Category Archives: Irish America

Will the Trumpistorians alter Irish American history?

UPDATE:

Read or listen to this Democracy Now! interview with Annette Gordon-Reed, a Harvard history professor and president of the Organization of American Historians.

ORIGINAL POST:

The Trump administration announced August 12 that it would begin a comprehensive review of current and planned exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, which describes itself as “the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.” The administration said that it will examine museum display text and website and social media content “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”

This is part of a broader effort by US President Donald Trump to stamp his gilded, white-washed view of American history on the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026, and beyond. Earlier this year the Smithsonian removed, then revised, references to Trump’s two impeachments. Historians are alarmed.

Of course, Ireland and the Irish loom large in American history. Several signatories of the Declaration of Independence were born in Ireland or had Irish roots. Mass Irish immigration in the mid-nineteenth century provided soldiers for the US Civil War and labor for American commerce. Ireland’s struggles for freedom and equality have influenced American politics and culture throughout the twentieth century; from helping to scuttle the League of Nations in 1919 to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, with many St. Patrick’s Day parades in between.

The Smithsonian holds numerous objects and artifacts related to Irish American history. Some have been displayed in public, others featured in institution publications and platforms.

The all-time most viewed post on this site was inspired in 2017 by a display about immigration at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The “Irish radicalism” addressed in the 1889 political cartoon seen below has been widely discussed by other online platforms, which probably has something to do with the digital traffic. I am not sure if the display I viewed eight years ago is still at the museum, and if so, whether it will survive the Trump scrub.

“Irish radicals were seen as too unruly to mix in,” the Smithsonian said in 2017.

Another item from the Smithsonian’s website details an 1882 banner honoring Irish American boxer John L. Sullivan. The April 2018 post notes the history of sports figures who wade into politics, including contemporary athletes who refused “to visit the Obama and Trump White Houses.” How will the Trumpistorians deal with this description:

“The Irish were never held as slaves in America, but into the late 1800s Irish Americans continued to battle long-standing prejudices that led many people to think of them as inferior to other European Americans. British and American writers blamed Irish people themselves rather than imperialism and bigotry for Irish poverty. They cited Irish allegiance to the Catholic Church, unsupported applications of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the pseudoscience of phrenology—which wrongly claimed a link between people’s intellectual potential and the outline of their heads—to claim that Irish people were less independent and less intelligent than “Anglo-Teutonic” people from Northern Europe. Often, as the illustrations below demonstrate, the alleged differences were described in racial terms, with the Irish either not considered white or considered less human than other whites.”

The post goes on to explore Sullivan’s “empathy for the South in the wake of the Civil War and his desire to see the South and North reconciled in a nation that valued white supremacy.” Will the Trumpistorians remove the references to slavery and phrenology but keep the part about white supremacy?

Here’s a March 2015 post that details “four objects that reveal facets of the Irish American experience.” The opening section about early twentieth century St. Patrick’s Day postcards says that many were based on “unflattering stereotypes of the Irish as drinkers, fighters, or simple country bumpkins.” It says that Irish Americans used “protests, boycotts, and calls for the police to confiscate the ‘indecent literature’” as an example of how “both individuals and groups often use whatever power and resources they have at their disposal to push back.”

Was this “cancel culture?” Will the Trumpistorians allow content that speaks about protesting commercial interests, let alone an unpopular government?

These are just three examples. I imagine content that names Trump, such as the second item in this post (Obama and Trump in the same sentence, oh my!), will receive the most immediate attention. Trump seems to have a conflicted relationship with Ireland. He owns a golf course in Clare and has an affinity for Conor McGregor (both convicted in civil courts of sexual misconduct). But Trump has targeted Ireland’s tax schemes and High Tech and Big Pharma infrastructure in his overhaul of global trade, and he doesn’t care for its support of the Palestinians.

I’ll be watching this story over the coming year. I invite readers to send other examples from the Smithsonian or other institutions that could face Trump’s revisionism on Irish issues. And, of course, you are very welcome to visit the Smithsonian museums here in the city of Washington, D.C., now occupied by Trump’s troops.

Brayden on American tourists in Ireland, 1925

William Henry Brayden made several references to the Irish tourism industry in his summer 1925 newspaper series, later consolidated into a small book.[1]See my Brayden series introduction. German U-boats no longer threatened ocean travel. The smoke of more than a decade of world war and revolutionary gunfire and bombings had cleared to reveal Ireland’s verdant beauty and hospitality. Americans and other foreigners once again began to arrive.

