He works at the six oldest reform congregation in the United States and has a illustrious history. Ings a rabbi was the lead jewish abolitionist in the United States during the civil war and was known as the abolitionist temple and since then it has a long history of social activism, but in addition to that, he has a phd in history from the university of cincinnati and has written a number of books on americanjewish history and is within a number of scholarly articles as well as articles in the more popular press and i have the honor of coauthoring an article with lance on the Huffington Post this year on the brandeis confirmation which we are also celebrating this year. Lance, thisducing is one of the great virtues of being the conference coordinator. I can add to the program whatever i want and i just wanted to add one footnote to andrews paper because i think it is relevant to what we will be talking about today. That is that in 1866 when , 150 years ago, in 1866 in congress is debating what becomes the 14th amendment, the 14th amendment begins by saying, all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to their jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and there was a strong attempt by the delegations of california and oregon to amend that and say, all persons by chinese would be citizens of the United States, and to the great credit of the United States congress, then in the hands of the antislavery Republican Party that i just led the nation to both saving the nation and ending slavery, the majority of congress simply said, no, all persons means all persons. We are not going to get into the business of excluding particular groups of people, and so that in part explains the subsequent conflict over chinese immigration and chinese rights meante the 14th amendment that their children would be citizens of the United States, even when the naturalization laws prohibited them from being naturalized. One final footnote on that duringi bring out lance, world war i, Congress Passed a law which said, if you were a orderly honorably discharged veteran you would become a citizen of the United States automatically. The 1920s, the Supreme Court ruled that that was true except for immigrants from east asia, china and japan who cannot become citizens even if they had served honorably in both the coast guard in the navy. We have always had a kind of distinct prejudice against people from east asia that only world happily65 change. Now i would like to introduce Lance Sussman who will talk to us about the 1924 act and how it relates ultimately to the civil immigration act of 1965. I should also add, lance, in addition to being a rabbi and a historian has taught at a number of institutions including Hunter College in princeton when he is not busy writing sermons, he is busy writing lectures. Mr. Sussman i do not have time to write. I just wing them. [laughter] i want to thank the United StatesCapitol Historical Society for the opportunity to speak today. Especially the wonderful staff in the chair of the symposium, my friend Paul Finkelman. Paul and i heard, have been friends for many years and are collaborating on a number of projects of which this is a particularly important one to me. It is a special honor for me to be here and have an opportunity to share my thoughts about one of this countrys most important anitical and policy issues, issue that affects the lives of millions of people every day in this country and around the world, which is of course the issue of immigration. I would also like to read it in a larger context in that migration and more specifically, immigration has played a consistently Important Role with Human History since our species first emerged in africa over 200,000 years ago. The movement of Indigenous People into the western hemisphere, the possible movement of central asians into europe are typical of our migratory species. There are a number of competing theories from economic, climatebased which has helped to explain the mass movements of entire peoples within and among various nations, regions and continents. Migration, immigration, sanctuary, diaspora, deportation, expulsion, rescue operations present numerous challenges to national and International Systems of law, seriously tested proposition that every person has inalienable rights. We migrate because we are human and our individual and collective humanity invariably is tested when we migrate. Not surprisingly, the regulation of migration by the modern nations state is complex and pits economic, cultural and legal factors against one another. Promote, variously block and ignore and selectively control migration. Immigration can be celebrated or vilified but it can never be ignored. Immigration is also a very personal matter to me. Story familys immigrant is central to my narrative as a person and is determinative in my choice of career as historical work. My fraternal grandfather arrived in this country from russia as a child and had no money, no education in no skills. Mid1920s, he emerged as one of the outstanding jewish delicatessens in east baltimore. Who knows what it wouldve been on the Eastern Front during world war i or during the bolshevik revolution or the russian civil war let alone under communism and not susan nazism in east europe. He was the father of sons that won medals. My mothers story is more heralding. She came to america