112 Chapter 5
AlthoughFranklinD. Rooseveltwasnot as explicitas his equallypresidentialcousin
in supportingeugenics,racialdiscriminationfiguredintohis administration.His absten-
tionfromsupportof federalanti-lynchingbillsarosefroman unwillingnessto alienate
himselffromsouthernDemocraticCongressmen.Andfor that samereason,FDRdeclined
any oppositionto the Jim Crow-erapolltax whosesolepurposewasto preventsouthern
blacksfromvoting.^74
Furtherconsiderthe ideologicalbait-and-switchthatSDATpullson the issueof early
twentieth-centuryeffortsto restrictimmigrationintothe USA.Hofstadterwritesdisap-
provinglyof theseeffortsat immigrationcontrol,and I cannotblamehimfor thatdisap-
proval.I supportopenimmigrationto a radicaldegree.Whatbothersme, though,is that
SDATobscuresthe identitiesandpoliticalideologiesof the civicleadersmostvocaland
effectivein championingimmigrationcontrol.“Theinfluxof a largeimmigrantpopula-
tionfrompeasantcountriesof centraland southernEurope,hardto assimilatebecauseof
rustichabitsand languagebarriers,gavecolorto the notionthatimmigrationwaslower-
ing the standardof Americanintelligence,so at leastit seemedto nativistswhoassumed
thata glib commandof Englishis a naturalcriterionof intellectualcapacity.”^75 For these
reasons,the governmentinstituteda literacytest that woulddeterminewhichimmigrants
couldstayin the USAand whichcouldnot. Concurrently,thosefromthe English-speak-
ing countries,whowereraciallyWASP-ish,wouldace thistest.By contrast,southern
Europeanimmigrants,whoweremoreraciallydissimilarfromthe native-bornpopula-
tion,had a worsecommandof the Englishlanguage.Hence,accordingto statisticalprob-
ability,the literacytest wouldkeepout moresouthernEuropeanimmigrantsthanother-
wisewouldbe the case.Thisliteracytest was—in practicebut not in name—an ostensive
effortto applygovernmentforcediscriminativelyto excludespecificracesfrommixing
withthe native-bornpopulation.
Judgingby Hofstadter’s tonein characterizingthe situation,it wouldbe unsurprising
if the readerimaginedthatthe literacytest’s creatorswerestereotypicalconservatives,à
la RushLimbaughandGlennBeck.Whenmy tenth-gradeU.S.historyteacherrailed
abouttheseimmigrationrestrictions,she triedto conjureup the ideathat the immigration
test wasimplementedby Spencer-influenced,racist,conservativeopponentsof welfare.
Thatis definitelythe imagein the mindof the MarionRoachwe quotedin chapter3 about
socialDarwinismand immigration.Moreover,addslaw professorPaulLombardo,“Even
beforehis riseto powerin Germany,HitlerpraisedU.S.immigrationrestrictionsand
condemnedthe automaticgrantof citizenshipextendedto everychildbornin Germany
as ‘thoughtless[and]hare-brained.’”^76
Hereis a fact thatHofstadteromitted.The federalU.S.immigrationliteracytest was
initiallyproposedby a progressiveeconomist,EdwardW. Bemis,in a March 1888 issueof
AndoverReview.^77 Thisis the sameBemiswho,alongwithJohnR. Commons,receives
praisefromHofstadterfor beingamongthe “progressiveeconomists” whowerewont“to
criticizeindividualism.. .”^78 On the matterof immigration,RayStannardBakerand
anotherProgressive,Sen.AlbertBeveridge,displaymoreeugenicistsensibilities.For any-
one whodoubtsAlbertBeveridge’s bonafidesas a progressive,I will lay themout.First
off, he supportedPresidentTheodoreRoosevelt’s MeatInspectionAct,whichprovided
the groundworkfor federalregulationoverthe safetyof domesticallymarketedfood.
Moreover,he led the movementto ban childlaborand limitthe workdayto eighthours.
He pushedto havethe governmentcontrolspecifictractsof landto preservethemas
wilderness,and he menacedthe railroadtrusts.^79 GeorgeMowryconfessesthat Bakerand
Sen.Beveridge“withmoreor less emphasis” concurredwithfellowprogressiveWilliam
AllenWhite(1868–1944)thatimmigrationshouldbe curtailed.Further,Mowryadmits
thatBaker,Beveridge,andWhitetookthis standwiththe explicitintentionof keeping
especialethnicitiesfromenteringthe USA.^80 WilliamAllenWhitewrotein 1910that