Theodore Hesburgh Quotes
The reason we have to close the back door of illegal immigration is so that we may keep open the front door of legal immigration.
Theodore Hesburgh, President, University of Notre Dame, Quoted by Jack Kemp. Speech, Republican National Convention, San Diego, August 15, 1996
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The quote is often misreported as “I am, you know, adamantly against illegal illegal immigration."
JOUAM was a nativist workingmen's organization founded in 1853 to resist the competition for jobs from immigration. See related quote for membership criteria. At its peak it had over 200,000 members. “Mechanics” was the term used for a wide variety of skilled craftsmen from plumbers to bricklayers. JOUAM is the oldest fraternal order in America.
Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC was a native of Syracuse, New York, who became an ordained priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is best known for his service as the president of the University of Notre Dame for thirty-five years (1952–1987). In addition to his career as an educator and author, Hesburgh was a public servant and social activist involved in numerous American civic and governmental initiatives, commissions, international humanitarian projects, and papal assignments. Hesburgh received numerous honors and awards for his service, most notably the United States's Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964) and Congressional Gold Medal (2000). As of 2013, he also held the world's record for the individual with most honorary degrees with more than 150.