alone at the age of 13 in september of 1938 from out to germany. After her parents and little brother jointure. They were the lucky ones. They had american relatives who signed papers for them, highlevel political connections, sufficient funds in a Transatlantic Network to get them into this country. The story that really shakes me is a very different one. After arriving safely in america in 1939, my maternal grandfather worked tirelessly to bring others out of not to germany germany. He even tried to save others from poland. Except for his own family, he totally failed. The friends he saw to save her all slaughtered. Money and political connections were not enough. Indifference and even hostility within the American Jewish community, the german jews sealed the fate of those macs saw to say. Every thirdsave cousin, one rabbi told my grandfather. He vowed to spit on the grave of that clergyman and in time, he did. Difficultn is a undertaking. It requires courage, fortitude, assets, connections, lock, ways of thinking about you the stranger of the dispossessed, endangered and sometimes the hopeless, to value them as equals to those secure and undisturbed. It requires and a credible faith in the humanity of the discarded, that they be given a chance that they will add to the richness of the whole society and not be a burden or a threat. One such individual who was a true champion of the immigrant, particularly the refugee, a person who had incredible faith in the humanity and capacity was representative emanuel celler, democrat of brooklyn. He was present in the house of representatives both on the 1924 of america closed in and again when they began to reopen after world war ii. More than anyone else, he was responsible for the content of the immigration act of 1965 which bears his name and is the symbolic anchor of the symposium as we are at the 50th anniversary. I would like to take a quick look at several aspects of celler. His own story, his reaction to the 1924 National Origins act, his participation of the culture and dynamics of the house, his relentless struggle during the holocaust for rescue and finally, his combination of immigration with civil rights. About emanuel celler. He was born in brooklyn, new york. His father, henry, was a whiskey maker. They had a big vat in the basement of the row home. He had three jewish and one catholic grandparent and he wrote in his autobiography myething to the effect, grandfather was catholic, my grandmother jewish, crossing over from bavaria as immigrants to the United States, the ship started to sink. My grandmother jumped overboard. My grandfather followed to save this girl he had never met. Later, of course, they married and as you said, here i am. To a certain extent, the business of immigration and rescue became the major themes of his life. It is important to point out that celler was a cultural jew and active cultural jew was not religious and did not attend synagogue. At eight years of age he says in his autobiography an important event happened in his life. Williamtook him to hear Jennings Bryan speak in that was a lifechanging moment. Education a rigorous at Columbia College but soon after entering the college he ran into major family problems. His father died and five months later, his mother died and it left him in charge of the Family Business and going to school at the same time. Despite the circumstances, he stayed on track. He graduated from Columbia University in 1910, then went to columbia law graduated in 1912,arried in 1914 to stella barb had two girls and one daughter had several policy servo policy ervo when world war i reg out, he was working i draft in new york city when he caught the attention of Democratic Party officials in the city. They asked him to run for congress. He ran a doortodoor campaign. He was elected to the united in as Congress Congressional district that changed many times throughout his career. Not surprisingly, he ran on an atiprohibition platform in district heavily populated by immigrants. Celler was in the house of representatives longer than almost anybody else in the history of the house. He started under president harding and he was still in the house when resident for camp to the white president ford came to the white house. He was known as a lover of music, especially opera. To be a successful congressman, he once said, one must have the friendliness of a child, the enthusiasm of a teenager, the assurance of a college boy, the diplomacy of a wayward husband, the curiosity of a cat in the good humor of an idiot. Sounds like a prescription for success. Took his seat in the house. Instant disliking to the culture of the hill. He lived in the Mayflower Hotel and never left brooklyn. The first thing he heard as a junior, freshman congressman was the debate over National Origins and it shook him to his core. He was deeply upset by what he heard and then spend essentially the next 50 years of his life trying to reverse it. The world changed not only for him but for everybody in 1929 with the crash of the stock power ofd the rise to it of hitler, which adolf hitler was put into motion a new immigration crisis. It is quite remarkable to note that in the very active world of holocaust history and particularly in the assessment ofthe role in United States rescue of Holocaust Victims and potential victims, that there is only one person in the