American Nativist Reaction to Jewish Immigration in the 1900s

The American nativist reaction to the new waves of Jewish immigration in the early 1900s was not kind to the Jewish immigrants. In 1908 the Dillingham Commission was created which reported about the rising immigration to the United States. The Commission stated that immigration was the cause of rising urban crime, reduced literacy rates, and urban slums that were developing in cities. The Commission wanted tighter immigration policies on literacy tests for immigrants. They drafted up the legislation and both House of Congress passed the legislation. However, President Howard Taft vetoed it as did Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

When the Bolshevik Revolution occurred, the tide of anit-immigration movements picked up steam. An American Communist Party was established in the U.S. which prompted further anger from nativists. In June 1918, the Espionage Act was amended by Congress to include an offensive language against the United States government. An addition 2,000 people were arrested because of the new provisions of this act and most of them were immigrants and most of them were Jews. From 1919 to 1920, anti-communist and soviet policies were established, leading to the arrests of suspected radicals and many of them were Jews as well. American nativists equated Bolsheviks with Jews and while in some cases it was true that Jews were sympathetic to the Bolshevik cause, this stereotype only created further hatred against Jews.

Many books were published during this 1920s period in which authors claimed that the Jews had started the Bolsheviks movement on a quest for world domination which was looked at with hatred by the American public.