After the war, pro-immigrant groups called on the U.S. to open its doors to more European DPs, many of whom were Jewish. Conservative organizations and politicians, particularly on the Christian right, opposed such efforts, often claiming that Jewish DPs had disguised themselves as DPs to enter the country for subversive purposes. Concerned about the appeal of such warnings, pro-immigrant groups did often downplay the number of Jewish DPs, even as they countered with accusations of antisemitism. Conservatives warned that those who accused them of antisemitism were the sort of smear artists who would enter the country as DPs. This presentation thus suggests that at a time when overt antisemitism had become a potential liability, critics simply focused more on how Jews hid their identities (often by printing their “real” names) than on what those identities actually were, and by turning accusations of antisemitism themselves into taboo actions.
Ultimately, the debates over disguised DPs led to a revision of immigration policy, as congress overrode a Presidential veto to pass the 1952 McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. This law enshrined discriminatory provisions against Jews, allowing the government to identify and deport suspected Jewish radicals disguised as “normal” Americans. While scholars have argued that gentiles accepted Jews as they began to enter the postwar suburban middle class and look more like “normal” Americans, this presentation thus suggests that some found such “normalcy” disturbing, a façade masking a more threatening reality.
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