John Bond Trevor Sr. (November 19, 1878 – February 12, 1956) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and influential

lobbyist Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...

for immigration restrictions. A wealthy nativist, he was an architect of the

Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every count ...

, which banned Asian immigration and established quotas that stood for forty years until 1964.Nelkin D, Michaels M. Biological categories and border controls: the revival of eugenics in

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...

rhetoric. ''International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy'', Volume 18, Number 56, 1998, pp. 35-63(29)

Biography

Early life and education

Trevor was born in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on November 19, 1878. His father, John Bond Trevor, was an early

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

stockbroker. His ancestors included a

New York City mayor The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, ...

and

William Floyd William Floyd (December 17, 1734 – August 4, 1821) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, wealthy farmer, and political leader from New York (state), New York. Floyd served as a delegate to the Continental Cong ...

, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He attended

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

and received his law degree from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

in 1902.

Activism, military, and Lusk Committee

Trevor was wealthy and became a prominent New York socialite. He was involved in the

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

movement, in the circle of

Madison Grant Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, zoologist, anthropologist, and writer known for his work as a conservation movement, conservationist, eugenics, eugenicist, and advocate of scientific racism. Grant i ...

, whose office was next door to his in New York City's

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

.John Higham. American Immigration Policy in Historical Perspective. ''Law and Contemporary Problems'', Vol. 21, No. 2, Immigration (Spring, 1956), pp. 213-235 Trevor was a member of the Eugenics Research Association, the

American Eugenics Society The American Eugenics Society (AES) was a pro-eugenics organization dedicated to "furthering the discussion, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge about biological and sociocultural forces which affect the structure and composition of huma ...

, the

Immigration Restriction League The Immigration Restriction League was an American nativist and anti-immigration organization founded by Charles Warren, Robert DeCourcy Ward, and Prescott F. Hall in 1894. According to Erika Lee, in 1894 the old stock Yankee upper-class f ...

, and the

American Defense Society The American Defense Society (ADS) was a nationalism, nationalist American political group founded in 1915. The ADS was formed to advocate for American intervention in World War I against the German Empire. The group later stood in opposition to ...

. He was also in the

Society of Colonial Wars The General Society of Colonial Wars is a patriotic society composed of men who trace their descents from forebears who, in military, naval, or civil positions of high trust and responsibility, by acts or counsel, assisted in the establishment, d ...

and was a trustee of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. Trevor served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was decorated as chevalier in the French Légion d’Honneur. After the 1918 armistice, he was put in charge of the Army's

Military Intelligence Division The Military Intelligence Division was the military intelligence branch of the United States Army and United States Department of War from May 1917 (as the Military Intelligence Section, then Military Intelligence Branch in February 1918, then ...

branch in New York as a captain. In the

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

he directed spying operations on the city's immigrants, especially Jews. He was discharged in 1919 and was named a deputy attorney general of the

State of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. In 1920, he was associate counsel for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee, and counsel of the New York State Legislative Committee Investigating Subversive Activities (the

Lusk Committee The Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities, popularly known as the Lusk Committee, was formed in 1919 by the New York State Legislature to investigate individuals and organizations in New York State suspected of sedition. ...

).Browne, Rollin (1957). "A Vile Slander Laid to Rest", '' National Republic'', March 1957 The latter, whose work Trevor helped orchestrate, launched raids against suspected radicals, arresting 500 and deporting 246. He was also a lobbyist for patriotic societies.

Immigration restrictions

Trevor is described as having been "one of the most influential unelected officials affiliated with the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

" and "the most influential lobbyist for restriction" of

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

.Margo Conk. The Census, Political Power, and Social Change: The Significance of Population Growth in American History. ''Social Science History'', Vol. 8, No. 1 (Winter, 1984), pp. 81-106 Trevor's influential "national origins" proposal for the

assigned restrictive quotas similar to what Trevor deemed as the previous composition of the American population. The act, which was signed by President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...

and took full effect in 1929, banned Asian immigration and sharply cut levels of immigration previously allowed from

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. After the law passed, Trevor worked to defend the quota system. The quotas stood until 1964.Trevor, John B
An Analysis of the American Immigration Act of 1924.
/ref> In 1927 Trevor founded a group that became the American Coalition of Patriotic, Civic and Fraternal Societies, with a slogan of "Keep America American".Bendersky, Joseph W. ''The "Jewish Threat".'' United States: Basic Books, 2008. It was an umbrella group of more than 100 civic groups, including the

Sons of the American Revolution The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...

and the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

. Trevor and his coalition campaigned against admitting

Jewish refugees This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...

fleeing

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in the 1930s into the United States. Immigration advocate

Louis Adamic Louis Adamic (; March 23, 1898 – September 4, 1951) was a Slovene American, Slovene-American author and translator, mostly known for writing about and advocating for ethnic diversity of the United States. Background Louis Adamic wa ...

described Trevor as the top American promoter of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and "America's alien-bater No. 1", and wrote caustically of Trevor in 1936 that "if a man's love for his country is measurable by his detestation of all who had the bad taste to be born elsewhere, there probably is no greater patriot in America to-day." Trevor unsuccessfully opposed a 1943 law to welcome some Chinese (who were

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

allies) into the United States. He was the coalition's president until 1950.

Other causes

Trevor was an advisor to the Christian Crusade of Billy James Hargis. A committee associated with Trevor called Ten Million Americans Mobilizing for Justice defended

Senator Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age 48 in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the mos ...

against censure by the Senate. Trevor was a member of the

, which awarded him a gold medal for Americanism in 1951. Trevor was a founding trustee of Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences and was a vice president there. He was also at various times a trustee of the

, a trustee of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, and Commodore of the St. Regis Yacht Club (1938-1939).

Personal life

He married Caroline Murray Wilmerding (one of the oldest friends of

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

) on June 25, 1908.Staff report (June 26, 1908). J.B. TREVOR WEDS MISS WILMERDING; Countess of Strafford's Daughter and Miss Drayton the Bridesmaids. R.W. GOELET BEST MAN Willard Duncan Howe of Pittston, Penn., Leads Miss Pauline Howard of This City to the Altar. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' They had two sons. His son John B. Trevor Jr. also was involved with the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies, was on the board 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 ...

, and was a trustee of the

Trudeau Institute The Trudeau Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, biomedical research center located on a campus in Saranac Lake, New York. Its scientific mission is to make breakthrough discoveries that lead to improved human health. Its current presi ...

.The Trudeau Institute, HSL-wik
Trudeau Institute

References

External links

John Bond Trevor Papers: 1921-1951

John B. Trevor, Jr. Papers: 1939-1987
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevor, John B. Sr. 1878 births 1956 deaths Harvard Law School alumni American anti-communists American Eugenics Society members American lawyers American lobbyists Columbia Law School alumni