Great depression

The book talked about the great depression of the 1930 and how it changed the pattern of immigration drastically. The great depression is an immense tragedy that placed million of American out of work. When the great depression hit the US many people left he country. According to the book” in the 1930s the number of people leaving the United States exceeded the number entering”. I think that this is a natural act. As we studied before, in order for an immigration to happen there have to be push factor that push people out from their country, and pull factor tat attract people to the new destination.  When the great depression strokes the US, the pull factor was eliminated, and the push factor was created in the US. Many people left because of the economic situation. The number of immigrants dropped intensely from 191,039 in 1930 to 35,257 in in 1931. This is a huge decrease of the number of immigrants that entered the country.

The book pointed two reasons that led to the decrease in the immigrant’s number. The first reason as I mentioned above was the great depression. The second reason is that the American government changed the rules. In 1930, the president of the United States Herbert Hoover issued an order to all American consulates to interpret the LPS clause more strictly. Before that, it was possible to get into the country if you had at least twenty-five dollars in your pocket.  After they tightened the regulation, many people have to show evidence of financial support form their relatives. This regulation denied many immigrants from entering the country.  

When president Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he made a lot of changes in the US economy, the American politics, and the immigration structure.  He gave enormous appointments for Catholic and Jews. He wanted to give more freedom and right to these groups. Roosevelt was against nativism; he stated to the nativist groups when he celebrated the remarks to the daughters of the American revolution in 1993 “ remember, remember, always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionaries” President Roosevelt welcomed all immigrants regardless of their faith. Many people did not like this act and started to attack this notion of equality to all religions.

A leading nativist propagandist, Madison Grant wrote:

“ When the Bolshevists in Russia are overthrown, which is only a matter of time, there will be a great massacre of Jews and I suppose that we will get the overflow unless we can stop it”

Clearly Madison was against getting more Jews as immigrants. Madison was a lawyer and a historian. He played an active role in crafting the immigration restriction in the United Sates.