The Irish-American contribution to popular entertainment is reflected in the careers of figures such as James Cagney, Bing Crosby, Walt Disney, John Ford, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, Tyrone Power, Chuck Conners, Ada Rehan, Jena Malone, and Spencer Tracy.he Irish-American contribution to politics spans the entire ideological spectrum. Two prominent American socialists, Mary Harris Mother Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, were Irish Americans. In the 1960s, Irish-American writer Michael Harrington became an influential advocate of social welfare programs.
The foreign-born population was less than 20 million or 7.9 percent of the total population in 1990, according to the Census Bureau. The bureau says the first âgreat waveâ of immigration took place between 1880 and 1930, when the foreign-born population represented between 12 and 15 percent of the total population.
Except for Native Americans, all United States citizens can claim some immigrant experience, whether during prosperity or despair, brought by force or by choice. However, immigration to the United States reached its peak from 1880-1920.The so-called  old immigration  brought thousands of Irish and German people to the New World. This time, although those groups would continue to come, even greater ethnic diversity would grace America's populace.he new American cities became the destination of many of the most destitute. Once the trend was established, letters from America from friends and family beckoned new immigrants to ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown, Greektown, or Little Italy. This led to an urban ethnic patchwork, with little integration.