 This fear of foreign control was long associated with anti-Catholicism and attendant allegations of Catholic dual loyalty to their country and the Pope, stemming from America's British Protestant roots. As late as the 1960 presidential election, in which President John F. Kennedy became America's first Catholic chief executive, there were Americans who believed Catholics' first loyalty would be to the Pope and not the United States. Previous concerns about "foreign influence" led to restrictive laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, the Smith Act of 1940, and numerous state laws restricting foreigners from engaging in business or owning land. Similarly, America long maintained a protectionist trade policy with high tariffs on foreign products, notably the Smoot – Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.
