Reagan Cabinet's National ID Debate Recalled by Martin Anderson

In his 1988 memoir Revolution, adviser Martin Anderson recalled a White House immigration meeting on 6 July 1981. Attorney-General William French Smith proposed a national ID card for employment checks. Anderson suggested tattooing identification numbers on arms; in his account, James Watt called it the "mark of the Beast" and Reagan joked about branding babies. The photograph shows the cabinet in February 1981. Image: Unknown photographer (US National Archives), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.