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Excerpt from the book "Radios von gestern" (by Ernst Erb), published in 1989.
A liberal open-market environment that merely ensures that a mix-up of wavebands is prevented facilitates the awarding of licenses for the broadcasting and/or receiving of radio frequencies. Also contributing to the early and rapid development of radio broadcasting in the U.S. are the Audion (triode) by Dr. Lee de Forest, as well as a period of peacetime in the home country.
In 1899 Marconi establishes in New Jersey the American Marcony Wireless Telegraph Company. The first exchange of signals takes place in 1901 from the station in Siasconset on Nantucket island. It's over a distance of 40 miles [151]. The same year Marconi experiments with oversea transmissions. De Forest founds in 1901 the Wireless Telegraph Company of America. Abraham Schwartz (later on White!) establishes together with de Forest another company in which Schwartz concentrates on raising "venture capital". This company, called American de Forest Wireless Tel. Company, is capitalized with 10 million Dollars. With its 27 land stations it is by 1906 the biggest broadcasting company in the U.S. Infringements of patents held by Fessenden on electrolytic detectors force a switch to silicone detectors for which General H. H. Dunwoody had obtained patents in 1906. In November de Forest leaves the company. At that time White restructures it into the United Wireless Telegraph Company. The "American" is absorbed in 1907. In the "United", C.C. Wilson assumes the presidency. The company goes 1911 into receivership and as a result of a lost patent case Marconi acquires it in 1912. Now, the Marconi company takes possession of 70 land and 500 offshore (boat mounted) stations and thus becomes the only broadcasting enterprise of any importance in the United States. At the request of the government GE acquires in 1919 from the English owners a majority interest in American Marconi. A few months later, that share package is used to form together with Western Electric, joined at a later stage by Westinghouse, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). The de Forest company is during the first decades of the 1900s the only serious competitor in the market for amateur and commercial stations. Production stops in 1925.
The U.S. navy returns in March of 1920 all broadcasting stations to the original owners. Immediately, RCA installs several high-frequency alternators (New Brunswick NJ, Chatham Mass., Bolinas CA, Kahuku on Hawaii) which outperform the 500-kW-arc transmitter. These arc transmitters are already six times more powerful than the spark transmitters. Transmitters based on tube technology are at this stage suitable only for smaller applications.
Broadcast Stations
In 1919 Dr. Frank Conrad, an employee of Westinghouse, sends out signals in Pittsburgh, PA, which can be received in a shopping center in the same city. It is a promotion for detector radios that can be bought there for 10 Dollars. For [151] thus begins the worldwide radio broadcasting (see Belgium 1913!). According to other documents it is the Marconi station XWA in Canada that commences radio broadcasting in 1919 as well. Westinghouse takes over Dr. Conrad's KDKA station in 1920 and commercializes the idea. The station gains some popularity during the presidential election (Warren G. Harding). The opening concert takes place on November 2, 1920.
The Pittsburgh radio station, its power increased in the summer of 1921, broadcasts now concerts on a regular basis. Though everyone may operate a radio receiver, the interest remains negligible. Despite of this, Westinghouse sets up a small station in Newark NJ to broadcast as a test the boxing match between Carpentier - Dempsey. The response is such that only two weeks later a radio station opens up in New York City. It offers daily news reports, concert presentations, as well as a special evening program for children and general night programming. It triggers such a run on radio receivers that it requires a special relationship with a radio manufacturer to be reasonably sure that there will be a radio under the Christmas tree in ].
1922 sees a rapid rise in demand. In the U.S. sixty radio stations operate on March 1, 1922, In November of the same year the number has risen to 564! These numbers are from "Radio Today", Geneva Research Centre Geneva (Article "The Present State of Broadcasting in the World". It appeared in summer of 1942, research supported by the Rockefeller Foundation). Statistics for the U.S. from 01.01,1923 provide these figures: 569 major stations (likely all of them commercial radio stations), 16,898 amateur stations (at that time apparently permitted to transmit "radio-like" broadcasts), 167 municipal stations for trade purposes, 12 overseas stations, 126 transmitters at technical colleges, 291 test and 201 special stations for direction finding devices, etc., 39 coastal stations and 2,762 offshore (on board) stations.
