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Winner, Immigration and Ethnic History Society First Book Award
Whom We Shall Welcome examines World War II immigration of Italians to the United States, an under-studied period in Italian immigration history. Danielle Battisti looks at efforts by Italian American organizations to foster Italian immigration along with the lobbying efforts of Italian Americans to change the quota laws. While Italian Americans (and other white ethnics) had attained virtual political and social equality with many other groups of older-stock Americans by the end of the war, Italians continued to be classified as undesirable immigrants. Her work is an important contribution toward understanding the construction of Italian American racial/ethnic identity in this period, the role of ethnic groups in U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War era, and the history of the liberal immigration reform movement that led to the 1965 Immigration Act.
Whom We Shall Welcome makes significant contributions to histories of migration and ethnicity, post-World War II liberalism, and immigration policy.
Preface and Acknowledgments, ix
Introduction: Boundaries of Inclusion and Exclusion in Postwar America, 1
1. Italian American Identity and Politics: World War II to the Cold War, 17
2. The Italian American Immigration Reform Lobby, 49
3. Refugees and Relatives: Italian Americans and the Refugee Relief Act, 84
4. Resettlement Assistance and “A New Standard of Living”, 111
5. The Corsi Affair, 147
6. From Refugee Relief to Family Reunification, 175
7. The End of the National Origins System and the Limits of White Ethnic Liberalism, 202
Conclusion: The Deep Roots of White Ethnicity, 1965 and Beyond, 235
Notes, 243
Bibliography, 325
Index, 343