The State Department will seek easement from Congress of some of the provisions of the McCarran Act as they pertain to the granting of visas to visiting scientists, artists, educators and others who have recently been denied visas to enter the United States, it was learned here this week-end. It was reported that the United States Government has been embarrassed abroad by the refusal of visas to eminent persons who have sought to enter the U.S. for a visit.
The most recent incident of this sort was denial of a visa to Dr. Ernst Boris Chain, European Jewish scientist who shared the Nobel Prize for his work in connection with the discovery of the use of the drug penicillin. Last week Meyer Weisgal, chairman of the executive council of the Weizmann Institute of Science at Rehovoth, released a letter by Dr. Chain in which he protested the State Department’s refusal of a visa as a denial of his civil rights.
Dr. Chain’s letter revealed that he had been denied a visa when he sought to enter the country on a mission for the United Nations’ affiliate, World Health Organization, and again when he sought to attend the annual Weizmann Birthday Dinner in New York last week, at which funds are raised for the Weizmann’s Institute’s scientific work.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