Wm. Brayden

“It is now the settled policy of the Free State to attract visitors to holidays in Ireland,” Brayden declared in the opening installment of his 16-part series for the Chicago Daily News.[2]”Ireland No Longer Distressful Country”, Chicago Daily News, June 16, 1925; and William H. Brayden, The Irish Free State: a survey of the newly constructed institutions of the self-governing … Continue reading He continued:

“It is thought that the time has at last come when Ireland, besides its natural scenic beauties and facilities for sport, has much that is attractive and hopeful to exhibit. Any visitor will speedily recognize a change in the outlook of the people. Ireland is no longer a distressful country. People are beginning to think of the future over which they have some power of control rather than of the past where effort was so long checked because it seemed hopeless.”

Brayden said visitors would recognize the separation of the 26-county Irish Free State from Great Britain “by the examination of his baggage at the customs. He will note the promptitude and civility of the new officials.”

But Brayden also reported a significant problem with the new system “proved embarrassing to some visitors.” Before boarding eastbound ocean steamers, American travelers were required to buy a $10 visa from the new Irish Free State passport office in New York City. Great Britain offered a visa without charge. Travelers who disembarked in England or Northern Ireland could travel into the Free State without the Irish visa. But those who attempted to land in the Free State without the Irish visa were stopped.

This image is from Wallace Nutting’s 1925 photobook ‘Ireland Beautiful.’ Read my ‘History Ireland’ story, linked below, to learn how this American book helped to boost Irish tourism.

“All this passport business is still in an inchoate and unsatisfactory state,” Brayden reported. “Tourist associations complain of it as a hinderance to the movement for encouraging visitors to Ireland.”[3]“Ireland Now Deals With Other Nations”, Chicago Daily News, July 2, 1920, and Brayden, A survey, 23.

The correspondent observed many Americans in Cork city. “They were to be seen everywhere in the streets and in the stores.” A few were disappointed there were no “American bars” to offer mixed cocktails and “had to be content with the unmixed native product.”[4]“Cork Is Recovering From Its War Wounds”, Chicago Daily News, July 11, 1920; and Brayden, A survey, 33. Remember, prohibition had been US law for five years by 1925. Such measures were being discussed on the island of Ireland–more in the north than the south, Brayden reported–but did not pass. Some liquor laws were later tightened, such as sales on Good Friday and Christmas Day.

My article in the July/August issue of History Ireland magazine, Ireland Beautiful–How A 1925 American Photobook Boosted Irish Tourism, explores more about 1925 American tourism in Ireland. American who visit Ireland this summer are encouraged to share your impressions for a future post. Contact me through the blog.

References

References
1 See my Brayden series introduction.
2 ”Ireland No Longer Distressful Country”, Chicago Daily News, June 16, 1925; and William H. Brayden, The Irish Free State: a survey of the newly constructed institutions of the self-governing Irish people, together with a report on Ulster. [Chicago: Chicago Daily News, 1925], 4.
3 “Ireland Now Deals With Other Nations”, Chicago Daily News, July 2, 1920, and Brayden, A survey, 23.
4 “Cork Is Recovering From Its War Wounds”, Chicago Daily News, July 11, 1920; and Brayden, A survey, 33.

Our midsummer’s blogiversary break

This post marks my 13th blogiversary. Thanks to email subscribers as well as regular and occasional visitors. I’m taking off most of July. … Below are four freelance pieces about American journalists in Ireland, all published this year. Also linked below is my ongoing exploration of William Brayden’s 1925 series on partitioned Ireland for the Chicago Daily News. Enjoy. MH

Ireland Beautiful–How A 1925 American Photobook Boosted Irish Tourism
History Ireland (Dublin)

The US Press and the American Commission on Irish Independence, 1919
New Hibernia Review

When three American journalists visited ‘Paddy the Cope’ in Dungloe, 1919-1922
The Irish Story (Dublin)

Richard Lee Strout: A Young American Reporter In Revolutionary Ireland
American Journalism

Revisiting William Brayden’s 1925 ‘survey’ of Ireland
From the blog. More posts coming later this year.

A 1920s map of partitioned Ireland from a US newspaper. Note that Queenstown has not be changed to Cobh, Kings county has not be changed to Offaly.

Remembering CUA library donor John K. Mullen of Galway

John Kernan Mullen of Ballinasloe, County Galway, helped to fund the Catholic University of America (CUA) library that bears his name. The cornerstone was laid April 25, 1925, on the Washington, D.C., campus.

