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Mehler questions MacDonald's use of sources. My concern, at present, with Mr. MacDonald's work, is with his use of sources. For example, in MacDonald, K. B. (1998). Jewish involvement in influencing United States immigration policy, 1881-1965: A historical review. Population and Environment, 19, 295-355. Mr. MacDonald uses Neuringer, S. M. (1969). American Jewry and United States immigration policy, 1881-1953 Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, Inc., 1971; reprinted by Arno Press (New York), 1980. He cites Neuringer extensively throughout the article. Here is an example of how MacDonald uses this source. On page sixteen MacDonald writes: Neuringer (1971, p. 164) notes that Jewish opposition to the 1921 and 1924 legislation was motivated less by a desire for higher levels of Jewish immigration than by opposition to the implicit theory that America should be dominated by individuals with northern and western European ancestry. The Jewish interest was thus to oppose the ethnic interests of the peoples of northwestern Europe in maintaining an ethnic status quo or increasing their percentage of the population. ... Here is the relevant passage from Neuringer: Neuringer (1971, p. 164): "What is of at least equal significance is that the members of this group opposed these laws more because they possessed the taint of discrimination and anti-Semitism than because they would drastically limit Jewish immigration." It seems to me, Mr. MacDonald is misrepresenting Mr. Neuringer in this case and I posted my query hoping that a historian familiar with the literature might have a judgement on MacDonald's use of the historical data. Barry Mehler
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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