Whom We Shall Welcome
Italian Americans and Immigration Reform, 1945-1965
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Winner, Immigration and Ethnic History Society First Book Award
Whom We Shall Welcome examines World War II immigration of Italians to the United States, an under-studied period in Italian immigration history. Danielle Battisti looks at efforts by Italian American organizations to foster Italian immigration along with the lobbying efforts of Italian Americans to change the quota laws. While Italian Americans (and other white ethnics) had attained virtual political and social equality with many other groups of older-stock Americans by the end of the war, Italians continued to be classified as undesirable immigrants. Her work is an important contribution toward understanding the construction of Italian American racial/ethnic identity in this period, the role of ethnic groups in U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War era, and the history of the liberal immigration reform movement that led to the 1965 Immigration Act.
Whom We Shall Welcome makes significant contributions to histories of migration and ethnicity, post-World War II liberalism, and immigration policy.
Whom We Shall Welcome is an outstanding book, making many important and timely interventions in the studies of migration and ethnicity, post-World War II liberalism and conservatism, and immigration policy. Drawing on a vast array of evidence from archives across the country and with a mastery of the secondary literature, Battisti makes a sophisticated argument in lively, confident prose.---Torrie Hester, Saint Louis University
...a relevant contribution in reassessing Italian Americans' ethnic and racial identity as well as their participation in both the politicking of the Cold War and the movement to amend Washington's immigration policies.---H-Italy
Preface and Acknowledgments, ix
Introduction: Boundaries of Inclusion and Exclusion in Postwar America, 1
1. Italian American Identity and Politics: World War II to the Cold War, 17
2. The Italian American Immigration Reform Lobby, 49
3. Refugees and Relatives: Italian Americans and the Refugee Relief Act, 84
4. Resettlement Assistance and “A New Standard of Living”, 111
5. The Corsi Affair, 147
6. From Refugee Relief to Family Reunification, 175
7. The End of the National Origins System and the Limits of White Ethnic Liberalism, 202
Conclusion: The Deep Roots of White Ethnicity, 1965 and Beyond, 235
Notes, 243
Bibliography, 325
Index, 343