Radio stations WEAE of New York and WNAC of Boston agree on April 1, 1923 on a broadcasting partnership [149]. The same year advertising becomes officially permitted [155]. In 1924 an estimated 3 million private receivers, 30,000 amateur and 5,000 commercial broadcasting stations exist. Of that, by November 1924 a total of 1,105 stations are traced back to manufacturers, distributors, news agencies, hotels, railway companies, church communities and other organizations. The stations are all transmitting on wave bands of between 231m and 545m; they operate on average at approximately one kW output. Policemen in Chicago employ portable receivers whose antenna is sewn into their uniform in a zigzag pattern. The Department of the Interior works on a plan that is meant to bring schooling via radio on a regular basis to over 2 million children living in very remote regions of the country. The major station Virginia transmits twice a week educational material. Though radio listeners pay no fees, radio stations are almost exclusively owned by private interests. The government merely awards the license and directs waveband and broadcasting times. Stations up to 500 Watt (A-License) are allocated frequencies within the 231 - 300m range. Class B stations, those with higher power, are in the 300 - 545m band. Some frequencies within this range are claimed by the coast guard (286 - 288, 300 and 450m) Amateurs are allowed to transmit on 150 - 200m and amateurs who use their installation for educational purposes have 200 - 222m assigned to them. Wavebands 222 - 231 are reserved for the government regulated air traffic. Wavebands under or above the listed bands are put aside for sea and air traffic stations (545 - 1277), scientific purpose (1277 - 1304m) or so far undefined government use.
On September 14, 1926, RCA establishes a subsidiary, namely National Broadcasting Corporation [149]. NBC maintains two networks of stations, the "red network" and the "blue network" with a total of 244 outlets [155]. In 1927 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) comes into being. A community of common interests is formed in 1934 when several stations get together to form the network Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS). By 1936 MBS is in serious competition with the two national networks. Two thirds of all stations belong to these three networks. Meanwhile, Crosley Corporation, Associated Broadcasters Inc., General Electric Company, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and the non-commercial World Wide Broadcasting Foundation of Boston operate on short-wave. In 1934 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency of the federal government in Washington, assumes control of frequencies and signal strength. FCC also functions in a supervisory role over the general administration of broadcasting companies. Basically, any qualified person is still permitted to set up a station. Broadcasts with political content require that authorized representatives of all parties enjoy equal rights.
FM stations
The work of Major Armstrong in the early '30s dealing with frequency modulation reaches its peak with the November 1935 publication of "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio-Signalling by a System of Frequency Modulation" (Institute of Radio Engineers, NY). Following some experimental broadcasts the FCC releases in May of 1940 thirty-five channels in the frequency band 42 to 50 MHz (6-7, 15m). Each station has at its disposal 200 kHz of which 75 kHz are to be used for audio broadcasting. The remaining bandwidth may be used for video broadcasting. According to White's Radio Log of April 1944, there are since the beginning of 1944 already 51 commercial FM stations in existence. The number of sold FM receivers reaches allegedly one million. Some networks are connected from 1941 onwards through radio links. Armstrong puts in 1941 his 17 FM-patents free of charge at the disposal of his government for use in the defence of the country.
In the 1910's Gernsback, Doubleday and Scientific American [151] figure prominently in the first publications on the subject of "wireless transmission". Other periodicals such as Modern Electrics and The Electrical Experimenter favor similar content. The publications of the radio amateur organization American Radio Relay League play a special role in spreading the word about the new medium.
By 1924 there are over a dozen major journals on the subject. The two best known ones, both monthlies published in New York, are likely the Wireless Age and Radio News. Soon the number of publications having radio as the theme literally explodes. Among the better known ones are Radio Daily publish Broadcasting & Broadcast Advertising, as well as Variety are weeklies. Radio-Craft
the quarterlies include Air Law Review, RCA Review, Talks and The Public Opinion Quarterly [155]. It should further be noted that some time after WW2 numerous collector clubs were formed. Members have the choice to declare any such membership to have it appear in their respective profile.