Mullen emigrated to America in 1847, when he was nine. “He began working in a flour mill in Oriskany Falls, N.Y.,” according to a CUA profile. “At 20, Mullen went West, leasing a flour mill in Denver, Colo., and soon after buying several more mills. By 1911 he had built the first grain elevator in the state, established the Colorado Milling and Elevator Company, and operated 91 elevators, warehouses and mills in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Oregon.”

He became a millionaire.

In 1924, Mullen pledged $500,000 to CUA to build a library, which opened as the John K. Mullen of Denver Memorial Library in September 1928. Since then the library has been open to the public. My work has benefited from access to the Mullen Library and CUA’s Special Collections, which are held in a different building. See the library’s online centenary exhibition.

There is no doubt of Mullen’s business success and generous philanthropy, especially to the Catholic church. He might have been motivated by having escaped the Great Famine.

His political views about Ireland’s struggle for independence are more of a mystery. He surely knew that Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, CUA’s rector from 1909 to 1928, had been an ardent Irish nationalist and national vice president of the Friends of Irish Freedom during the country’s revolutionary years. Exiled Fenian John Devoy attended the 1925 cornerstone ceremony. Coverage of the event in his Gaelic American newspaper mentioned only Mullen’s financial gift.[1]”Cardinal Lays Cornerstone Of Library, Gaelic American, May 2, 1925.

Mullen died in August 1929 in Denver. US Catholic newspapers and secular press obituaries also were silent as to Mullen’s views about his homeland. The digital Irish Newspaper Archive contains no coverage of his death or funding the library.

Bust of John K. Mullen on the main stairway landing between the library’s lobby and second floor.

This plaque is located inside the library’s front door.

References

References
1 ”Cardinal Lays Cornerstone Of Library, Gaelic American, May 2, 1925.

Zoom presentation on Michael J. O’Brien

This event is concluded. I will make the recording available at a later date. MH

As historiographer of the American Irish Historical Society, County Cork-born Michael J. O’Brien focused on Irish contributions to colonial America. In 1919, as the Irish War of Independence heated up, he published A Hidden Phase of American History: Ireland’s Part in America’s Struggle for Liberty. The book was deployed to help make the case for why America should support Ireland’s struggle for liberty. When US Senator John Sharp Williams, a Mississippi Democrat, attacked the Irish in a widely reported speech, O’Brien was drafted to issue the reply.

My zoom presentation, “Michael J. O’Brien: Defending Ireland’s Record in America,” begins at 6 tonight, USA Eastern time. Thanks to the Irish American Heritage Museum, Albany, N.Y., which has stepped up to save this presentation after a new round of turmoil at AIHS. More about that in a future post.

Four great stories about American journalists in Ireland

Below are four recent stories about American journalists in Ireland. The six correspondents highlighted in these pieces visited the country between 1919 and 1925. Their work drew attention on both sides of the Atlantic. My research in this subject area continues. Suggestions and comments are welcome. MH  

Richard Lee Strout: A Young American Reporter In Revolutionary Ireland After spending a year interning at London newspapers, Strout stopped in Ireland on his way back to America. He arrived in Dublin a day before Bloody Sunday, 1920. Published in American Journalism, the peer-reviewed quarterly of the American Journalism Historians Association.

When three American journalists visited ‘Paddy the Cope’ in Dungloe, 1919-1922: Correspondents from the Chicago Tribune, Survey Graphic magazine (New York), and the San Francisco Examiner traveled to the northwest corner of County Donegal to write about Patrick Gallagher, a cooperative leader. Published in The Irish Story (Dublin).

When the Irish ‘exposed’ a New York Herald reporter In June 1919 the Irish American press praised Truman H. Talley for publicizing a report that criticized the British administration of Ireland. A few months later, the same papers called him a British propagandist.

Could Maine potatoes have relieved Irish hunger in 1925? Milton Bronner of the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicated a three-part series of stories and photos about privation and poverty in the rural west of Ireland.

Visit my American Reporting of Irish Independence page.

On a lonely road in Connemara, south of Westport, 2019.

Remembering COVID’s deadly impact on St. Patrick’s Day; Cardinal McElroy praises Irish immigrants

UPDATE:

Cardinal McElroy at St. Patrick Church, Washington, DC, March 17, 2025.

Robert Cardinal McElroy has confirmed his Irish heritage and praised earlier generations of Irish immigrants who contributed to the success of America. The fifth generation San Franciscan did not specify his family’s county of origin as he celebrated his first St. Patrick’s Day Mass as the newly installed archbishop of Washington. He assured the congregation at St. