Final answer:
President Truman vetoed the McCarran-Walter Act because he viewed it as racially discriminatory and a violation of constitutional freedoms.the correct answer is E. his support of a more flexible system of immigration.
Step-by-step explanation:
President Truman's veto of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 was not due to personal vengeance, concerns over quotas, endorsement of communism, or an anti-immigration stance. Rather, Truman's disapproval was fundamentally rooted in his belief that the act was racially discriminatory and contrary to the American principles of freedom and equality. The McCarran-Walter Act removed race as a barrier to citizenship but it still imposed rigid quotas on nonwhite peoples from Asia and Africa, reflecting the racial biases of the period. Even when the act was revised to allow skilled immigrants and sanctioned migration based on political beliefs, Truman believed that the restrictions placed on political affiliation violated constitutional standards of freedom of speech and assembly, and he notably said, "In a free country, we punish men for the crimes they commit, but never for the opinions they hold." Importantly, he shared the criticism that the new law was racist. Despite his veto, the act was passed by Congress, which had enough votes to override his veto.
In summary, the correct answer is E. his support of a more flexible system of immigration.
- President Truman vetoed the McCarran-Walter Act.
- The act reflected racial biases of that time.
- Truman believed the act's restrictions violated constitutional freedoms.