Mark Keshishian with Lady Bird and
President Johnson at the Statue of Liberty at the signing
of the Immigration Bill into law.
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ambassador
Goldberg, distinguished Members of the leadership of
the Congress, distinguished Governors and mayors, my
fellow countrymen: We have called the Congress
here this afternoon not only to mark a very historic
occasion, but to settle a very old issue that is in
dispute. That issue is, to what congressional
district does Liberty Island really
belong--Congressman Farbstein or Congressman
Gallagher? It will be settled by whoever of the two
can walk first to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
This bill that we will sign today is not a
revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of
millions. It will not reshape the structure of our
daily lives, or really add importantly to either our
wealth or our power. Yet it is still one of the most
important acts of this Congress and of this
administration. For it does repair a very deep and
painful flaw in the fabric of American justice. It
corrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of
the American Nation. Speaker McCormack and
Congressman Celler almost 40 years ago first pointed
that out in their maiden speeches in the Congress.
And this measure that we will sign today will really
make us truer to ourselves both as a country and as a
people. It will strengthen us in a hundred unseen
ways. I have come here
http://www.gmu.edu/library/specialcollections/lbjpage.htm
to thank personally each Member of the Congress
who labored so long and so valiantly to make this
occasion come true today, and to make this bill a
reality. I cannot mention all their names, for it
would take much too long, but my gratitude--and that
of this Nation--belongs to the 89th Congress. We are
indebted, too, to the vision of the late beloved
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and to the support
given to this measure by the then Attorney General
and now Senator, Robert F. Kennedy. In the final days
of consideration, this bill had no more able champion
than the present Attorney General, Nicholas
Katzenbach, who, with New York's own
"Manny" Celler, and Senator Ted Kennedy of
Massachusetts, and Congressman Feighan of Ohio, and
Senator Mansfield and Senator Dirksen constituting
the leadership of the Senate, and Senator Javits,
helped to guide this bill to passage, along with the
help of the Members sitting in front of me today.
This bill says simply that from this day forth those
wishing to immigrate to America shall be admitted on
the basis of their skills and their close
relationship to those already here. This is a simple
test, and it is a fair test. Those who can contribute
most to this country--to its growth, to its strength,
to its spirit--will be the first that are admitted to
this land. The fairness of this standard is so
self-evident that we may well wonder that it has not
always been applied. Yet the fact is that for over
four decades the immigration policy of the United
States has been twisted and has been distorted by the
harsh injustice of the national
Seen on: http://cgi.ebay.com/PRESIDENT-LYNDON-JOHNSON-STATUE-OF-LIBERTY-
12x18-PHOTO_W0QQitemZ3968058742QQcategoryZ33785QQcmdZ
ViewItem#ebayphotohosting
origins quota system. Under that system the
ability of new immigrants to come to America depended
upon the country of their birth. Only 3 countries
were allowed to supply 70 percent of all the
immigrants. Families were kept apart because a
husband or a wife or a child had been born in the
wrong place. Men of needed skill and talent were
denied entrance because they came from southern or
eastern Europe or from one of the developing
continents. This system violated the basic principle
of American democracy--the principle that values and
rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man.
It has been un-American in the highest sense, because
it has been untrue to the faith that brought
thousands to these shores even before we were a
country. Today, with my signature, this system is
abolished. We can now believe that it will never
again shadow the gate to the American Nation with the
twin barriers of prejudice and privilege. Our
beautiful America was built by a nation of strangers.
From a hundred different places or more they have
poured forth into an empty land, joining and blending
in one mighty and irresistible tide. The land
flourished because it was fed from so many
sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures
and traditions and peoples. And from this experience,
almost unique in the history of nations, has come
America's attitude toward the rest of the world. We,
because of what we are, feel safer and stronger in a
world as varied as the people who make it up--a world
where no country rules another and all countries can
deal with the
http://www.kued.org/chineseamerican/images/pressphotos/JohnsonStatueOfLiberty.jpg
basic problems of human dignity and deal with
those problems in their own way. Now, under the
monument which has welcomed so many to our shores,
the American Nation returns to the finest of its
traditions today. The days of unlimited immigration
are past. But those who do come will come because of
what they are, and not because of the land from which
they sprung. When the earliest settlers poured into a
wild continent there was no one to ask them where
they came from. The only question was: Were they
sturdy enough to make the journey, were they strong
enough to clear the land, were they enduring enough
to make a home for freedom, and were they brave
enough to die for liberty if it became necessary to
do so? And so it has been through all the great and
testing moments of American history. Our history this
year we see in Viet-Nam. Men there are dying--men
named Fernandez and Zajac and Zelinko and Mariano and
McCormick. Neither the enemy who killed them nor the
people whose independence they have fought to save
ever asked them where they or their parents came
from. They were all Americans. It was for free men
and for America that they gave their all, they gave
their lives and selves. By eliminating that same
question as a test for immigration the Congress
proves ourselves worthy of those men and worthy of
our own traditions as a Nation. ASYLUM FOR CUBAN
REFUGEES So it is in that spirit that I declare this
afternoon to the people of Cuba that those who seek
refuge here in America will find it. The dedication
of America to our traditions as an asylum for the
oppressed is going to be upheld. I have directed the
Departments of State and Justice and Health,
Education, and Welfare to immediately make all the
necessary arrangements to permit those in Cuba who
seek freedom to make an orderly entry into the United
States of America. Our first concern will be with
those Cubans who have been separated from their
children and their parents and their husbands and
their wives and that are now in this country. Our
next concern is with those who are imprisoned for
political reasons. And I will send to the Congress
tomorrow a request for supplementary funds of
$12,600,000 to carry forth the commitment that I am
making today. I am asking the Department of State to
seek through the Swiss Government immediately the
agreement of the Cuban Government in a request to the
President of the International Red Cross Committee.
