Every time I tell people that there was no immigration in this country for over 40 years, from the 1920s to the 1960s, seventies, they’re shocked. You’d be amazed at the number of people that do not know we totally closed the borders after the wave of European immigration in the 1920s. And we did it for one reason. That mass arrival of immigrants needed to be assimilated.
The truth is between 1920 and 1965 inclusive we let in 10.1 million, 4.5 million of which came in between 1920 and 1930. It was the Great Depression and World War II which brought immigration down to a trickle. There were no jobs for the people already here in the 1930s for cying out loud, and we didn't want any Nazty Spies comin' in in 1940 either.
You can examine the data for yourself here:
