Emanuel Celler: Difference between revisions
Jerry Jones (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
[[Image:CellerE.jpg|right|thumb]] |
|||
'''Emanuel Celler''' ([[May 6]], [[1888]]–[[January 15]], [[1981]]) was a politician from [[New York State|New York]] who served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for almost 50 years, from March of [[1923]] to January of [[1973]]. For his first twenty-two years in Congress, [[1923]]–[[1945]], Celler represented [[New York State|New York]]'s Tenth Congressional District. [[Redistricting]] in [[1944]] put him into the Fifteenth District from [[1945]] to [[1953]]; from [[1953]] to [[1963]] his district was the Eleventh and for his final decade in [[Congress]], [[1963]]–[[1973]], it was back to its [[1922]] designation as the Tenth. |
'''Emanuel Celler''' ([[May 6]], [[1888]]–[[January 15]], [[1981]]) was a politician from [[New York State|New York]] who served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for almost 50 years, from March of [[1923]] to January of [[1973]]. For his first twenty-two years in Congress, [[1923]]–[[1945]], Celler represented [[New York State|New York]]'s Tenth Congressional District. [[Redistricting]] in [[1944]] put him into the Fifteenth District from [[1945]] to [[1953]]; from [[1953]] to [[1963]] his district was the Eleventh and for his final decade in [[Congress]], [[1963]]–[[1973]], it was back to its [[1922]] designation as the Tenth. |
||
Revision as of 11:17, 13 May 2006
Emanuel Celler (May 6, 1888–January 15, 1981) was a politician from New York who served in the United States House of Representatives for almost 50 years, from March of 1923 to January of 1973. For his first twenty-two years in Congress, 1923–1945, Celler represented New York's Tenth Congressional District. Redistricting in 1944 put him into the Fifteenth District from 1945 to 1953; from 1953 to 1963 his district was the Eleventh and for his final decade in Congress, 1963–1973, it was back to its 1922 designation as the Tenth.
Backround
Celler was a native of Brooklyn and of mixed German Catholic and Jewish heritage. A graduate of Columbia Law School, he was the first Democrat to ever serve his district and was the fourth longest-serving congressman in history (only Representatives Jamie Whitten, John Dingell and Carl Vinson served longer). A practicing lawyer before entering politics, in Congress he was particularly involved in issues relating to the judiciary and immigration.
Celler made his first important speech on the House floor during consideration of the Johnson Immigration Act of 1924. Three years earlier, Congress had imposed a quota that limited immigration for persons of any nationality to 3 percent of that nationality present in the United States in 1910, with an annual admission limit of 356,000 immigrants. This national origin system was structured to preserve the ethnic and religious status quo of the United States by reducing immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, thereby excluding many Jews and Catholics. Celler was vehemently opposed to the act. The Johnson act passed the isolationist Congress and was signed into law. Celler had found his cause, and for the next four decades he vigorously spoke out in favor of eliminating the national origin quotas as a basis for immigration restriction.
In July 1939, a strongly worded letter from Celler to Secretary of State Cordell Hull helped set in motion an extremely prolonged process of 45 years that finally led in 1984, three years after Celler's death, to full, formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See.[1]
In the 1940s, Celler opposed both the isolationists and the Roosevelt administration by forcefully advocating that the United States relax immigration laws on an emergency basis to rescue those fleeing the Holocaust. In 1943, he called FDR's immigration policy "cold and cruel," and blasted "the glacier-like attitude of the State Department".
In the early 1950s, Celler was the target of attacks by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. At the 1952 Democratic National Convention, Celler gave a speech in which he responded to Sen. McCarthy, saying:
"Deliberately and calculatedly, McCarthyism has set before itself the task of undermining the faith of the people in their Government. It has undertaken to sow suspicion everywhere, to set friend against friend, and brother against brother. It deals in coercion and in intimidation, tying the hands of citizens and officials with the fear of the smear attack."
As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in the 1960s, Celler was involved in drafting and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Voting Rights Act. In January 1965, Celler proposed in the House the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, which clarifies an ambiguous provision of the Constitution regarding succession to the presidency. Also in 1965, he proposed and steered to passage the Hart-Celler Act which eliminated national origins as a consideration for immigration. This was the culminating moment in Celler's 41-year fight to overcome restriction on immigration to the United States based on national origin.
In 1972, Celler unexpectedly lost the Democratic primary to Elizabeth Holtzman, who went on to win the election and serve as a Representative until 1981. Holtzman eked out a victory over the veteran Celler based chiefly on his opposition to feminism and the Equal Rights Amendment. The fact that Celler, who was on good terms with Richard Nixon, was replaced by Peter Rodino as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee played a role in enabling Congress to pursue the Watergate hearings.
Celler died in his native Brooklyn at the age of 92.
External Links
- Bio of Celler with excerpts from his speeches and his autobiography, You Never Leave Brooklyn (1953)
- Passover 1943: A Congressman Who Spoke Out for Rescue by Dr. Rafael Medoff
 | This article about a politician from the state of New York is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |