Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a supporter of political reform.

1933

(con. 1890s) C.W. Willemse Cop Remembers 82–3: The new men [police recruits] were called ‘Goo-Goos’ or if they were American born, a rare thing in those early days, they were known as ‘Narrow-backs’.

2. (US) an Irish person, esp. a second-generation immigrant.

1957		N.Y. Times 29 Sept. X3: William Joseph Patrick (Pat) O’Brien, a Milwaukee-born Irishman or narrowback [OED].
1964		Pubs. of Amer. Dialect Society XLII n.p.: Irish informants use [...] narrowback for a second generation Irishman who has neither the need, the desire nor the physical equipment to do the work his father had to do .

3. (US) a Protestant.

1968

in DARE.

4. (Irish) an immigrant who returns from the US to live in Ireland.

1997

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