One of the things we kept thinking as we read President Bush’s speech on immigration was the Johnson Act. It was a centerpiece of the anti-immigration legislation put through by Congress in the early 1920s. The Johnson Immigration Act itself was enacted in 1921 by a Republican Congress and signed by a Republican, President Harding, after having been vetoed earlier by a Democrat, President Wilson. Johnson was followed by the National Origins Act, often referred to as the Reed Johnson Act, or Johnson Act, like its predecessor. It tightened restrictions in the earlier law and made them permanent. The Congress was still controlled by the Republicans and the president who signed the law was Calvin Coolidge. Quoth he: “America must be kept American.”

Against this history we found it breathtaking, even inspiring, to see a Republican president stand up in the East Room of the White House and articulate the kind of sentiments to which President Bush gave voice this week. He began by welcoming those present who were “Americans by choice” and speaking of how they have “followed in the path of millions.” He spoke of how over the generations America has received “energetic, ambitious, optimistic people from every part of the world.” And he asserted that America is a “stronger and better nation” because of the hard work, faith, and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants. Every generation of immigrants, he declared, has “reaffirmed the wisdom of remaining open to the talents and dreams of the world.” And every generation of immigrants “has reaffirmed our ability to assimilate newcomers.”

The president went so far as to specifically reaffirm the wisdom of the great immigration that the Johnson acts closed down.”During one great period of immigration — between 1891 and 1920 — our nation received some 18 million men, women, and children from other nations,” Mr. Bush said. “The hard work of these immigrants helped make our economy the largest in the world. The children of immigrants put on the uniform and helped to liberate the lands of their ancestors,” he said. He spoke of how the contributions of immigrants to America continue, of how about 14% of our nation’s civilian workforce is foreign-born, and how, as a Texan who has known many immigrants, he has personally seen what immigrants add to America.

What a reversal from the political alignment of 80 years ago. Today the Democrats are griping and maundering, but none could articulate the American ideology of openness the way Mr. Bush has just done or, for that matter, be counted on to open American borders wider than the president is proposing to do. The way to look at Mr. Bush’s program is as the beginning of a process that will culminate with America’s borders being open to more; with those that are here, legally or not, being treated better. The citizenship line is “too long, and our current limits on legal immigration are too low,” the president said. “Those willing to take the difficult path of citizenship — the path of work, and patience, and assimilation — should be welcome in America, like generations of immigrants before them.” So much for Johnson, Coolidge, and Harding.