entire literature, which is mostly, tremendously negative who consistently gets good marks, even for the strongest critics of american behavior during this period, scholars like david is the only person they say never lost his moral compass. When one goes through this period, the highlights or low lights of it, he puts his attention on the issue of rescue and works on it despite no success whatsoever. The first major event in terms of dealing with holocaust immigrants was the conference in france, and intergovernmental association. He tried to get unused quotas filled in the United States. The problem accelerated with the great nazi conflict against the hich in 1938 after w immigration greatly accelerated. They try to pass an act that would allow for 20,000 germanjewish children to come to United States but it completely failed. When fdr allowed for germans above the quota he received praise from celler but he was unable to get fdr to challenge the british decision to close the coast of palestine to jewish emigration, of course, a very complicated decision all the way around. Avenues, heen other wrote to an estate and to begin a 45 your process which ultimately resulted in full diplomatic relations with the holy see. For the United States, the situation of europe and of course the pacific changes with the japanese attack on pearl harbor december of 1941. This then brought the United States directly into the war and more directly into the problems of refugees coming out of europe, in particular the focus of my discussion. A very important event happens in the americanjewish community that is not in my attention adequately understood or prioritized, and that is a meeting in new york city at the Biltmore Hotel in may of 1942. A conscious decision was made at that time to embrace the windy war strategy is the number 1 win the war strategy as the number one priority. The other strategy would be jewish statehood and palestine. The conscious decision was to relegate, rescue to the third level, that that was not going to be the primary interest of community. For celler himself, he could not accept that and cannot deprioritize that. He gets to work in different areas. For example, he learns like through a telegram about the final solution, not the moment there was a particular issue in france and he tries to work toward regulation to bring the jews of france to the United States through exceptions, but again it fails. The year 1943 was perhaps the darkest hours. It was during this time that all avenues of escape were essentially blocks and in europe the genocide hit a high point. Celler and others regularly went to the white house trying to argue the case for relaxation of the restrictions in the United States and get the bridge into reverse the white paper in palestine. He also worked with various rallies that were held in Madison Square garden and elsewhere. The highlight or actually the low light of 1943 with respect to rescue operations was the socalled Bermuda Conference. The Bermuda Conference was called specifically to deal with the question of jewish immigration and rescue. s was supported by celler principle nemesis, another jewish congressman from new york city representing the upper east bloom. Epresentative later when on to distant wish himself and his work for the establishment of the united nations. Bloom upheld what happened at bermuda or rather what did not happen at bermuda as being adequate and celler did not. In his own style, celler referred to the Bermuda Conference as a blooming fiasco. In essence, no progress was made at all. By the end of the year, he was openly calling from the floor of the house for the resignation of the assistant secretary of state, breckenridge who was the biggest blocker of all inside the state at this time. In 1944, i would say the situation became too little too late. The very beginning of the war, the urging of secretary of refugee wase war established in the United States and a small plan for rescue was put into place but not really enacted upon. About 900, only individuals were relocated to a refugee camp in upstate new york. The end of the war did not bring relief to the situation. This was a particularly troubling part of the story for me. If you look into the literature of the holocaust and go to the holocaust museum, the National HolocaustMemorial Museum of far from where we are this morning, very often you see pictures of american troops liberating the camps, eisenhower insisting american troops witness it. The troops are smiling and the survivors are smiling it looks like everything is hunkydory. That could not be further from the truth. Policy wasmigration still in place by the end of world war ii and there was little interest in relaxing it, even for the survivors of the cap. Camp. President truman sends the dean of the university of Pennsylvania Law School to serve by the situation in europe. Harrison,as earl g. And he writes a scathing report that in germany itself, the American Military greatly favors the german citizens over the getting that they are all of these supplies, and that, in fact, with the exception, these are his words, except for extra shooting the people in the very littleis difference in the behavior of the American Military and their former nazi boxes inside the camp. There was a failed attempt to soften restrictive legislation for the d. P. s in 1946. Doesne