American Immigration Conference Board Records

The American Immigration Conference Board Papers, taken from the files of the periodicalUncensored, consists of the correspondence, writings, and printed materials relating to the question of the immigration and deportation of aliens. Active in the late 1930s, the aims of the Board were to severely limit immigration, both legal and illegal, limit relief benefits only to United States citizens, deport alien criminals and aliens who were continuously on relief, and to "give American Jobs to Americans First". The Board accordingly gave support to the Reynolds-Starnes Bills, sponsored by Congressman Joe Starnes and Senator Robert R. Reynolds, and opposed passage of the Dies Alien Deportation Bill, which permitted a number of aliens, otherwise subject to deportation, to remain in the United States. The A.I.C.B. was also strongly anti-communist and opposed the nomination of Thomas R. Amlie to the Interstate Commerce Commission because of his "Communist leanings". It also urged the deportation of John P. Strachey, member of the Executive committee of the British Communist Party. The materials have been arranged into the following four series.

CORRESPONDENCE is arranged alphabetically by category and alphabetically by the name of the person or organization corresponding with the A.I.C.B. within each category. For the most part, the correspondence is between officials of the A.I.C.B. (in particular John Cecil, the president, and Lester M. Gray, the executive secretary) and members of the public who sponsored their policies. There are letters regarding petitions to the 76th Congress concerning the various bills mentioned above, letters concerning the fund-raising activities of the A.I.C.B., and concerning lectures given by John Cecil.

AMERICAN IMMIGRATION CONFERENCE BOARD contains materials directly related to the work of the organization, such as minutes, statements of aims and objectives, petitions and resolutions, and financial materials.

WRITINGS AND PUBLICATIONS contains addresses and articles by John Cecil and Robert R. Reynolds, as well as several articles probably written by A.I.C.B. members. In addition, there are copies of various parts of theCongressional Recordand reports and publications by other organizations pertaining to the question of immigration, including material from the Commission on Immigration and Naturalization. The series is arranged alphabetically by category; material within each category is arranged alphabetically by the name of the author, organization, or publication.

SPECIAL FILES consists of miscellaneous materials, such as lists of names, notes, newspaper clippings, and a report on the "Humane Refugee Aid Society".