Restriction’s success deflated nativism even though its fodder remained.

Evidence

Undoubtedly the triumphs of the early twenties helped to alter the public mood. Immigration restriction gave many nativists an enervating satisfaction, and the operation of the new laws progressively reduced a major irritant. On the whole, the relatively small number of immigrants who came through Ellis Island in 1925 and thereafter probably did look appropriately Nordic. But plenty of foreign influence survived on the American scene for nationalism to feed upon, if it had kept a hungry and aggressive appetite. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 1961

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the manufactured threat being physically removed (the immigrant stream cut off) rather than merely rhetorical — distinct mechanism from correction or moral appeal, yet still drained the movement. — connects to: Nativist intensity collapsed once restriction was legally secured — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1955; Racial restriction’s victory deflated the manufactured solidarity that had sustained it; The removal of economic threat deflated nativism regardless of rising immigration — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 618

Broader Connections

• Racial restriction’s victory deflated the manufactured solidarity that had sustained it #expands (0.85)
• The removal of economic threat deflated nativism regardless of rising immigration #corroborates (0.80) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 618