place where celler have some success, and it does become an important president is the act of 1946 and it does edent, an important prec allowing filipino americans to come to the United States. To say that they were limited is one of the greatest understatements in history. They were allowed a few number of visas, but it did represent an opening. In 1948, the state of israel is established, and the pressure is taken off the absorption of the are still in Holding Camps in cyprus and other places. At this point has one of his great successes, and d. P. s are brought to United States, and it is difficult to determine peoples religion, and the law was again amended in 1952 allow an additional 100,000. By the time the hartceller act is enacted, there are about in,000 Holocaust Survivors the United States as a result of cellers work. He then went to the Judiciary Committee and remained in that position until 1973, and that would put him in a key position for a number of legislative efforts, including legislation. 1952, the congress of the United States passes the immigration and nationality act, which essentially reinforces the 1924 legislation. It was vetoed by truman by that unpopularbly the most president in American History, according to the polls, which, of course, had him defeated , and National Origins was reestablished. Once he is in this position in to turny, celler begins his attention to civil rights legislation, and he plays a major role in all of the major components of civil rights. He never gives up on his struggle for the immigrants and the relaxation of National Origins. As Paul Finkelman pointed out, senator john kennedy and others made that linkage, particularly s, and kennedy50 continue to talk about the linkage during his time in the white house. The High Water Mark for celler was the passage of the whicheller act of 1965, is one of the great turning points of American Immigration history. His experience, his knowledge of the house all played a significant role in how that legislation was actually shaped. There is a debate that we will hear more about as to whether or not you fax were whether or not the effects were intended or unintended. People who write about intent to call of the law of unintended consequences. Origins is not removed entirely, although the old system is circumscribed. In particular, it will allow for unrestricted family reunification and to some extent political sanctuary. In actsfirst time, it some limits on immigration within north america it ena cts some limits on immigration within north america at fx wages. Effects wages. Discriminate openly gay people from coming to the United States. The ceremonies that did surrounded are very curious, indeed. Beginning with lbj, including all gave thethey same speech, basically, that ons law, the hartceller act immigration, will not change the United States. They kept talking to the public, assuringf xenophobia, them it was a technicality and that nothing really was going to change, that i suppose without on 1924,e words based america would remain an anglosaxon country. As recently as october 2015, the Atlantic Monthly came out with an article titled the immigration act which inadvertently changed america. Ted kennedyything and lbj and others had to say, it really did mark the beginning of a very different time period in america with respect to the complexion of immigration to this country. However, it is also a danger of overestimating what this bill did. Turning point, but it is not the battle of gettysburg. There are other things that happened afterwards that changed of nation nature immigration, and as we saw in the 1950s, forwards and backwards. He is defeated. Liz r is defeated by holtzman. He felt he had inherited his seat. He had been a solid liberal but his since 1923, radar failed to pick up the new role of feminism in american politics. He was not particular leave vigorous in his efforts for the era, and when he heard that zman was running against him, and he said she was a hangnail, and he would bite her off. She won. With was a situation Andrew Clayton powell, one of the major riders of the gun control act, a man who really had a tremendous career in congress, to say the least of thethe Major Writers gun control act. He is there eight is survived by his one daughter he is buried in new york and survived by his one daughter, jane. Connection, in his career, he was able to get legislation for the continued operation of the somatic division of the library of congress, which today is one for the continued operation of division of the library of congress, which today is one of the finest collections. I think they summarize how he felt about himself and immigration. Hand,rst is, on the one we public you pronounce the quality of all peoples. On the other hand, in our Immigration Laws, we embrace and practice these very theories we , and and verbally condemn finally, in an interview conducted after voted out of office, looking backwards, he said, i fought against the unjust restriction of immigration in the United States. Thank you. [applause] questions and general rebuttal. A mic is coming. So i would like to know if eisenhower was aware of how the jews who had been released or escaped how did eisenhower know, and how he could that have happened . Is there an explanation for who is responsible . Well, we know at the end of the war, when american troops