Bruce M. Mohler

An inventory of the Bruce M. Mohler Papers at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

Biographical Note

Bruce M. Mohler was born to David and Ellen Mohler on August 20, 1881, in the town of Fremont, Ohio. Bruce experienced his childhood and early education in Fremont, the Sandusky County seat, which is situated about halfway between Cleveland and Toledo, nestled close to Lake Erie. His earliest education took place at the parochial and public high schools in Fremont, before he moved on to attend college at Ohio State University. At Ohio State he was elected to the Sigma Xi national scientific honor society after showing an advanced aptitude and proficiency in scientific research. He graduated in 1909 with a Bachelor of Science degree. While attending Ohio State, he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, where he made lasting friends whom he remained in touch with throughout his life.

After college, Bruce was appointed to the Engineering Division of the Minnesota State Board of Health, where he worked from 1909-1918. His main duties with the Board of Health involved supervising the sanitary conditions of the public drinking water throughout the state, and recommending specific chemical changes in the event of typhoid or dysentery outbreaks. Continued graduate research during this time period led to the publication of several scholarly articles including : "Effect of the Temperature Coefficient in Water Softening"; "Disinfection of Milk Containers with Calcium Hypochlorite"; and "Sanitary Quality of Railway Water Supplies in Minnesota". Mohler had just finished supervising the installation of a water purification plant in St. Cloud when he was granted leave to go serve in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War 1.

Upon being released to fight in the war in 1918, Bruce was named a Major on the staff of the Chief Engineer Officer. His responsibilities overseas carried over from his work in Minnesota, as he was in charge of purifying the drinking water being developed by army engineer units for troops stationed close to the battlefront. After the armistice he served in the Bordeaux region of France, serving the troops returning home to the United States.

In 1919 Bruce Mohler was named the U.S. Army's representative to the American Red Cross relief effort in Poland. Upon demobilization he immediately transitioned into the appointed role of Deputy Commissioner of the American Red Cross in Poland, where his main responsibility was distributing relief supplies to the Polish people, refugees from the ongoing war with the Bolsheviks. When Kiev was liberated from the Bolsheviks by a joint Ukrainian and Polish army, in May of 1920, he took a relief unit, clothing, and food, to the refugees of the war torn city. He stayed there providing relief, until Commander Semyon Mikhailovich Budenny and his troops eventually drove them out. The actions taken by Bruce Mohler during the fighting in Kiev earned him the "Cross of Valor" and the honor of "Polonia Restituta" from the people of Poland. Upon returning home he was also decorated with the Red Cross medal by the United States Foreign Service.

In 1920 Bruce Mohler became the first director of the newly created Bureau of Immigration of the National Catholic Welfare Council, which was later to become more commonly known as the NCWC Department of Immigration. The department was formed primarily to protect the faith of Catholic immigrants, but was more practically devoted to handling thousands of cases pertaining to immigration, emigration, deportation, naturalization, and citizenship. Immigration laws became increasingly complicated, as a result of the Emergency Quota Act and the Johnson-Reed Act, and the numbers of immigrants that could enter the country were greatly reduced. Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were specifically targeted by the new quotas, as they were deemed undesirable by the new racist laws. A combination of millions of refugees fleeing ravaged Europe and an American postwar recession fueled populist support of protective measures drastically reducing the number of immigrants securing entry. From 1921-1924 a decrease was seen from 3% percent foreign-born quotas based on the 1910 census, with a cap of 355,000 immigrants per year, to 2% foreign-born quotas with a ceiling of around 287,000 immigrants. Specifically, this reduced Italian immigration, from the pre-war immigration boom, from close to 300,000 to less than 40,000. The Emergency Quota Act made drastic cuts to the number of immigrants, and the Johnson-Reed Act went even further. In this climate, Bruce Mohler was faced with the task of aiding Catholic refugees through an immigration process designed to keep them out, to welcome immigrants into a country that didn't want them.

To secure a visa, the first step in establishing citizenship, the quota laws made it nearly impossible for the average immigrant to maneuver through the system without expensive legal assistance. Because few immigrants could afford lawyers, the bishops and laity saw the need for the creation of the Bureau of Immigration, a department that could provide professional assistance free of charge. The Bureau would provide resources to help find loopholes in the law, to re-unite families, and to fight discriminatory legislation.