Radio Industry
A defined radio industry develops very early. In its initial stages production could hardly keep pace with demand. According to [152] Mignon introduces in 1914 with the RLC2 a detector radio for the general public. Other models by this manufacturer are not known. Quite in contrast is the "de Forest" company which in [152] appears only in 1919. However, by 1930 de Forest has 40 models on the market. The company's products from 1907 onwards are initially not classified as "broadcast receivers". The Adams-Morgan Co. builds in 1916 a radio device, follows up in 1921 with additional models but ceases production in 1925 after having come out with a total of 17 different models. Other companies pursuing this new line of business include Kennedy Co. (until 1930 74 models), Radio Apparatus (3 models), Commerce and Electro Importing limit themselves to offering only one model respectively.
How did the development and production of radio equipment really get started in the U.S.?
Prior to the time when broadcasting as a movement took off, there were only a few commercial stations and the steadily growing number of amateurs who needed a receiver. (See the chapter on amateur radio enthusiasts in "Radios von gestern"). In 1920 Armstrong searches for license-takers for his regeneration (reaction) patent as annual fees and lawyer costs become a heavy burden. Up to that time amateurs more or less built their receiving devices themselves and thus avoided paying a license fee. In an advertisement Armstrong offers to the growing number of commercial manufacturers the legal use of his patent for a fee of 5% of the selling price. In approximately this sequence the following companies accept the offer:
American Marconi (for 2 stations only), International Radio Telegraph Co., I A.H. Grebe & Co., Chicago Radio Laboratory (Zenith from 15.02.1920); Clapp-Eastham Co. (on 18.04.1920); Cutting & Washington Inc. (on 07.07.1920, company later renamed Colonial); Adams-Morgan Co.; The Precision Equipment Co. (later on taken over by Crosley); Jones Radio Co. (Kellogg affiliation); Mignon Mfg. Export Corp.; Tri-City Electric Mfg. Co. (became supplier to Montgomery Ward); Klitzen Radio Mfg. Co. (Michigan affiliation); The Radio Shop (later on Echophone); Oard Radio L Pennsylvania Wireless Mfg. Co.; The C.D. Tuska Co.; Radio Craft Co., Inc.
(on 20.09.1920, later bought out by de Forest); The Colin B. Kennedy Co.; Eastern Radio Co.; Chelsea Radio Co. Still in 1920, Armstrong manages to sell his rights on the regeneration (reaction or positive feedback) and the superheterodyne patents to Westinghouse which brings those patents into its association with RCA. Now, no additional companies can obtain a license on these patents. A monopoly on the production of good receivers is, however, at that time no longer within reach of RCA - thanks to all those mainly young radio amateurs who run basement operations with small production runs. With the exception of the two first named firms, all of the above companies fall into this category. Their products are sold through advertisements. Some of these small entrepreneurs ride the radio boom of 1921 and grow into big corporations or are at least successful for a few years until TRF (radios with Tuned Radio Frequency) and superhets in 1923/24 spell the end of the regenerative TRF. Zenith, Colonial, Grebe, Kennedy and Crosley belong into this group. A few manufacturers of low-priced sets, e.g. Crosley, stay with the regenerative system a while longer. Selectivity is in these early stages in the U.S. no issue as all stations broadcast on 360m and switch for weather and market reports to 485m. Transmitter power is small, distances between stations substantial, which ensures generally good reception with a regeneration TRF set unless there is a nearby transmitting station.
In the spring of 1922 major stations are allocated the 400m band. One also anticipates an annual growth in radio receivers of one million home made units against only less than 100,000 commercially produced sets. Only as of May 1923 do radio stations transmit in the entire broadcast band. With that, selectivity gains more importance. The answer to that requirement comes via the Neutrodyne or (the more expensive) Superhet. Exceptions are some regenerative receivers with iron core transformer, such as the D10 from de Forest or the 61 from Federal.