go into the camps and liberate some of the it. S, he himself witnessed people oforders that his staff and the American Military in general should itness it, so they saw it, that they would be witnesses so they saw it. They would be witnesses. This was to make the case that sacrifices were worth it. A lot of people had died. A lot of american soldiers, military personnel, had died, and improve the cruelty of the did that. M, so they we know that on the other side of europe, he soviet were very the soviets were very actively exploiting their own liberation of the camps for their own purposes. I do not think the americans were quite as machiavellian, but they did use these photo ops, and they did become defining in american culture, that america was the good guy and the liberator of the camp, and with the and of the fighting, everything was ok, and that, the liberator of the camp, and w end of the fighting, everything was ok. Contradictory in his behavior. On the one hand, he will work exceptions. For on the other hand, he does not initiate any kind of effort to change to change Immigration Law because of the holocaust experience, not the only experience, obviously, but it was a very dramatic one, and it involved a massive genocide, so that is how he engages it. It is not at the core of his presidency. I think truman was more moved by it personally than eisenhower. Eisenhower also had to try to shape american foreignpolicy toward israel, and it was a very cool relationship at that time. There was no special relationship between the state of israel and the United States under eisenhower. Truman had to play off of both the state department and defense that said that israel was a bad bet for the United States, and he was afraid that israel, being a socialist state, would go over to stalin, and he was looking for a way to contain it, so he supported maybe a little bit of dust out jeff from sunday school as a boy maybe a little bit of nostalgia from sunday school as a boy. Was a growing need for cooperation with the saudis did not see that as part of the response to the holocaust, which becomes part of the narrative much later. In general, in the United States, i do not inc. Holocaust holocaustdo not think as a cultural field of study or a phenomenon is particularly significant until the late 1960s. Survivors they had practical problems, but there was nothing like what we have today with special holidays and holocaust study programs, and it was shunned by the American Jewish community, as well. The culture was not there. It was a war where people got killed, and a was particularly andy stuff going on there was particularly nasty stuff going on. This is one of the things that special, that he was sensitive to the plight of the refugee and of the survivor, and without the context of the holocaust as a cultural category nevertheless was a soldier on behalf of the distressed. We are bringing mics. You will let me know what my timeframe is. This may be too narrow i saw on cspan a while back and wasrview with a man who with the United States army initially and worked with Holocaust Survivors getting restitution. I was wondering if you know of his work and whether that was connected at all with the congressman. Fascinating, fascinating. I do not. Man no, maybe you can help me. Fascinating. He has his own story, jewish background, and very unhappy being a private in the army when and really,torney singlehandedly there was one other individual in the army who, when they went into the thes, tried to maintain all documentation so that they could pursue, and he followed up at nuernberg, their interesting interviews. Documentation was key. I should have mentioned that with respect to eisenhower. Already in 1943, the pentagon was working on postwar planning, including the prosecution of nazi leadership. In particular, they had a lawyer on staff who was a jew from a god creates, defines the concept of genocide defines who creates, the concept of genocide, but it. As not ready for nuernberg they needed to be ready for trials after the war, and part of what happened at the camp was the collection of evidence for the prosecution of surviving and the americans and the british, they were quite effective. That did not, however, carry over to some type of humanitarian program. The collection of evidence to , who killede nazis a lot of americans, that was one task. Prosecuting them was another task and not attended to with the same vigor. That was an important point. Thanks. Your talk was brilliant. I have a question. You mentioned 1944, the resolutions speaking about the destruction of jewish life in did thosed what role concurrent did manny celler play a role . Sweetest he Swedish Mission and budapest . There were many. I skipped over them only trying for time. A signatory of every single resolution that went through. Ongress during this period he was absolutely active in every dimension of it. The only reason i picked it and did not say it is that there is too much detail. I do not believe the question of the bombing of auschwitz came up before the house. That was internal to the. Ilitary and the white house the one thing i did not see him weigh in on. Areas, he absolutely was there, and it is all very neatly catalogued. You can either look in the study of the American Jewish response to the holocaust or this new on fdr onhored book the holocaust, which