so. The day of unalloyed welcome to all peoples, the day of indiscriminate acceptance of all races, has definitely ended.” Aiming to whiten the country — to ensure that American families remained white — meant legally restricting the immigration of people deemed nonwhite.
But over the course of the 20th century, reformers sought to open the gates that had been shut so tightly. Gradually appeals to American family values emerged as the main tool to challenge restriction. Italian and Jewish reformers understood that, despite their differences, congressional leaders of both parties were willing to negotiate over family reunification as an exception to restriction because many of them regarded the family unit as the foundation for U.S. society.
Their efforts finally began to succeed in the 1950s. Although Italian and Jewish reform advocates were frustrated when the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act retained the national origins quota system from the 1920s, they welcomed the law’s new emphasis on family reunion.
Because of the act’s emphasis on family reunification, education and economic potential, immigration increased in the late 1950s. Immigrants from outside of Europe took advantage of these new family provisions, despite the small annual quotas allocated to their countries. In turn, these trends paved the way for a more diverse society.
Under the law, more than 2 million immigrants should have arrived between 1952 and 1965, but in fact 3.5 million people entered the country, only about a third of whom came under the annual immigrant quotas allocated by the law. Many instead entered through the family reunion provisions. This trend expanded considerably after Congress, again embracing the centrality of family, passed the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which replaced the national origins quota system with a global ceiling on immigration and retained the emphasis on family reunion, skills and education.