Overriding Hard

Back to Capitol Hill from the White House went the McCarran-Walter bill, an attempt by Congress to codify the myriad immigration and nationalization laws of the U.S. Harry Truman had vetoed it with a long, scolding message.

The President sided with the minority of legislators who had cried out against the bill because it restated the old doctrine of national origins, under which North and West European immigrants are favored over South and East Europeans (TIME, June 2). Wrote Truman in a 4,000-word message:

"The idea behind this discriminatory policy...is utterly unworthy of our traditions and ideals. It violates the great political doctrine of the Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal.' The time to shake off this dead weight of past mistakes...to develop a decent policy of immigration...is now..."

The President was wasting his breath. In short order, the House (278 to 113) and then the Senate (57 to 26) overrode the President's veto, repassed the McCarran-Walter bill with the two-thirds majorities required to make it the law of the land.

In a week of overtime sessions, the House:

P: Threw out controls over prices, rents, credit and scarce materials as it passed an extension of the Defense Production Act. But Administration forces fought back in a House-Senate conference on the bill, managed to restore most controls (important exception: no price ceilings on fruit or vegetables) for 3 to 10 months. This week Harry Truman signed it.

P: Replaced, through a provision in the same Defense Production Act, the Administration's Wage Stabilization Board with a new board that will have no power to recommend settlements in industry-labor disputes.

P: Slashed further at Administration appropriations requests. From an omnibus bill originally asking almost $14 billion for foreign aid, military construction, atomic energy, etc. it cut $3,731,000,000.

The Senate:

P: Voted an increase averaging nearly $6 a month in Federal old-age benefits, already approved by the House and certain to be approved by the White House.

P: Matched House action by passing a billion-dollar-a-year Bill of Rights for all members of the armed forces who have served since the outbreak of the Korean war.

P: Was informed that the President had signed a bill setting the top strength of the Marine Corps at a peacetime high of 400,000 officers and men (three divisions, three air wings) and giving the Marines' commandant a voice with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in matters relating to the Marine Corps.

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