has an unusually balanced view of it. Up on page after page after page. Thiss the warrior on particular issue despite repeated failure. Every so often, something gets through, but absolutely nothing structural. I want to ask you one quick question. Fee e a modern by our a modern biography of celler . Rabbi sussman there is almost no literature on celler. Where he appears in the secondary literature, he is part of a different narrative. There are short biographies of congressman, congressmen. Pretty goodre in shape. They are in brooklyn, so that can be found. One of the tough parts, go in to your question, is getting the material from the house itself. Not everything is digital, even at this late date, and one has to work very hard to get transcripts of speeches from the house and all of that. I, personally, am not planning on writing a biography of celler. I think it is very, very doable if there is somebody still out there interested in writing biographies. Two brief questions. A wonderful talk, by the way. In theory, there might have been a contradiction, at least from our viewpoint, of the ability of Holocaust Survivors to reach the United States and the wish to support the establishment of a jewish state. This problem possible conflict of mission recognized at the time . Is, whatcond question was the effects of jewish life in america as a result of the 1965 immigration act . Become more exotic and more mainstream as a result of the 1965 immigration act . Me take then let second one, and you will help me remember the first one. By 1965, jewish immigration post holocaust had pretty much run its course, and you had about 600,000 jews who came to the United States. Jewsnk for other reasons, begin to go more into the mainstream of american culture. You have a writer who talks as jewish as protestant, catholic, and jewish, quite a claim for a aople who were less than small percentage of the population. It is just remarkable. There is a significant shift of jews into the mainstream. Because of what i would say of 24, the processes of americas asian, services in world war ii, life in the suburbs, the process of americanization, services in world war ii, life in the it helps to lower the exotic nature of jews, and jews , and theye white become part of the white culture. Coming here from 1945 until 1965, it was a very different Jewish Population that had been here prior, and there is a word, exotify the jewish community. Ultraorthodox jews generally chose not to come to the United States. There were even rabbinic rulings , discouraging jewish immigration to america. It was very simple. If you come to america, it will be better for your body. It will be worse for your soul, and your grandchildren will be , do not, and they said come to america. After world war ii, the surviving ultra communities, in part, they came here either because they were nonscientists sts orthey were nonzioni antizionists. That is changing the community more than anything else because of their extreme birth rate. I would invite anyone to take a two or of some areas take a of brooklyn,areas and they have some of the highest birthrate in the united state some of the highest birthrates in the United States. 2050,orthodox by the year that some are going to die out, and the Jewish Population in the United States is going to become much more orthodox and larger, and teaching classes on modern saysh history, i always what will follow the jewish history, and the answer is medieval. We are out of time. We are out of time. Can i just answered this question, and we are done . Answer this question, and we are done . Very short, i promise, because the box says we are done. Boss says we are done. More important than rescue and the story, it even after the war, getting refugees to moretine was considered important than rescue in this story, even after the war, getting refugees to palestine was considered important. The American Jewish community in direct defiance of the wishes of the Israeli Government that wanted the russians to go there, and the American Jewish community argued freedom of choice on immigration. Of course, once the russian jews arrived here in large numbers, they really do not want a lot to do with them, and i will just end with an anecdote. I mentioned to my own synagogue that maybe we should have an Outreach Program to russian jews in northeast philadelphia, and one member said out loud, why do we need to do that . I already have somebody to do my nails. All right. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer joint American History tv next saturday for a live coverage on the reconstruction and the legacy of the civil war. The topics include refugee careergeneral grants after the civil war, and reconstruction in the north. 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Nina allender was the political cartoonist for the National Womens party from 1914 until 1927, contributing over 150 cartoons supporting the campaign for womens suffrage. Next, we visit the womens Equality National monument to see her work. My name is jennifer krafchik, i am Deputy Director and director of Strategic Initiatives at the National Monument on capitol hill and washington, d. C. This house was the fifth and final headquarters of the nationals womens party. The party was founded by a woman called them named alice paul in 1913 as the Congressional Union for womens suffrage