CLOSING THE OPEN DOOR

1
CLOSING THE OPEN DOOR

• CHANGING ATTITUDES TO IMMIGRATION

2
STOPPING IMMIGRATION

• Until 1914 America placed few restrictions on
  migrants.
• A law of 1891 stopped criminals, lunatics,
  people with contagious diseases and polygamists
  from entering.
• A law of 1907 stopped unaccompanied children and
  imbeciles from entering.

3
WHY CHANGING ATTITUDES?

• There were growing concerns about the quality
  of migrants health and literacy.
• Migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe were
  regarded with suspicion and hostility
  Catholics, Jews, non-English-speakers.
• Racist views said these migrants were criminals,
  vagrants, inferior peoples

4
WHY CHANGING ATTITUDES?

• Americans and older migrants regarded themselves
  as superior to the newer migrants they were
  known as WASPS White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
• Newer migrants were accused of being cheap labour
  and strike-breakers.

5
THE KU KLUX KLAN

• The Ku Klux Klan were formed in 1865 by
  ex-soldiers from the defeated South.
• Their main target was black Americans who they
  hated and feared.
• Later the Klan also targeted Jews, Catholics and
  migrants. They were seen as inferior and a
  danger to the purity/dominance of the white race.

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WORLD WAR 1

• America did not enter the war until 1917.
• Americans were generally sympathetic to Britain
  and France.
• However a large number of German-Americans and
  Irish-Americans either preferred a German victory
  or hated Britain.

8
REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA

• In 1917 communists seized power in Russia.
• Communists hated Americas economic system
  capitalism.
• There was fear in America that violent
  revolution would spread there.
• Another political group who wanted to use
  violence were called anarchists.
• The activities of these groups created panic in
  America. This was known as The Red Scare.

9
AMERICA THE VIOLENT SOCIETY

• America was a violent society.
• Crime was a serious problem in big cities.
• Many criminal gangs were controlled by migrants
  e.g. the Mafia (Italians).
• American employers were anti-trade union.

Alphonse "Scarface" Capone
10
AMERICA THE VIOLENT SOCIETY

• Trade unionists were often involved in labour
  battles with other workers brought in by
  employers specially to break strikes.
• Organisations like the Ku Klux Klan used
  violence against Black Americans and migrants.
• Migrants were increasingly being seen as a
  problem not a benefit.

11
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES

• Many American employers disliked trade unions.
• As a result strikes by workers were often bitter
  and marked by violence.
• Some workers formed secret organisations such as
  the mainly Irish Molly Maguires who fought
  bitter battles in the Pennsylvania coalfields.

12
REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE

• In this bitter atmosphere its not surprising
  that some organisations advocated violence.
• Important among these were the anarchists.
• They believed that all governments were evil and
  violence should be used to get rid of them.

13
SACCO AND VANZETTI

• One of the best examples of fear of revolution
  was the case of Sacco and Vanzetti.
• Both were Italian immigrants and both were
  anarchists.
• In 1921 they were arrested and accused of
  robbery.
• After an unfair trial Sacco and Vanzetti were
  executed in 1927.
• The judge took the view that they were guilty
  because they were anarchists.
• In 1977 Governor Michael Dukakis signed a pardon
  for both men.

14
GROWING DEMANDS TO CUT MIGRATION

• Increasingly demands were made to cut migration.
• In 1921 a new immigration act (law) set a limit
  of 3 of each nationality living in the US in
  1910. This would cut migration from Eastern and
  Southern Europe.
• In 1924 another act said only 150,000 migrants
  could come every year. The proportion was based
  on numbers of migrants in the US in 1890.
• 1929 immigration limited to 150,000
• THE OPEN DOOR HAD CLOSED

15
THE VIEW BY 1924

• New immigrants are no longer seen as
  enriching American culture. Apparently they have
  nothing to offer. Behind this short-sighted
  policy is religious and racial prejudice. People
  have forgotten that this nation was built on the
  blood and sweat of immigrants from all over the
  world. Who built our bridges and subways and
  tower blocks? Poor Hungarians, Italians and Poles
  did. So did the Catholic Irish. All this is
  forgotten in a wave of WASP prejudice.
• The Chicago Daily News, 1924

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Why was there tension between the old and new
immigrants? (5)

• Americans worried about immigrants
• Taken their jobs, houses
• Rising unemployment
• Spreading of communism, the red scare
• Crime
• Mistrust of foreigners after WW1
• KKK