American politician
Francis Eugene Walter
(May 26, 1894 – May 31, 1963) was a
Democratic
member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from
Pennsylvania
. Walter was a prominent member of the
House Un-American Activities Committee
from 1951 to 1963, serving as chair of that committee for the last nine of those years. He was a Democrat who wanted to minimize immigration and was largely responsible for the
McCarran?Walter Act of 1952
, which kept the old quotas but also opened up many new opportunities for legal immigration to the US.
Background
[
edit
]
Francis E. Walter was born in
Easton, Pennsylvania
. He attended
Lehigh University
,
George Washington University
and
Georgetown University
.
Career
[
edit
]
During both
World Wars I
and
II
he served in the air service of the
United States Navy
. He was the director of the
Broad Street Trust Company
in
Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania, and of the
Easton National Bank
in Easton. From 1928 to 1933 he was the Solicitor of
Northampton County, Pennsylvania
. He was a delegate to the
1928 Democratic National Convention
. He was elected as a Democrat to the
73rd United States Congress
and served until his death in Washington, D.C. In 1947?8, he served on the
Herter Committee
.
[1]
Walter is best known for the
McCarran-Walter Act
, passed over President Truman's veto in 1952, which, while it opened naturalization to Asian immigrants for the first time, continued the immigration quota system based on national origin introduced in 1924, and allowed the U.S. government to deport and/or bar from re-entry those identified as subversives, particularly members and former members of the
Communist Party
. In 1944, he presented President Roosevelt with a letter opener
made of an arm bone of a fallen Japanese soldier
.
[2]
Walter's views were regarded by some as "reactionary and racist".
[3]
A staunch
anti-Communist
, he served as chairman of the
House Un-American Activities Committee
during the
84th
through
88th
Congresses. Walter also served as a director of the
Pioneer Fund
, a foundation best known for its advocacy of
IQ
variation among races.
Walter appeared in a central role in the 1960s-era U.S. government anti-Communist propaganda film
Operation Abolition
.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Historical footage of Walter also appears in the 1990 documentary film
Berkeley in the Sixties
.
Death
[
edit
]
He died in 1963, aged 69, from
leukemia
and was interred at
Arlington National Cemetery
.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
- ^
"Final Report on Foreign Aid of the House Select Committee on Foreign Aid"
(PDF)
. Marshall Foundation. May 1, 1948
. Retrieved
May 30,
2020
.
- ^
James J. Weingartner, "Trophies of War",
Pacific Historical Review
, 61, 1 (1992), pp. 54-67, 60-61.
- ^
Roger Daniels,
Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882
(Boston & New York: Hill and Wang, 2004), p. 129.
- ^
"Operation Abolition," 1960
on
YouTube
- ^
"
Operation Abolition
",
Time
magazine, 1961.
- ^
Operation Abolition (1960)
on
YouTube
- ^
"
Operation Abolition
", video.google.com and
Time
magazine, Friday, Mar. 17, 1961.
- ^
Rep. Francis Walter of Pennsylvania Dies; Somerset Daily American; Somerset, Pennsylvania; Page 1; June 1, 1963
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Dimmitt, Marius Albert, Sr.
The Enactment of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952
. Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Kansas
, 1970
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|