Wagner-Rogers Bill

   Legislation introduced into the United States Congress in 1939 by Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York and Congresswoman Edith Rogers of Massachusetts that proposed to bring 20,000 mostly Jewish European refugee children into the United States. The bill called for the arrival of 10,000 children in 1939 and 10,000 more in 1940. The legislation was similar to efforts made by the Dutch and British governments to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. The legislation, however, was amended in committee whereby the 20,000 children would gain entry into the United States, but only if the quota that allowed Jewish refugees to be admitted was reduced by 20,000. The bill died in the House after the sponsors withdrew support for the bill in frustration. A bill that allowed in thousands of children from Great Britain, non-Jewish victims of the 1940 blitz, was enthusiastically endorsed by Congress.