The selection of Mohler to direct the newly founded Bureau of Immigration most likely has to do with the compassion he showed for the refugees of Poland, his way of getting things done, and his close relationship with John J. Burke, General Secretary of the newly named National Catholic Welfare Council. Mohler used his skills as an engineer and applied pragmatic solutions to the problems of Catholic immigration. His first move was to organize offices in proximity to the immigrants; organizing offices in New York, El Paso, and Washington he brought his department's resources in close proximity to Ellis Island, the Mexican immigrants, and the legislature respectively. Establishing the New York Office allowed his staff easy access to immigrants as they emerged from their ships. By reaching them immediately they then could steer them through the customs office, and put them on trains headed towards their new homes. Once immigrants were set up in their new communities, Mohler was active in persuading bishops from every diocese to organize welcome groups for the new immigrants into their parishes. Mohler's efforts were not limited to the United States. To make operations even more efficient, he began establishing relationships with European Catholic groups at the International Immigration Conference in Rome in 1924. These relationships in the immigrant's home countries helped prepare them for the transition before they even got aboard a ship.

Just as the New York office was set up to be near Ellis Island, Mohler set up an El Paso office to serve the growing number of Mexican immigrants entering the country. Economic hardships in Mexico, resulting from the ongoing revolution, caused a flood of emigrants to leave the country. The percentage of total U.S. immigrants that came from Mexico increased from 10% to 20% in just a decade. Mirroring their work in Europe, the Bureau of Immigration set up a center in Juarez, Mexico, where immigrants were given information and advice before crossing the border. The Washington Office was set up so that Mohler could easily develop relationships with lawmakers and politicians working in the field of immigration. It became quite common for officials within the Department of State and Department of Justice to seek his help in the most complicated cases, and in return they would eventually reciprocate their services. Though the NCWC and Mohler disagreed with much of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 for being arbitrarily discriminatory and un-American, they did manage to make some changes to the legislation, achieving non-quota status for wives and unmarried children.

During World War Two, Bruce Mohler was sent by the American Catholic Bishops to Europe as a member of the War Relief Services. During November 1943, when the submarine blockade was in effect, Mohler visited North Africa, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the British Isles, and Malta, where he began establishing relief programs for civilian refugees. While in Italy representing the Catholic Relief Services, he and Msgr. Walter S. Carroll, who was then serving as Vatican Representative outside of Italy, responded to concerns raised by future New York Mayor William O'Dwyer. O'Dwyer had visited the New York office for immediate help upon returning from the battlefront. He saw Catholic Relief Services as the best department to expedite help to the ailing nation of Italy. Together Mohler and Carroll surveyed Sicily, just six months after the allied invasion, and found the land ravaged, a lack food, water, shelter, clothing, and a shattered civilian morale. They successfully assembled a team of staff and trained workers to make their way to Italy even before the supplies were ready, in order to get acquainted with the organization and make sure that relief operations would run smoothly under the specific local conditions. After returning home, his recommendations to Msgr. Patrick O'Boyle on specific actions and budgets were presented to the National War Fund. When the Alien registration acts were passed after World War Two, thousands of illegal foreigners were exposed who were deeply entrenched in this country. Tireless efforts by Mohler helped thousands navigate the maze of legal paperwork and gain citizenship, or re-enter the country from Canada to gain permanent resident status. In 1944 Pope Pius XII recognized his services to the church and presented him with the highest laymen award, the Knight Commander of St. Gregory.

Nineteen forty-nine was a particularly eventful year for Bruce Mohler, as he both married his love, Catholic scholar Dorothy Abts, and was awarded the Catholic Action medal. Bruce met his wife Dorothy, most likely, in the early 1930s, while giving talks at the Catholic University on the role of the Bureau of Immigration, or while serving on the Board of Trustees for the School of Social Service. Dorothy, who received her doctor of philosophy from the University in 1945, was later the head of the National Catholic School of Social Service. Their wedding was officiated by Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani. The Catholic Action Medal, Bruce received later that year, was presented annually by St. Bonaventure College to a laymen with outstanding work in the field of Catholic Action. The president of St. Bonaventure, Rev. Juvenal Lalor cited Bruce as an "exemplary Catholic Laymen whose whole life [was] devoted to works of charity and to the interests and welfare of the Catholic Church".

In 1952 the Bureau of Immigration was upgraded by the Administrative Board to the Department of Immigration. A report coincided with this announcement, stating that the newly found department had helped over 1 million people in its 32 years of existence as the Bureau of Immigration. This study cited a report from 1952 in which 33,889 families of varying sizes had received help. In light of the sheer quantity of people helped, and the church's constantly expanding interest in the field of immigration, the upgrade in status was a long time coming.

Bruce Mohler continued his role as Director of Department of Immigration until 1965, when the NCWC revamped its organizational structure, and he was named Director Emeritus and Special Consultant on Immigration to the General Secretary of the NCWC by an immigration advisory committee. This restructuring combined the New York Immigration office with the Catholic Committee for Refugees, and the immigration arm of Catholic Relief Services, into one division, to be led by John Edward McCarthy. One of Mohler's new primary duties as Director Emeritus was to take charge of all the voluntary committees which opposed the national origins quota system, and unify the efforts in opposition. Many of the changes his groups suggested, such as the provisions put in place to keep families together, became part of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that was passed later in 1965.

