How German is American?

In the article published by the Max Kade institute I was prompted with   numerous examples of how German has influenced American culture, and vice   versa. This symbiotic relationship really began in the mid 1800's, when   Germans began emigrating to the United States in record numbers. I had   never learned (or perhaps I learned and forgot) the motivation for the mass   immigration during this period. The author identifies a primary motivator:   land. It was at this time that, what one might call 'cross-culturization',   really began. And, although I normally think of the US as being the sole   perpetrator of stereotyping groups of people, both sides were guilty.   Fictionalized descriptions of American Indians spread quickly to Germany. These sorts of characterizations were not all that spread across the   Atlantic. For example, one fact I really had never learned was that a group   of German-Americans, the Milwaukee Turners, were responsible for the   development of gymnastics as a sport in the US I also did not know that in   the early 20th century, many churches in states such as Wisconsin held   services exclusively in German. This might have been the most surprising   fact I learned - perhaps because I do not live in an area where a large   part of the population identifies themselves as German.  Finally, I had always assumed that the decline of recognition of German   heritage only a result of World War I and II. But, the declining   recognizable German heritage appears to be a more recent phenomenon. In the   article, the author points out that there has been a dramatic increase in   people who simply identify themselves as 'American'. Perhaps it is this,   the increasing recognition of the US as home rather than the place from   which one's family emigrated, that is decreasing recognition of German   heritage.