The following companies are licenced by Hazeltine to produce Neutrodyne receivers:
American Radio & Research Corp. (later Crosley); F.A.D. Andrea, Inc. (FADA); Carloyd Electric & Radio Corp. (Malone-Lemmon); Eagle Radio Corp.; Freed-Eisemann Radio Corp.; Garod Corp.; Radio Service Laboratories, Inc. (bought out by Gilfillan); Howard Mfg. Co.; Broadcast Mfrs., Inc. (bought out by King Quality Products, Inc.); Wm. J. Murdock Co. (bought by Philco); Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co.; R.E. Thompson Mfg. Co.; Ware Radio Corp.; Workrite Mfg. Co.
During the years 1923-25 the scene is dominated by sets with thr Charles Freshman with its low-priced models Freshman-Masterpiece holds a commanding market share. The company sells 125,000 sets in seven successive months from August 1924 on. Atwater Kent circumvents patents through skillful use of wiring capacitance and builds about 100,000 breadboard models plus half a m i.e. Atwater Kent sells in 1925 more sets than all the other Neutrodyne-TRF radio manufacturers combined. In response to the wishes for simplified control by the ever growing user community Thermiodyne in July and Magnavox in September of 1924 link the variable condensers so that for best reception only the trimmer needs to be attended to. Mohawk introduces in November of 1924 the first trimmer-less one-knob radio. Zenith is first with a station-dial which 1926-28 becomes the standard feature.
Also in 1924, first tests are conducted in the U.S. with radios drawing their power from the main. Dynamotive Radio Corp. brings in July with the Dynergy RC250 the first such radio to market. However, the set still uses battery tubes 01A in series as per the patent by Samuel P. Levenberg, No. 1670893 of 22.05.1928; registered on December 8, 1923. Although the radio sells well, Dynamotive does not survive the year 1925. The Super-X from Zenith in September and the MA20 by Mu-Rad in October are flops. The first practical AC-main-set sold in the U.S. may well be the Radiola 30 marketed by RCA from September 1925. Only the indirectly heated tubes from McCullough, made by Kellogg, open up new possibilities. Efforts by Arcturus and Sparton follow and RCA in 1927 with the 226 and 227 tubes, and the model Radiola 17, sets the new industry standard.
By the end of 1927, U.S. companies have sold a total of 13,250,000 receivers (total revenue 2 billion U.S. $). Demand in 1928 is up from 7.5 million units the previous year by 20% to 9 million units and increases again in 1929 by 31% to 11.8 million units.
In spite of these growth rates, the number of manufacturers (600 to 1200, depending on whose statistics one uses) shrinks drastically within only four years to a tenth [287] of the previous number. Many companies simply miss the jump to radios drawing their others can not handle the ever more complex circuitry by now required to ensure good reception. Patent issues play a bigger role now as well.
A further six pages from the book exceed the available space here - I may bring them in at a later date as a Forum contribution. This text has been translated by Alfred Zeeb, Canada. Thank you, Alfred for your efforts.
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& , , Inc. or its affiliatesExpanding America
The American Dream
A Place of Refuge
Building a Modern America 1965-Today
1990-Today
After the Pilgrims, many other immigrants came to America for the religious freedom it offered. The colony of Maryland was founded in 1634 as a refuge for Catholics, who were persecuted in England in the 17th century. In 1681, William Penn began a Quaker colony in the land that was later named after him: Pennsylvania. The main settlement was Philadelphia, which prospered through farming and commerce. In
Huguenots who were persecuted in France also joined the growing English colonies.
Early immigrants to America settled up and down the East Coast. Farming was difficult in the rocky soil of New England, so people grew only enough food for their families to live on. This is called subsistence farming. They also became fishermen, fishing cod in the Atlantic Ocean and selling it to the European markets. As they needed good ships for fishing, they started making them, becoming successful shipbuilders.In the South, where farming was easier, colonists started large plantations to grow crops, such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. Indigo was a rich blue dye, mainly used for dyeing textiles. Plantations depended on the free labor of the slaves. Many more slaves were forced to come to America to meet the demand for labor.By the time of the Revolutionary War, about 2.5 million people lived in the colonies, including approximately 450,000 A 200,000 I 500,000 Scottish and Scotch-I 140,000 G and 12,000 French.As the colonies grew, people began to look past the natural barrier of the Appalachian Mountains. They moved west into the frontier lands, in what is now Ohio, and beyond.
