Subversives Out! Repressive McCarran-Walter Immigration Act Signed
Officially the Immigration and Nationality Act (but usually referred to as the McCarran-Walter Act), the law passed on this day allowed the government to deport aliens and naturalized citizens for subversive activities, and also to bar alleged subversives from entering the country.
President Truman had vetoed the law two days earlier, but Congress overrode his veto by large margins (57–26 in the Senate), and Truman signed it into law on this day.
Truman had a very mix record on civil liberties during the Cold War. He initiated the federal Loyalty Program in 1947, which established the principle of “guilt by association” in determining whether federal employees were security risks. The Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations, which was a major part of the program, was a repressive instrument that inspired other “lists” of alleged people and organizations. On the other hand, however, his statement in vetoing the repressive McCarran Act in September 1950 was an outstanding expression of civil liberties values.
The provisions of the law that allowed the government to deny people from other countries visas to enter the U.S. because of their political views were largely repealed in later years.
Learn more: Roger Daniels, Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882 (2004)
Read: Michael J. Ybarra, Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt (2004)
See a timeline on U.S. immigration history here
Learn about immigrants’ rights today from the ACLU.
Read about President Truman and Civil Liberties: Samuel Walker, Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama (2012)