this lies with the State Department, which often viewed attempts at changing refugee policies as encroachments upon its domain. In the end, the number of Jewish refugees who entered the U.S. did not equal the quotas established by immigration law. Between 1933 and 1943, 476,930 aliens entered the country, of which 165,756 were Jews; only 138,000 of these persons entered in order to escape persecution. During this same period, existing quotas would have permitted the entry of more than 1.5 million persons; the number of Jews entering the U.S. during this period represented only 10% of the possible total (Morse, 1967, p.94).
American anti-semitism had roots going back to the previous century. Many felt that Jewish immigrants did not readily assimilate into American society, holding on to their own traditions and values too strongly. If attitudes were not expressly anti-semitic among most Americans, they were certainly negative rather than positive concernin
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