The colonies grew prosperous and the population increased. Between the time of the first settlements and the Revolutionary War, about seven generations of people were born in America. Many of them no longer wanted to be ruled by the English throne. And they didn't want to pay taxes to the English government when they had no colonial representation in the Parliament. They became known as Patriots, or Whigs, and they included Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.The Loyalists were colonists who wanted to remain part of England. The Patriots and Loyalists were bitterly divided on the issue. In 1776, the Continental Congress, a group of leaders from each of the 13 colonies, issued the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration stated that the United States of America was its own country.The Patriots fought England in the Revolutionary War to gain independence for the colonies. In 1783, with the help of the French, who had joined their side, the colonists won the war. The United States of America was a new nation.The new government conducted a census, or count, of everyone living in the United States. At the time of the first census in 1790, nearly 700,00 Africans and 3 million Europeans lived in the new United States.
The Americas
In the decades after the Revolutionary War, the 13 original colonies grew to include states stretching from Maine in the north to Lo from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to Illinois in the west. As a new nation, the United States of America thrived. By 1820, the population had grown to nearly 10 million people. The quality of life for ordinary people was improving. People were moving west, creating towns along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the entire country by rail, east to west, for the first time.The prosperous young country lured Europeans who were struggling with population growth, land redistribution, and industrialization, which had changed the traditional way of life for peasants. These people wanted to escape poverty and hardship in their home countries. More than 8 million would come to the United States from 1820 to 1880.
*Number of legal immigrants as recorded by immigration officials nationwide. Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
At the turn of the 19th century, more than 1 million African Americans lived in the United States. As slaves, they were not considered citizens. Large farms and plantations depended on the free labor they provided in fields and homes. It was difficult, backbreaking work.In 1808, the United States government banned the importation of enslaved people into the country, although the practice did continue illegally. Slavery, however, was not abolished for nearly 60 more years.
In the early and mid-19th century, nearly all of the immigrants coming to the United States arrived from northern and western Europe. In 1860, seven out of 10 foreign-born people in the United States were Irish or German. Most of the Irish were coming from poor circumstances. With little money to travel any further, they stayed in the cities where they arrived, such as Boston and New York City. More than 2,335,000 Irish arrived between 1820 and 1870.The Germans who came during the time period were often better off than the Irish were. They had enough money to journey to the Midwestern cities, such as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, or to claim farmland. More than 2,200,000 Germans arrived between 1820 and 1870.
In 1845, a famine began in Ireland. A potato fungus, also called blight, ruined the potato crop for several years in a row. Potatoes were a central part of the Irish diet, so hundreds of thousands of people now didn't have enough to eat. At the same time of the famine, diseases, such as cholera, were spreading. Starvation and disease killed more than a million people.These extreme conditions caused mass immigration of Irish people to the United States. Between 1846 and 1852, more than a million Irish are estimated to have arrived in America. The men found jobs building railroads, digging canals, and
they also became policemen and firemen. Irish women often worked as domestic servants. Even after the famine ended, Irish people continued to come to America in search of a better life. More than 3.5 million Irish in total had arrived by 1880.
In the early 1860s, the United States was in crisis. The Northern states and Southern states could not agree on the issue of slavery. Most people in the Northern states thought slavery was wrong. People in South, where the plantations depended on slavery, wanted to continue the practice. In 1861, the Civil War began between the North and South. It would be an
over 600,000 people would die in the fighting.Many immigrants fought in the war. Since immigrants had settled mostly in the North, where factories provided jobs and small farms were available, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born men fought for the Union.In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all the slaves in the rebelling Southern states were free. It was the beginning of the end of slavery.
To ensure that the abolishment of slavery was permanent, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery throughout the United States. The 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, declared that African Americans were citizens of the United States. In 1870, African Americans numbered almost 5 million and made up 12.7 percent of the U.S. population.
In the late 19th century, America was looking west. People began moving away from the now crowded Eastern cities. Some were motivated by the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered free land from the government. The government offered to give 160 acres of land&considered a good size for a single family to farm&in areas including Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Homesteaders were required to stay on the land, build a home, and farm the land for five years. The offer attracted migrants from inside the country&and waves of more immigrants from Europe. For example, many people from Sweden, where land was extremely scarce, were drawn to come to the United States. These brave settlers worked hard to start a new life on the frontier. Though life was difficult, many succeeded.
