John F. Kennedy and Immigration

Prior to his assassination, President John F. Kennedy was in the process of writing a book that was to be titled " A Nation of Immigrants." In this manuscript, Kennedy wrote of the great contributions that many of the immigrant groups made when they came to America. He wrote the efforts of the Irish, the Italians and other ethnic group that arrived in the US between 1880 and 1924 when the immigration laws in this country changed. The last two chapters of the book was devoted to arguments that Kennedy hoped to be able to use to persuade Congress to change the outdated immigration laws. Tragically, Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas on November 22,1963 before completing the work. The book was ultimately published in 1964 with the introduction written by Abraham Foxman, then executive director of of the AntiDefamation League ( ADL). Kennedy had written articles on the topic of immigration for the ADL's magazine when he was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and had also given an important speech when we was honored by the organization. In 1965 Congress did pass an Immigration and Naturalization Act which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy's book is as relevant  now as it was then. A new edition was just released in 2018 with a new introduction by the current executive director of the ADL, which now holds the copyright to the book.
For more information about Presidential literature - books written by US Presidents, be sure to look for my upcoming book " The Presidents' Literary Circle."