McCarran-Walter Act Passed
McCarran-Walter Act Passed
After Nehru's speech in China, the American government began to worry. Although not as extensive as with the Chinese, Senator McCarran quickly amended his bill to include extra scrutiny and quotas on the Indian nation and its people. Unsurprisingly so, given the attempts to not single out just the Chinese. Anti-racist activists still decried the move, however, and racial tensions continued to simmer and boil. The amendment passed in the Senate on July 19th, and then passed in the House on the 20th. It took President Wallace until Friday the 22nd to sign the bill, looking extremely conflicted about the legislation.
Overall, the average American supported the McCarran-Walter Act, and were happy to see it made law. A second Yellow Peril sentiment began to quickly form, exempting "friendly" Asians like the Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipinos, and so on. However, suspicion began to form around the Chinese and Chinese-Americans were not exempt. As Senator Glenn Taylor, a prominent opponent of the bill put it, "with the Red Scare, anyone could be fair game. But with this? It paints an entire people as evil just on the color of their skin." Taylor formerly admired the President, but he and Wallace began to drift apart.
This also impeded progress on Civil Rights. Liberal activists decried Senator McCarran as a racist, and expressed bewilderment at President Wallace's endorsement of the legislation, however mild or hesitant it may have been. In turn, Americans soured on Civil Rights support, and segregationists gained ammunition to paint supporters of integration as Chinese or Indian enablers. Liberal Senators in the South began to distance themselves from open support of integration, doing their best to disassociate from these allegations without becoming segregationists themselves. Oddly enough, and perhaps disturbingly enough, many Progressives began to wonder if progressivism and liberty could only exist in the Western world....
Overall, the average American supported the McCarran-Walter Act, and were happy to see it made law. A second Yellow Peril sentiment began to quickly form, exempting "friendly" Asians like the Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipinos, and so on. However, suspicion began to form around the Chinese and Chinese-Americans were not exempt. As Senator Glenn Taylor, a prominent opponent of the bill put it, "with the Red Scare, anyone could be fair game. But with this? It paints an entire people as evil just on the color of their skin." Taylor formerly admired the President, but he and Wallace began to drift apart.
This also impeded progress on Civil Rights. Liberal activists decried Senator McCarran as a racist, and expressed bewilderment at President Wallace's endorsement of the legislation, however mild or hesitant it may have been. In turn, Americans soured on Civil Rights support, and segregationists gained ammunition to paint supporters of integration as Chinese or Indian enablers. Liberal Senators in the South began to distance themselves from open support of integration, doing their best to disassociate from these allegations without becoming segregationists themselves. Oddly enough, and perhaps disturbingly enough, many Progressives began to wonder if progressivism and liberty could only exist in the Western world....