The Transcontinental Railroad was a massive construction project that linked the country by rail from east to west. The railway was built entirely by hand during a six-year period, with construction often continuing around the clock. Chinese and Irish immigrants were vital to the project. In 1868, Chinese immigrants made up about 80 percent of the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad, one of the companies building the railway. The workers of the Union Pacific Railroad, another company that built the railroad, were mostly Irish immigrants. These railroad workers labored under dangerous conditions, often risking their lives. After the Transatlantic Railroad was completed, cities and towns sprung up all along its path, and immigrants moved to these new communities. The Transcontinental Railroad was a radical improvement in travel in the United S after its completion, the trip from East Coast to West Coast, which once took months, could be made in five days.
The Americas
By 1880, America was booming. The image of America as a land of promise attracted people from all over the world. On the East Coast, Ellis Island welcomed new immigrants, largely from Europe. America was "the golden door," a metaphor for a prosperous society that welcomed immigrants. Asian immigrants, however, didn't have the same experience as European immigrants. They were the focus of one of the first major pieces of legislation on immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 severely restricted immigration from China.And the 1907 "Gentlemen's Agreement" between Japan and the United States was an informal agreement that limited immigration from Japan. Despite those limitations, nearly 30 million immigrants arrived from around the world during this great wave of immigration, more than at any time before.
*Number of legal immigrants as recorded by immigration officials nationwide. Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island in New York Harbor as the nation's first immigration station. At the time, people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by steamship to the bustling port of New York City. The trip took one to two weeks, much faster than in the past (when sailing ships were the mode of transportation), a fact that helped fuel the major wave of immigration.For many immigrants, one of their first sights in America was the welcoming beacon of the Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1886. Immigrants were taken from their ships to be processed at Ellis Island before they could enter the country.About 12 million immigrants would pass through Ellis Island during the time of its operation, from 1892 to 1954. Many of them were from Southern and Eastern Europe. They included Russians, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Greeks, Poles, Serbs, and Turks.
New immigrants flooded into cities. In places like New York and Chicago, groups of immigrants chose to live and work near others from their home countries. Whole neighborhoods or blocks could be populated with people from the same country. Small pockets of America would be nicknamed "Little Italy" or "Chinatown." Immigrants often lived in poor areas of the city. In New York, for example, whole families crowded into tiny apartments in tenement buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.Many organizations were formed to try to help the new immigrants adjust to life in America. Settlement houses, such as Hull House in Chicago, and religious-based organizations worked to help the immigrants learn English and life skills, such as cooking and sewing.
On the West Coast, Asian immigrants were processed at Angel Island, often called the "Ellis Island of the West." Angel Island, which lies off the coast of San Francisco, opened in 1910. Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration, 175,000 Chinese came through Angel Island over a period of three decades. They were overwhelmingly the main group processed here: In fact, 97 percent of the immigrants who passed through Angel Island were from China.
Many of the immigrants who arrived in the early 20th century were poor and hardworking. They took jobs paving streets, laying gas lines, digging subway tunnels, and building bridges and skyscrapers. They also got jobs in America's new factories, where conditions could be dangerous, making shoes, clothing, and glass products. Immigrants fueled the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest, the mining industry in the West, and steel manufacturing in the Midwest. They went to the territory of Hawaii to work on sugar cane plantations. Eventually, they bargained for better wages and improved worker safety. They were on the road to becoming America's middle class.
By the 1920s, America had absorbed millions of new immigrants. The country had just fought in the "Great War", as World War I was known then. People became suspicious of foreigners' motivations. Some native-born Americans started to express their dislike of foreign-born people. They were fearful that immigrants would take the available jobs. Some Americans weren't used to interacting with people who spoke different languages, practiced a different religion, or were a different race. Racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia (fear and hatred of foreigners) were the unfortunate result.In 1924, Congress passed the National Origins Act. It placed restrictions and quotas on who could enter the country.The annual quotas limited immigration from any country to 3 percent of the number of people from that country who were living in the United States in 1890. The effect was to exclude Asians, Jews, blacks, and non-English speakers.
