Francis Eugene Walter (May 26, 1894 – May 31, 1963) was a Democratic member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He was a member of the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

from 1951 to 1963, serving as chair of that committee for the last nine of those years. He wanted to minimize immigration and was largely responsible for the McCarran–Walter Act of 1952, which kept the old quotas but also opened up many new opportunities for legal immigration to the United States.

Background

Francis E. Walter was born in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

. He attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Career

During both World Wars I and II, Walter was in the air service of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. He was the director of the Broad Street Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and of the Easton National Bank in Easton. From 1928 to 1933 he was the Solicitor of

Northampton County, Pennsylvania Northampton County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 312,951. Its county seat is Easton. The county was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. Its namesake was the c ...

. He was a delegate to the 1928 Democratic National Convention. He was elected as a Democrat to the

73rd United States Congress The 73rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1933, ...

and served until his death in Washington, D.C. In 1947–8, he served on the Herter Committee. Walter is best known for the

McCarran-Walter Act The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (), governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. The l ...

, passed over President Truman's veto in 1952, which, while it opened naturalization to Asian immigrants for the first time, continued the immigration quota system based on national origin introduced in 1924, and allowed the U.S. government to deport and/or bar from re-entry those identified as subversives, particularly members and former members of the Communist Party. In 1944, he presented President Roosevelt with a letter opener made of an arm bone of a fallen Japanese soldier. Walter's views were regarded by some as "reactionary and racist". A staunch

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

, he served as chairman of the

during the 84th through 88th Congresses. Walter also served as a director of the

Pioneer Fund The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. The Southern Pover ...

, a foundation best known for its advocacy of IQ variation among races. Walter appeared in a central role in the 1960s-era U.S. government anti-Communist propaganda film ''Operation Abolition''. Historical footage of Walter also appears in the 1990 documentary film '' Berkeley in the Sixties''.

Death

Walter died in 1963, aged 69, from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

and was interred at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

.Rep. Francis Walter of Pennsylvania Dies; Somerset Daily American; Somerset, Pennsylvania; Page 1; June 1, 1963

Footnotes

External links

Retrieved on 2009-02-21
The Political Graveyard

Letters to Francis E. Walter
Available online through Lehigh University'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Francis E. 1894 births 1963 deaths American anti-communist propagandists American bankers American Lutherans Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Businesspeople from Pennsylvania Deaths from leukemia in Washington, D.C. Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania George Washington University alumni Georgetown University alumni Lehigh University alumni Military personnel from Pennsylvania Politicians from Easton, Pennsylvania United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy personnel of World War I Phi Delta Theta members Pioneer Fund members 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee

Background

Career

Death

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links