Bruce Mohler passed away a short two years after the passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, a victim of a heart attack at Georgetown University Hospital. He was an honorary member of the Knights of Columbus Fremont, served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the National Catholic School of Social Service, and served as a Board member of the Traveller's Aid Society of Washington D.C. Later in his life he was awarded the Polska Swemu Obroncy medal from the Polish Air Force, and the Lateran Cross from the Vatican. Rev. Paul Tanner presided over his funeral where he praised his tireless work ethic, his perseverance against the legislative tides that discriminated against immigrants, his meticulous efforts, and his devotion to duty in helping hundreds of thousands of Catholic Immigrants find safe refuge in the United States.

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Scope and Contents

The Bruce M. Mohler papers contain 36 linear feet over 57 boxes, spanning the entirety of his life, from 1882-1967, and are broken into six series: (1)Personal, (2)World War 1, American Expeditionary Forces, (3)American Red Cross,(4) National Catholic Welfare Conference: Department of Immigration, (5)Photographs, and (6)Oversize/ Memorabilia. The papers reflect both his personal and professional life, from his boyhood in Fremont, Ohio, up through his professional career as Director of the National Catholic Welfare Conference Department of Immigration. The collections is comprised of correspondence, subject files, clippings, articles, publications, reports, photographs, art, and memorabilia. The amount of material relating to the Department of Immigration leaves something to be desired, but is not unsubstantial. It scratches the surface of the main challenges he faced as director and the relationships he fostered. Personal correspondence and subject files illuminate Mohler's role with major immigration legislation such as the National Origins Quota System implementation, the Johnson-Reed Act , and the McCarran-Walter Act. The collection was received in random chunks over the course of the decade, so it was re-arranged to reflect the different stages of his life defined by his duties, jobs, and career.

The Personal series contains all of the material from Bruce Mohler's early life in Fremont , Ohio, to Ohio State University, and then as a scientist with the Minnesota State Board of Health. It also contains material relating to Bruce's personal life outside of the Department of Immigration, such as holiday cards, family correspondence, personal records, and collected articles and publications. The series is broken into two subseries, correspondence and general subject. Both of these subseries are arranged alphabetically. Though some of the names in the personal correspondence subseries can also be found in later series, the correspondence in this series is generally of a personal nature. There is a great deal of correspondence between with his parents and his wife Dorothy. He was diligent in his correspondence with his parents while overseas in France during World War 1, and Poland with the American Red Cross. A detailed examination of the correspondence maps out his travels across France and Poland during the Great War, and reveals numerous insights into the life of a soldier and relief worker. Also of particular significance are the letters between Bruce Mohler and John J. Burke, Charles Phillips, and a man named Heine (last name unknown). John J. Burke, most notably known as the General Secretary of the National Catholic Welfare conference, was close friend and confidant of Mohler. The numerous letters addressed to "Jake", the close friend Bruce made while with the Red Cross, are to Charles Phillips, who was later to become a professor of Polish history at Notre Dame in the Great War's aftermath. The subject clippings contain biographical information from Sandusky County, Ohio State University, and work with the Minnesota State Board of Health. There is also lots of personal finance, land holdings, and material relating to Bruce's various investments.

The second series, World War 1 and the American Expeditionary Forces, is a three box run of subject files arranged alphabetically. This series contains materials directly pertaining to Bruce's time in the War, and his duties as a soldier with the American Expeditionary Forces. There is a large assortment of collected clippings, as well as articles, handbooks, and other materials that were useful to a soldier. There is an informative run of official correspondence and orders which reveals the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a soldier. The photo series and memorabilia series richly augment the documents found here.

The American Red Cross series, the third series of the collection, is arranged similarly to the World War 1 series. The contents of this series include official correspondence and orders, articles, reports, budgets, notes, and other assorted items. The last box of this series is a run of general correspondence of individuals who are uniquely associated with Mohler's time with the American Red Cross in Poland. Like the previous series, the last two series, the photographs, and the oversize and memorabilia greatly enhance the material in this series.

The Department of Immigration Series contains material relating to Bruce Mohler's involvement in Catholic immigration to America during the 20th century as the Director of the Department of Immigration of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. This series contains correspondence, subject files, articles, speeches, statements, reports, and a large amount of material pertaining to immigration legislation. It is broken up into a subject and correspondence series, similar to the first series in this collection. There is a nearly complete run of Annual Reports released by the Department of Immigration spanning the years 1922-1965. A collection of reports on displaced persons released by the Catholic Committee for Refugees is also in this series, spanning the years 1949-1953. Of particular interest are two folders containing material about Joseph Breen's visit to Europe in the early 1920s, representing the Bureau of Immigration, where he received a less than warm welcome from representatives of the Vatican.

