On the 14th of December, 1916 President Woodrow Wilson (28th
December, 1856 - 3rd February, 1924) vetoed the Immigration Act,
which sought to expand the number of undesirables barred from
entering the US. The list included 'idiots', 'criminals', 'insane
persons' and the 'mentally or physically defective'. The President
had particularly objected to the banning of the illiterate. The
bill was eventually passed in 1917, despite the President's veto,
and would also introduce an 'Asiatic Barred Zone' designating that
people from much of eastern Asia and the Pacific Islands could not
immigrate to the US.
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