A PILOT STUDY TRACED THE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF SPANISH SPEAKING PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES AND DISCUSSED THEIR PRESENT POSITION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY IN TERMS OF EDUCATION, HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT, ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, VOTING, PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS, AND HEALTH. DISCRIMINATION AND THE DEPRIVATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS WERE EMPHASIZED. SOURCES FOR STUDY WERE BOOKS, ARTICLES, U.S. CENSUS REPORTS, CENSUS TRACT DATA, QUESTIONNAIRES, AND INTERVIEWS. ACCORDING TO THE 1960 CENSUS, 4,320,724 SPANISH SPEAKING PEOPLE LIVED IN THE UNITED STATES. OF THE TOTAL, 3,465,000 LIVED IN ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, NEW MEXICO, AND TEXAS. IN THE 1950'S THEIR HISTORY WAS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER IMMIGRANT GROUPS, BECAUSE SPANISH AMERICANS AND PUERTO RICANS WERE CONQUERED PEOPLE UPON WHOM THE CULTURE OF THE CONQUERORS WAS SUPERIMPOSED. THEIR TRADITION OF PASSIVE SUBSERVIENCE TO AUTHORITY WAS THE BASIC DIFFICULTY IN THEIR ASSIMILATION TO AMERICAN SOCIETY. FACTORS COMPLICATING THE ASSIMILATION PROCESS WERE LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, SKIN COLOR, HEALTH DIFFERENCES, AND LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. THEIR EDUCATION, HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH, INCOME, AND OCCUPATION CONDITIONS WERE POORER THAN OTHER NONWHITES AND MUCH POORER THAN THE WHITES. BASED ON THE FINDINGS IN THE STUDY, RECOMMENDATIONS WERE MADE FOR THE FOLLOWING--(1) A NATIONAL AGENCY TO HELP SPANISH SPEAKING PEOPLE SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS, (2) MORE FIELD WORKERS FOR SPANISH SPEAKING LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS, (3) NONCOMPETITIVE SCHOLARSHIPS AT THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVELS, (4) AN ATTACK ON THE MINORITY PROBLEM THROUGH PROGRAMS COMBATTING PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, AND EXPLOITATION, (5) MORE DETAILED RESEARCH STUDIES COVERING A LARGER NUMBER OF SPANISH SPEAKING PEOPLE IN EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR LIVES, AND (6) A CENTER FOR RESEARCH TO COORDINATE KNOWLEDGE AND PROGRAMS ON MINORITY GROUPS.