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    "localId": "4708735",
    "label": "Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman",
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        "Emigration and immigration"
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    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/7087/4708735/content/arcmedia/nlhst/eleanor/hst05-31-1952.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "VAL-KILL COTTAGE\nHYDE PARK, DUTCHESS COUNTY\nNEW YORK\nMay 31, 1952\nTRUMAN\nNATIONAL\nES AND\nRVICED\nDear Mr. President:\nERNMENT\nI try not to bother you too often but I am very\nmuch troubled at the moment about the McCarren-\nWalters Bill. I realize that I can not possibly\nknow much in detail about any legislation and\nthis is a complex and technical subject.\nHowever, I hear that this Bill would generally\nrestrict immigration and make it more difficult\nthan it now is. It would remove the barriers\nto naturalization for certain Asiatics and\nprovide a small quota for a number of Asiatic\ncountries which now do not have a quota.\nOf course, the removal of racial barriers is all\nto the good but I understand that this legisla-\ntion sets up a special classification for\npersons of Asiatic and Oriental ancestry and sets\nthem completely apart from Europeans and others\nin a highly restricted category. I am told that\nit even defines a fifty percent blood test for\npersons of Asiatic ancestry no matter where born.\nThe people of Asia are just at present over-\nsensitive an d very proud and I am afraid the\nenactment of such a bill with these provisions\nwould be very unfortunate. I also think that\nthe Russians would use it for plausible prop-\naganda against us.\nMost of us would like to see exclusionist bars\ngo down but not in favor of new ones which\nwould provide fresh evidence that we consider\nourselves \"superior\" to the peoples of Asia.\nThis legislation may be before you any day for\nsignature and if on mature consideration you\nthink it is really bad, I hope you will veto it,\nthough I realize I can not be familiar with\nit from every point of view. I am only writing\nyou what my general feeling has been.\nVery cordially yours,\nMeana Transment"
}