It is fitting that on this Holiday we should be reminded that this year is the 100th anniversary of the title song written by Private Irving Berlin shortly after he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
He and his family were immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Russia circa 1893. He was five years old at the time and the NY Times reports that he and his siblings were placed in a "holding pen" while immigration officials decided their fate. How strange that 125 years and a few pages later we read of five year olds experiencing the same treatment. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
tjs
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