The 1965 Immigration Act represented a radical shift in U.S. policy, which has been credited with dramatically expanding the volume and changing the composition of immigration. Its passing has often been described as the result of political machinations negotiated within Congress without regard to public opinion. We show that congressional voting was consistent with public opinion on abolishing the country-of-origin quotas but not with the desire to limit the volume of immigration. While the former initially reflected attitudes toward civil rights, the latter is consistent with contemporary expectations that the expansion in numbers would be modest.

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打开天堂之门：公众舆论和国会对 1965 年移民法案的投票

1965 年的《移民法案》代表了美国政策的根本性转变，人们认为该法案极大地扩大了移民数量并改变了移民构成。它的通过常常被描述为国会内部不考虑公众舆论而协商政治阴谋的结果。我们表明，国会投票与废除原籍国配额的民意一致，但与限制移民数量的愿望不一致。虽然前者最初反映了对公民权利的态度，但后者符合当代的预期，即数量的增长将是适度的。