This series contains a large quantity of material about immigration legislation during Mohler's tenure as Director of the Department of Immigration. Notes, subcommittee hearings, suggested amendments, and other material pertaining to the Emergency Quota Act, the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924, the McCarran-Walter Act (Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952), and the Family Reunification Act of 1965, can also be found in this series. The last subject that is covered in the subject files is a substantial amount of material about Mohler's work with the War Relief Services. This takes up one and a half boxes, and covers myriad aspects of his trips to Malta, Italy, England, and Portugal specifically.

Interoffice memoranda and personnel files from the New York, Washington, Philadelphia, and El Paso offices in this series, all give a clearer picture of the interworking and communication between the different offices. There is also a large chunk of alphabetized correspondence between Bruce Mohler and other Catholic religious figures and people involved in immigration work, including John J. Burke (separate from the correspondence in the personal series), Michael J. Ready, and Thomas F. Mulholland. A large amount of material in this section is a chronological run of appreciation letters Mohler received from 1921 to 1966. This material was not broken up alphabetically because it is a large volume of letters with very basic content. Original order was also taken into consideration as the folders these letters were received in were clearly marked and filed by Bruce Mohler as such.

The photograph series contains an extremely rich collection of pictures from throughout Mohler's life. As an amateur he took a large amount of candid shots throughout his early life and college. The collection has lots of pictures taken in Fremont, Ohio, in the early 20th century. Of interest are some photographs documenting the devastation in Fremont caused by the flood of 1913. There are also many candid shots of Bruce with friends. The theme changes sharply as there is a wide collection of photographs Mohler took while in World War One and the American Red Cross. Notably are a large series of photos described in captions of great detail by Charles Phillips. There are some quite dark photographs taken just after the fighting, as well as photographs in Paris of captured German tanks. There are also many photographs taken of refugee camps from Poland, including a batch of particularly memorable shots of Polish refugee children at Christmastime. The photograph series also has a large assortment of signed portraits Mohler collected throughout his life of various people including John J. Burke, Ilia Tolstoy, Thomas Mulholland, and many others. Lastly there are a large amount of shots taken at Ellis Island of immigrants arriving to the United States, as well as pictures of Mohler and others at various NCWC conventions.

The sixth and final series, the oversize and memorabilia series, contains artwork, artifacts, postcards, books, and other miscellaneous items. Mohler was an avid collector of postcards, and even turned many of his photographs into postcards themselves. There is a large collection of these postcards collected from all over the world within this series. One of the most notable items in this series is a large anti-Bolshevik propaganda poster featuring a blood red Trotsky holding a knife and a smoking gun while death whispers in his ear. This poster reads [translated] "Beware the Bolsheviks" in large red-lettering at the top. One of the most unique items in the collection is a scrapbook Mohler made, containing glued reproductions of the works of famous Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian artists. This book, folk-art in itself, contains an indexed collection representing dozens of artists from the region in the late 19th and early 20th century. Mohler took great care making this scrapbook, perhaps in his spare time during the war, and it is ornately lettered and decorated. More research needs to be done on the pieces of art in the book, as some of the reproductions may be original photographs taken by Mohler and turned into postcards, then mounted. A painting depicting an Eastern European peasant woman shaking hands with an American businessman, standing in an amber field, is another notable piece of this series. For a more detailed list email us at archives@mail.lib.cua.edu.

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Arrangement

The Bruce M. Mohler Papers consists of 6 Series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on this collection.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Dorothy Mohler and her estate donated Bruce Mohler's papers to the American Catholic History Research Center in 1984, 1997, 1998, and 2001.

Processing Information

Processing and EAD markup completed in 2010 by Eben Dennis.

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Related Material

The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives also contains:

Papers of the National Catholic Welfare Conference

The Dorothy Mohler Papers

Digital Materials available through our American Catholic History Classroom:

Bishops and Immigration: The Founding of the Bureau

At the Center for Migration Studies:

National Catholic Welfare Conference: Department of Immigration General Correspondence(1920-1995); and New York Office and Catholic Committee for Refugees Records (1921-1965)

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Index Terms

Persons:

Organizations:

Places:

Subjects:

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Bibliography

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Detailed Description of the Collection

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Administrative Information

Related Material

Index Terms

Bibliography

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Personal, 1882-1966,

Series 2: World War 1, American Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1920,

Series 3: American Red Cross, 1919-1937,

Series 4: Department of Immigration, National Catholic Welfare Conference 1921-1966,

Series 5: Photographs, 1895-1966,

Series 6: Oversize and Memorabilia, 1895-1966,