Letter to Representative Keating of New York Concerning the Admission of European Refugees and Escapees.
[ Released September 25, 1956• Dated September 24, 1956 ]
Dear Ken:
I am delighted to learn of your forthcoming visit to Europe in the interest of refugees and escapees.
It is fundamental that free America remain an asylum for a substantial number of those who continue to risk their lives to reach freedom. I was, therefore, greatly disappointed that the Congress failed to heed my several requests to pass legislation to preserve this noble role of America in the world. It was no less than a tragedy for the people directly concerned abroad. Only nine days before the Congress adjourned, I emphasized my feelings about this in a letter of July 18 to Senator Arthur Watkins. I pointed out that this legislation was urgently needed in a critical situation, and was fully in the spirit of one of our country's proudest traditions--that of offering a haven to the persecuted and oppressed.
I will, of course, again urge such legislation in the next session of the Congress.
And I do hope that your present mission will help you to carry forward even more vigorously your efforts to persuade the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Congress of the need for early and favorable action in this field.
Sincerely,
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: Representative Kenneth B. Keating, a member of a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee responsible for legislation in aid of escapees and refugees, was an alternate member on the U. S. Delegation to the semiannual meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. His letter is dated September 20.
The President's letter of July 18 to Senator Watkins was not released.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to Representative Keating of New York Concerning the Admission of European Refugees and Escapees. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233209