Opening Heaven's Door: Public Opinion and Congressional Votes on the 1965 Immigration Act

Facchini, Giovanni; Hatton, Timothy J.; Steinhardt, Max F.

Abstract

The 1965 Immigration Act represented a radical shift in US policy, which has been credited with dramatically expanding the volume and changing the composition of immigration. Its passing has often been described as the result of political machinations negotiated within Congress, without regard to public opinion. We show that congressional voting was consistent with public opinion on abolishing the country-of-origin quotas but not with the desire to limit the volume of immigration. While the former initially reflected attitudes over civil rights, the latter is consistent with contemporary expectations that the expansion in numbers would be modest.

Citation

Facchini, G., Hatton, T. J., & Steinhardt, M. F. (2024). Opening Heaven's Door: Public Opinion and Congressional Votes on the 1965 Immigration Act. Journal of Economic History, 84(1), 232-270. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050723000529

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 25, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-03
• Deposit Date: Apr 19, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 19, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Economic History
• Print ISSN: 0022-0507
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 84
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 232-270
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050723000529
• Keywords: US immigration policy; 1965 Immigration Act; Congressional voting
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/19782253
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/opening-heavens-door-public-opinion-and-congressional-votes-on-the-1965-immigration-act/A9AFA95C2A6CFE0C516A560D28C4CF12