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.
Mass Immigration and WWI. The Immigration Service continued evolving as the United States experienced rising immigration during the early years of the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1920 the nation admitted over 14.5 million immigrants. Concerns over mass immigration and its impact on the country began to change Americansâ historically open attitude toward immigration. Congress strengthened national immigration law with new legislation in 1903 and 1907. Meanwhile, a Presidential Commission investigated the causes of massive emigration out of Southern and Eastern Europe and the Congressional Dillingham Commission studied conditions among immigrants in the United States.