ion of people from other countries to the United States in order to make sure the good health of foreigners entering this country (Danilov 3). ACCEPTANCE AND NONACCEPTANCE IN AMERICA The Catholic Church and politics were very important to the Irish Americans. The church in Ireland had been a bulwark of strength against English oppression. When the Irish suffered the same hostility as the British to their religious beliefs, the church in America became a source of spiritual comfort. French and native-born priests controlled the American Catholic church when the Irish arrived in large numbers, but the Irish quickly moved up, becoming priests, nuns, and archbishops and leaders in the church. Archbishop John Hughes of New York in the 1840s was the first of many Irish leaders in the Catholic Church. Politics and religion helped the Irish overcome the bitter poverty they faced in the mid 1800s. As of 1980, the nearly 20 million Irish Americans were more likely than other immigrants to be professionals and managers. Irish Americans had also earned the admiration of other Americans through many special contributions to culture in the United States. The novelists John O'Hara, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mary McCarthy, and William Kennedy; the playwright Eugene O'Neill; and the film actor Spencer Tracy are just a few of the Irish Americans who have been well known because of their talents (Reimers 53-54). After the Irish arrived in America, they became known as a group that was distinctly different. First of all, almost all the Irish immigrants of this period were Roman Catholic. Lord Baltimore tried to establish a haven for Catholics in Maryland, but America was solidly Protestant and was prejudiced against the Catholics (Reimers 52). Since many of the Irish refugees, arrived with almost no money and were often sick, the Americans had a poor opinion of Irish Catholics, and their very large numbers caused fear and panic in the Protestant Americans. The...
