Programs of denial: unlocking the gates to skilled immigration through Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1947

James Evan Schroeder

In the decades following World War II as many as sixteen-hundred German and Austrian researchers and technicians immigrated with their families into the United States through a government program known as Project Paperclip. Established in 1945, Paperclip was initially conceived as a short-term military operation to develop technology for use against Japan. The specialists were to remain in military custody for the duration of their employment, a policy which received support from State Department officials determined to control access to German scientific and technical knowledge. Paperclip's evolution into a long-term immigration program in early 1946 challenged this consensus. Incentivized by rising tensions with the Soviet Union, this change placed greater responsibility on the shoulders of the State Department, the organization responsible for granting immigration visas. Required to adhere to laws restricting the immigration of fascists, many State Department officials were reluctant to risk criticism by flouting regulations. As a result, they mandated that all immigration applications be processed according to legally permissible procedures. Despite subsequent military accusations of obstructionism, this thesis demonstrates that the military's own shortages of family housing and funding posed the most potent barrier to recruitment. Restricting their capacity to process recruits, these shortages pressured officers to free space by enabling specialists to leave military custody as American citizens, a dilemma that demonstrates how competing bureaucratic priorities placed military officers in conflict with recalcitrant State Department officials. Seeking a legally permissible compromise, State Department officials modified and redefined their own legal obligations, attempting to facilitate immigration while avoiding responsibility. In late 1946 the State Department granted the Joint Chiefs of Staff authority to authorize visas, and in late 1947 they granted the military and Justice Department full authority to determine the security risk posed by specialists. This thesis argues that this interdepartmental conflict and eventual compromise over Paperclip illustrates the practical limitations and unexpected bureaucratic and legal obstacles that shaped the United States government's implementation of national security policy in the aftermath of World War II. Together these forces helped establish technological superiority and skilled immigration as critical components to the emerging American national security state.

Programs of denial: unlocking the gates to skilled immigration through Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1947

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