The Americas
From 1930 to 1965, the world underwent a great deal of strife, conflict, and change. The United States suffered through the Great Depression in the 1930s. America no longer looked like the land of opportunity, and few immigrants came. From the late '30s to 1945, World War II locked Europe, Japan, and a great deal of the Pacific Rim in conflict. In the postwar period, much of Europe was physically and economically in ruin. Europeans started looking to America again as a place of refuge. The idea of the immigrant as refugee, from both hardship and oppressive regimes, would change how the country thought about immigration in this period and beyond.
*Number of legal immigrants as recorded by immigration officials nationwide. Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In the 1930s, the country was going through the Great Depression, a terrible period of economic hardship. People were out of work, hungry, and extremely poor. Few immigrants cam in fact, many people returned to their home countries. Half a million Mexicans left, for example, in what was known as the Mexican Repatriation. Unfortunately, many of those Mexicans were forced to leave by the U.S. government.In 1933, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was formed. It still exists today.In 1938, World War II started in Europe. America was again concerned about protecting itself. Fears about foreign-born people continued to grow.As a result of the turmoil in the 1930s, immigration figures dropped dramatically from where they had been in previous decades. In the 1920s, approximately 4,300,000 immigrants came to the United S in the 1930s, fewer than 700,000 arrived.
The United States entered World War II in 1942. During the war, immigration decreased. There was fighting in Europe, transportation was interrupted, and the American consulates weren't open. Fewer than 10 percent of the immigration quotas from Europe were used from 1942 to 1945.In many ways, the country was still fearful of the influence of foreign-born people.
The United States was fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan (also known as the Axis Powers), and the U.S. government decided it would detain certain resident aliens of those countries. (Resident aliens are people who are living permanently in the United States but are not citizens.) Oftentimes, there was no reason for these people to be detained, other than fear and racism.Beginning in 1942, the government even detained American citizens who were ethnically Japanese. The government did this despite the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without the due process of law."Also because of the war, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943. China had quickly become an important ally of the United States against J therefore, the U.S. government did away with the offensive law. Chinese immigrants could once again legally enter the country, although they did so only in small numbers for the next couple of decades.After World War II, the economy began to improve in the United States. Many people wanted to leave war-torn Europe and come to America. President Harry S. Truman urged the government to help the "appalling dislocation" of hundreds of thousands of Europeans. In 1945, Truman said, "everything possible should be done at once to facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and refugees into the United States. "On January 7, 1948, Truman urged Congress to "pass suitable legislation at once so that this Nation may do its share in caring for homeless and suffering refugees of all faiths.I believe that the admission of these persons will add to the strength and energy of the Nation."Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. It allowed for refugees to come to the United States who otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to enter under existing immigration law. The Act marked the beginning of a period of refugee immigration.
In 1953, the Refugee Relief Act was passed to replace the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which had expired. It also allowed non-Europeans to come to the United States as refugees.The Refugee Relief Act also reflected the U.S. government's concern with Communism, a political ideology that was gaining popularity in the world, particularly in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was also controlling the governments of other countries. The Act allowed people fleeing from those countries to enter the United States.When he signed the Act, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "This action demonstrates again America's traditional concern for the homeless, the persecuted, and the less fortunate of other lands. It is a dramatic contrast to the tragic events taking place in East Germany and in other captive nations."By "captive nations," Eisenhower meant countries being dominated by the Soviet Union.In 1956, there was a revolution in Hungary in which the people protested the Soviet-controlled government. Many people fled the country during the short revolution. They were known as "fifty-sixers". About 36,000 Hungarians came to the United States during this time. Some of their countrymen also moved to Canada.In 1959, Cuba experienced a revolution, and Fidel Castro took over the government. His dictatorship aligned itself with the Soviet Union. More than 200,000 Cubans left their country in the years
many of them settled in Florida.
The Americas
A major change to immigration legislation in 1965 paved the way for new waves of immigration from all over of the world. Asians and Latin Americans arrived in large numbers, while European immigration declined.Today, immigration to the United States is at its highest level since the early 20th century. In fact, as a result of the variety of these recent immigrants, the United States has become a truly multicultural society. The story of America & who we are and where we come from & is still being written.