The request is for the assistance of the Committee in
processing the movement of refugees from Cuba to
Miami. Miami will serve as a port of entry and a
temporary stopping place for refugees as they settle
in other parts of this country. And to all the
voluntary agencies in the United States, I appeal for
their continuation and expansion of their magnificent
work. Their help is needed in the reception and the
settlement of those who choose to leave Cuba. The
Federal Government will work closely with these
agencies in their tasks of charity and brotherhood. I
want all the people of this great land of ours to
know of the really enormous contribution which the
compassionate citizens of Florida have made to
humanity and to decency. And all States in this Union
can join with Florida now in extending the hand of
helpfulness and humanity to our Cuban brothers. The
lesson of our times is sharp and clear in this
movement of people from one land to another.
President
Lyndon B. Johnson, accompanied by Lady Bird Johnson
and Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Mrs. Humphrey,
visited Liberty Island to sign the 1965 Immigration
Bill, October 3, 1965.
(Source: Photograph Collection of the American
Museum of Immigration, Liberty Island, U.S.
Department of the Interior, NPS)
Once again, it stamps the mark of failure on a
regime when many of its citizens voluntarily choose
to leave the land of their birth for a more hopeful
home in America. The future holds little hope for any
government where the present holds no hope for the
people. And so we Americans will welcome these Cuban
people. For the tides of history run strong, and in
another day they can return to their homeland to find
it cleansed of terror and free from fear. Over my
shoulders here you can see Ellis Island, whose vacant
corridors echo today the joyous sound of long ago
voices. And today we can all believe that the lamp of
this grand old lady is brighter today-- and the
golden door that she guards gleams more brilliantly
in the light of an increased liberty for the people
from all the countries of the globe. Thank you very
much. NOTE: The President spoke at 3:08 p.m. on
Liberty Island in New York Harbor before a group of
several hundred guests who had crossed to the island
by boat for the ceremony. In his opening words he
referred to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey,
Representative John W. McCormack of Massachusetts,
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Arthur
J. Goldberg, U.S. Representative to the United
Nations. During his remarks the President referred to
Representative Leonard Farbstein of New York,
Representative Cornelius E. Gallagher of New Jersey,
Representative Emanuel Celler of New York, Senator
Robert F. Kennedy of New York, Attorney General
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, Senator Edward M. Kennedy
of Massachusetts, Representative Michael A. Feighan
of Ohio, Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, majority
leader of the Senate, Senator Everett M. Dirksen of
Illinois, minority leader of the Senate, and Senator
Jacob K. Javits of New York. As enacted, the
immigration bill (H.R. 2580) is Public Law 89-236 (79
Stat. 911). In late September Cuban Premier Fidel
Castro had announced that Cubans with families in the
United States would be permitted to emigrate. The
first of these refugees began arriving in Florida by
small boat on October 7, and by October 18 the number
had exceeded 700. On October 31, 1965, the President
approved the Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1966,
which included an additional sum of $12,600,000 for
the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for
assistance to refugees in the United States (Public
Law 89-309, 79 Stat. 1133). On February 15, 1966, the
White House made public a report to the President
from Attorney General Katzenbach which stated in
part, "Although the Act has been in effect only
two months, it has already reunited hundreds of
families through its preferential admissions policy
for aliens with close relatives in the United States
.... Another 9,268 refugees from Cuba arrived in the
United States during 1965. Of these, 3,349 came in
December via the airlift arranged by the United
States and the Cuban governments. Some 104,430
resident aliens were naturalized as American citizens
during the year." The text of the report is
printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential
Documents (vol. 2, p. 220).
