It's interesting that most of the anti-immigrant movement was focused on Catholics or Jewish people and also those of low economic and social status. I think most of the German and Scandinavian immigrants were farmers and landed in the Midwest and weren't threats to the regular jobs. The Germans, though, faced the wrath of prejudice views during WWI, which was obviously a few election cycles prior to the 1924 election, but I wonder if some of the anti-immigration views began during the war. I know many Germans changed their last names, changed business names, halted newspapers written in German and discontinued worship service in German. Fear of change and/or scarcity has not changed.
Good point about the Germans, Paul. The anguish about immigrants in this case, though, did seem to be mostly against Catholics and Jews from southern and eastern Europe. The religion was certainly a big part of it, as the U.S. was a majority Protestant nation made up largely of descendants from north/western Europe. There was also fear that Catholics would owe their allegiance to the Pope rather than to the Constitution. And part of it, too, was that southern Europeans such as the Italians had darker skin and didn't fit some people's conception of what Americans should look like. All of these fears sort of merged together. But your last sentence is spot on: "Fear of change and/or scarcity has not changed." Same fears today as there were a century ago.
It's interesting that most of the anti-immigrant movement was focused on Catholics or Jewish people and also those of low economic and social status. I think most of the German and Scandinavian immigrants were farmers and landed in the Midwest and weren't threats to the regular jobs. The Germans, though, faced the wrath of prejudice views during WWI, which was obviously a few election cycles prior to the 1924 election, but I wonder if some of the anti-immigration views began during the war. I know many Germans changed their last names, changed business names, halted newspapers written in German and discontinued worship service in German. Fear of change and/or scarcity has not changed.
Good point about the Germans, Paul. The anguish about immigrants in this case, though, did seem to be mostly against Catholics and Jews from southern and eastern Europe. The religion was certainly a big part of it, as the U.S. was a majority Protestant nation made up largely of descendants from north/western Europe. There was also fear that Catholics would owe their allegiance to the Pope rather than to the Constitution. And part of it, too, was that southern Europeans such as the Italians had darker skin and didn't fit some people's conception of what Americans should look like. All of these fears sort of merged together. But your last sentence is spot on: "Fear of change and/or scarcity has not changed." Same fears today as there were a century ago.