Harry S. Truman: Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Report of the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization.

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373 - Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Report of the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization.
January 13, 1953

Harry S. Truman
1952-53

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To the Congress of the United States:

I am transmitting herewith the report of the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization, which has been made to me under date of January 1, 1953. This report is the work of a Commission of seven members, appointed by me in accordance with Executive Order 10392, September 4, 1952. The Commission was authorized and directed to make a survey and evaluation of the immigration and naturalization policies of the United States, and to make recommendations for such legislative, administrative or other action as in its opinion might be desirable in the interests of the economy, security and responsibilities of this country.

The Commission's report and recommendations are based on hearings held in eleven cities from coast to coast between September 30th and October 29th last. Four hundred statements were received orally or in writing during the hearings, and 234 more written statements were filed with the Commission after the hearings were over. In some instances, individual witnesses represented a number of different organizations, so that approximately one thousand individuals and organizations, representing many millions of people, made their views known to the Commission.
Through the cooperation of Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, the record of the hearings and statements has been printed, and is available for study.

The Commission, which is to go out of existence by the end of this month, is composed of the following members:

Philip B. Perlman of Maryland, Chairman. (Formerly, Solicitor General of the United States; formerly City Solicitor of Baltimore; Secretary of State of Maryland; Assistant Attorney General of Maryland.)

Earl G. Harrison of Pennsylvania, Vice Chairman. (Attorney; formerly United States Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization--and formerly Dean of the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania.)

Monsignor John O'Grady of Washington, D.C. (Secretary, National Conference of Catholic Charities.)

Reverend Thaddeus F. Gullixson of Minnesota. (President, Lutheran Theological Seminary of St. Paul, Minnesota; Chairman, Minnesota State Displaced Persons Commission.)

Clarence E. Pickett of Pennsylvania. (Honorary secretary, American Friends Service Committee.)

Adrian S. Fisher of Tennessee. (Legal Adviser to State Department; formerly General Counsel of Atomic Energy Commission and Solicitor of the Department of Commerce.)

Thomas G. Finucane of Maryland. (Chairman, Board of Immigration Appeals, Department of Justice.)

These commissioners brought to their work the benefit of long and distinguished experience in public affairs, and great talent in the evaluation of facts and in ability to reach fair and impartial judgments. Their appraisal of the injurious effect of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 merits your earnest and prompt consideration. Their recommendations for new provisions and new policies, embodied in their report, are in accordance with our finest traditions. Such recommendations, if enacted into law, would do much to convince the peoples of the free world that we have not lost an iota of our faith in the great principles upon which this Nation was rounded, and upon which it has risen to a place of pre-eminence among all nations.

The report and the record of hearings and statements are documents of the greatest possible value to all those interested in legislative and administrative action to formulate and enforce policies in strict accordance with the doctrines laid down in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The recommendations are designed to eliminate from our immigration laws the unfortunate provisions which apply discriminations based on national origin, race, creed and color; and to substitute provisions worthy of our people and our form of government.

I am confident you will join me in my gratitude to the members of the Commission for the splendid services they have so generously given at my request.

I am sending a copy of the Commission's report, and of the record of the Commission's hearings, as they appear in the Committee Print of the House Committee on the Judiciary, to General Eisenhower.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Note: The report "Whom We Shall Welcome," dated January 4, 1953, was published by the Government Printing Office (1952, 319 pp.).
See also Items 244, 364.

Citation: Harry S. Truman: "Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Report of the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization.," January 13, 1953. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14387.

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