Jfk Immigration Thesis

President John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) text, A Nation of Immigrants, describes the waves of immigration into America starting from the earliest settlers to today’s most recent immigrants. Throughout Kennedy’s presidency, he believed that immigrants had played a pivotal part in the development of the United States because they contributed their special skills and talents into American society. Immigrants dreamed of coming to America for a variety of reasons with the most common being to escape religious persecution, job opportunities, and personal freedom. However, there were certain restrictions, standards, examinations, and quotas that an individual had to pass in order to be accepted into the U.S. In opposition to most of these regulations President

There were various viewpoints given of what the typical immigrant goes through, but the book was mainly President Kennedy’s own perception of how immigration has helped the United States flourish in different aspects. Unfortunately, JFK never got the opportunity to express his opinions to Congress in person making A Nation of Immigrants his final piece of work. In similarity to his other books, he was able to capture facets in our country that are timeless and forever prominent to this very day such as the debate on immigration. President Kennedy writes with the mindset to inform the public on the most important issues occurring in America with the aid of other researchers knowledgeable of the topic. For instance the foreword of the book was written by Abraham H. Foxman, a national director of the Anti-Defamation League which works to provide fair treatment and justice to all people. Kennedy’s composition has been reviewed by several, but the critics have the same thing to say. The arguments that JFK made in the years before his death can be applied today as it was

I personally chose to read this book because my parents were immigrants from the Philippines, and I loved listening to their stories of coming to America. One aspect of the book that made it very enjoyable to read was the copious amounts of photos and illustrations that displayed immigrants of different ethnicities. The reader gets a chance to see the faces of those who endured pain, hardship, illness, and other sufferings just to come to the United States. In spite of that, I thought that dedicating an appendix at the end of the book with a timeline about immigration made me bored out of my mind. Though President Kennedy did a job well done by writing the rest of A Nation of Immigrants because immigration policy did improve as time went on. Our country learned to appreciate diversity and became what it is today due to immigrants. I believe that the main thesis that JFK was trying to make was the fact that basically all Americans are immigrants. As stated by President John F. Kennedy, “The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and in entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background.” I totally agree with this statement. It is shocking to me still how much racism and prejudice there is against foreigners. Honestly, I never understood the