Rafał Wordliczek

The US Anti-Immigration Regulations of 1924 and Their Significance for the Jewish Immigration from Europe

The author of the article presents the reasons which stood behind the introduction of the restrictive legislation directed against the immigrants who arrived in the United States in large numbers in the first two decades of the last century. He presents the views of the major American politicians with regard to the issue of immigration, the ways of solving the problem of the uncontrolled influx of the vast numbers of immigrants from Europe, among whom there was a considerable number of Jew from Eastern Europe. He compares the anti-immigration laws of 1921 with the Act of 1924 introduced by Albert Johnson. In connection with the fact that the quota laws of 1924 had radically stalled the process of Jewish immigration from Europe, the author presents the attitude of the American Jews towards the new legislation as well as attempts to exert an impact on the less severe form of the American immigration law. The author also draws attention to the importance of the radical limitation of the number of immigrants for the European Jewish community. The Act of 1924, authored by senator Johnson, not only limited, but in practical terms, stopped the flow of Jewish migrants from Europe which in the context of the growing wave of anti-Semitism on the old continent meant that the door to a better and more secure reality had been closed.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARDS THE BORDER DISPUTE BETWEEN ITALY AND YUGOSLAVIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 50s OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Following the II World War, Italy and Yugoslavia occupied a special place in the foreign policy of the United States. The border dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia which dated back to the turn of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s of the 20th c., was yet another example of the international crisis in Europe at the time of the cold war. The article presents the activities of the American politicians undertaken towards Italy and Yugoslavia which aimed at incorporating these countries into the structures of Western European democracy. In the case of Italy, the above initiative of the American diplomacy proved to be successful and it led to the entry of the Italian republic into NATO, as well as the European economic and political structures. In the case of the other party participating in the dispute over Triest, i.e. Yugoslavia, the American presidents Truman and Eisenhower tried to take advantage of the crisis in the Yugoslav-Soviet relations, so as to win over marshal Tito and make him cooperate. Having decided to make concessions towards Yugoslavia with regard to the territorial claims made by marshal Tito, the Americans wished to achieve the superior goal: namely that of weakening the Socialist bloc by detaching Yugoslavia from it and making it join the West. The author evaluates the American policy towards Italy and Yugoslavia whose background was a territorial dispute over borderline territories. The main actors on the American political scene were forced to make some very difficult and delicate choices with regard to both parties participating in the above conflict.