Passage
"Extensive hearings were held...[with] 55 identical bills, and 30 other proposals to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. Testimony was received from Cabinet officers, Government officials, Members of Congress, and representatives of patriotic, religious, nationality, veterans, labor, and other nongovernmental organizations, as well as from private citizens."
~House of Representatives, Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for Other Purposes
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"There was little opposition in Congress to passage of the legislation once the issue of an annual ceiling on Western Hemisphere immigration had been settled...the House passed [it] August 25 by a 318-95 roll-call vote and the Senate passed it September 22 by a 76-18 roll call."
~Congress and the Nation: 1965-1968
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Signing
"...the signing of the Immigration Bill took place...in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty...The ceremony was a jewel of an hour that I won't forget...some tourists had just caught the ferry and come over. Lyndon spoke against a backdrop of the New York skyline as he faced the Statue of Liberty...as my eyes turned from Lyndon's face to the flag, to the great old statue, I was caught up in the magnificent drama of the moment. It was good history and good theater and there was many a wet cheek in that crowd."
~Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary
On October 3rd, 1965, President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 after thanking the members of Congress and individuals who made the act a success. He voiced the wrongs of the American nation and moved everyone present with his inspiring speech.
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"The bill that we sign today...does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives, or really add importantly to either our wealth or our power. Yet it is still one of the most important acts of this Congress and of this administration. For it does repair a very deep and painful flaw in the fabric of American justice. It corrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American Nation...Today, with my signature, [the national origins quota] system is abolished...the American Nation returns to the finest of its traditions today."
~President Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at the Signing of the Immigration Bill, Liberty Island, New York, October 3, 1965
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