Celler, Emanuel, 1888-1981

Emanuel Celler (May 6, 1888 – January 15, 1981) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he representred Brooklyn and Queens in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1923 to 1973, representing the 10th (1923-1945, 1963-1973), 15th (1945-1953), and 11th (1953-1963) congressional districts. He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States Congress from the state of New York.

Born in Brooklyn, he graduated from Boys High School there before earning B.A. and LL.B. degrees from Columbia University, passing the bar and practicing law in New York City. During World War I, Celler worked as a government appeal agent on the draft board. In 1922, Celler was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Brooklyn and Queens-based 10th congressional district. Celler made his first important speech on the House floor during consideration of the Johnson–Reed Immigration Act of 1924. Three years earlier, Congress had imposed a quota that limited immigration for persons of any nationality to 3 percent of that nationality present in the United States in 1910, with an annual admission limit of 356,000 immigrants. This national origin system was structured to preserve the ethnic and religious identity of the United States by reducing immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, thereby excluding many Jews, Catholics, among others. Celler was vehemently opposed to the Johnson-Reed Act, which passed the isolationist Congress and was signed into law. Celler had found his cause and for the next four decades he vigorously spoke out in favor of eliminating the national origin quotas as a basis for immigration restriction.

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