" I don’t think that you could have had the 1965 Immigration Act without the full flowering of the civil rights movement and the penetration of the civil rights movement into mainstream political culture. "
~ Oral Interview, Professor Gabriel Chin, Feb 2013
The Birth of the Great Society
The 1960s were a time of great strides for the American people; the civil rights movement and the economic boom brought overall liberal attitudes. Americans were optimistic about their future. President Lyndon B. Johnson carried out the ideas of John F. Kennedy with his Great Society reform:
Lyndon B. Johnsons Speech at University of Michigan
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It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what is adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.
But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor."
-Lyndon B. Johnson, Michigan State University
A Call for Change
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"The time has come for us to insist that the quota system be replaced by the merit system." - Senator Robert F. Kennedy
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In 1965, Democrats rode the wave of sentiment to a landslide election victory. Hastened by the civil rights movement's climate of equality, the time was ripe for immigration reform.
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