Source please for claim it was ever illegal for foreigners to own land in the US? The closest I can find to any past regulation of that is the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) of 1978. It just requires disclosure.
source? Well, my sources would all be dead now so can’t help much there. In my grade school years, the 1940’s and 1950’s , it was a common topic in conversation. I heard it from both kinds of farmers as well as teachers. It’s possible it was a wartime measure but it was the case at the time and explained how the occasional farm sale was done. The 99 year leases were transferable and I remember at least a few of the original sellers/lessors not living to see the payoff.