The main reason why Einstein permanently moves to the U.S is because he was no longer safe in Germany. German anti-Semitism was on the rise, especially after Hitler’s National Socialist party began taking over the political power of Germany in 1930, which further encourage hostility towards German Jews. Many of …show more content…
He first travelled to the U.S in 1921, New York being his destination. Many people enthusiastically greeted him in the streets of New York when he arrived. He was considered as a “scientific celebrity”. The main purpose of that trip was to use his fame to raise funds for a Jewish university in Jerusalem, which became Hebrew University. He was not widely accepted because of some of his political views. At some extent he advocated Zionism, and he did not agree with nationalism and assimilation, especially in regard to Jewish Germans.
Furthermore, the political conflicts caused him to lose the opportunity of lecturing at Harvard; however, he was invited to lecture at Princeton University in New Jersey. There were also some New York reform German Jews who oppose Einstein Zionist views. On the other hand, the “less assimilated Jewish community, the ones who tended to live in Brooklyn or on the Lower East Side rather than on Park Avenue” embraced Einstein view of Zionism. Einstein believed that Zionism “offers a new Jewish ideal that can give the Jewish people joy in its own existence again.” He saw it as a way of reshaping Jewish …show more content…
In the late 1932 he applied for a visa as a private citizen. There was an organization, called the Women Patriot Corporation, that fought against Einstein entrance to the U.S. The president of that group “submitted a sixteen-page brief outlining the legal basis to their request that Einstein be barred from entering the county, stating that [he] was a leader of the ‘anarcho-communist’ program to ‘shatter’ the ‘military machinery’ of the existing government.” They considered him to be part of the “revolutionary radicals.” The group also used his scientific and religious views against him as well as his inability to speak proper English. The Women Patriot Corporation supported the effort to keep undesirable aliens out of the U.S, Einstein being one of them. Their accusations were passed to the U.S Consulate in Berlin who were responsible for the decision to issue visas to German citizens traveling to the U.S. Einstein was called to the consulate to answer a series of questions regarding his application which was a standard procedure. The questions that were asked were basically about his political standing and what was his purpose of his visit. He refused to answer more question and his visa was issued the next day. In 1936, Einstein filled a Declaration of Intention to become an American citizen. Einstein took his American citizenship test on June 22, 1940 and was naturalized on October 1, 1940. He takes the citizen oath