*Number of legal immigrants as recorded by immigration officials nationwide. Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act. This act repealed the quota system based on national origins that had been in place since 1921. This was the most significant change to immigration policy in decades. Instead of quotas, immigration policy was now based on a preference for reuniting families and bringing highly skilled workers to the United States. This was a change because in the past, many immigrants were less skilled and less educated than the average American worker. In the modern period, many immigrants would be doctors, scientists, and high-tech workers.Because Europe was recovering from the war, fewer Europeans were deciding to move to America.But people from the rest of world were eager to move here. Asians and Latin Americans, in particular, were significant groups in the new wave of immigration. Within five years after the act was signed, for example, Asian immigration had doubled.
During the 1960s and 1970s, America was involved in a war in Vietnam. Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia, on the Indochina peninsula. From the 1950s into the 1970s there was a great deal of conflict in the area. After the war, Vietnamese refugees started coming to the United States. During the 1970s, about 120,000 Vietnamese came, and hundreds of thousands more continued to arrive during the next two decades.In 1980, the government passed the Refugee Act, a law that was meant specifically to help refugees who needed to come to the country.Refugees come because they fear persecution due to their race, religion, political beliefs, or other reasons. The United States and other countries signed treaties, or legal agreements, that said they should help refugees. The Refugee Act protected this type of immigrant's right to come to America.
During the 1980s, waves of immigrants arrived from Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Hundreds of thousands of people came just from Cuba, fleeing the oppressive dictatorship of Fidel Castro. This was a significant new wave of immigrants: During the 1980s, 8 million immigrants came from Latin America, a number nearly equal to the total figure of European immigrants who came to the United States from 1900 to 1910, when European immigration was at a high point. The new immigrants changed the makeup of America: By 1990, Latinos in the United States were about 11.2 percent of the total population.
Since 1990, immigration has been increasing. It is at its highest point in America's history. In both the 1990s and 2000s, around 10 million new immigrants came to the United States. The previous record was from 1900 to 1910, when around 8 million immigrants arrived.In 2000, the foreign-born population of the United States was 28.4 million people. Also in that year, California became the first state in which no one ethnic group made up a majority.Today, more than 80 percent of immigrants in the United States are Latin American or Asian. By comparison, as recently as the 1950s, two-thirds of all immigrants to the United States came from Europe or Canada.The main countries of origin for immigrants today are Mexico, the Philippines, China, Cuba, and India. About 1 in 10 residents of the United States is foreign-born.
Today, the United States is a truly multicultural society.
Did You Know?
Emigrant and immigrant are related words
The invention of steamships transformed immigration
Most of the immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island were from eastern and southern Europe. In many cases, they came to escape the poverty and religious intolerance that existed in small towns in countries such as Italy, Poland, and Russia.
They began their journey to America on foot, horseback, or train. Many trekked hundreds of miles across Europe to get to a seaport. When they arrived at the coast, they boarded a steamship.
The trip across the Atlantic Ocean lasted one to two weeks. The ships divided passengers by wealth and class. First- and second-class passengers stayed in staterooms and cabins. But most people were in third class, called "steerage." Steerage was a large, open space at the bottom of the ship.
As many as 3,000 people crowded the ships. They often came from different countries, spoke different languages, and belonged to different religions.
Traveling in Europe was often difficult. People sometimes had to walk far distances, carrying their possessions with them.
Immigrants traveled from Europe to America by steamship.
Ships were crowded with thousands of passengers.
Children wave the flag of their new country.
Passengers make time for dancing aboard the ship.
Photo: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc./National Park Service
Emigrant and immigrant are related words
An emigrant is someone who leaves her home country to settle in another country. An immigrant is someone who has come from another country to settle in a new place, usually permanently.
The invention of steamships transformed immigration
Before the invention of steamships, people took sailing ships to come to America. The trip could take anywhere from one to six months! On steamships, tickets were less expensive and the trip was shorter, which helped prevent diseases from spreading onboard. So many more people decided to make the trip.}