My Father, the "Imbecile"

Currently, Sen. Tom Cotton (R.-Ark.) has proposed a bill that would substantially limit immigration to people who speak fluent English.

Compare this idea to the Immigration Act of 1907:

In the Senate the bill was amended by the insertion of a literacy test, which provided for the exclusion from the United States of—

all persons over sixteen years or age and physically capable of reading who can not read the English language.... 

The law also excluded the following people from coming to America: "All idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons, and persons who have been insane within five years previous." 

The photo of my Dad was taken shortly after he immigrated illegally to the U.S. under false papers.

During the Korean War, my Dad received a letter from the Selective Service. He had been drafted to serve in the Army. Upon reporting, he took a written IQ test.

After the test was scored, he was told he could go—the Army did not want him. 

“Why?” he asked. 

He was told that he tested at the level of an imbecile, with an IQ of about 50.

Dad was furious. With help from a relative in New York City, he then wrote a personal letter to President Harry Truman, and addressed it simply to the White House.

Through staff, President Truman replied that my Dad was to take this note back to the Selective Service and retest. 

My Dad, whose English improved with intensive studying, passed.

Ironically, he was assigned to a military “intelligence unit” because of his knowledge of Eastern European languages.

Now, really, who is the imbecile? My Dad or Senator Cotton?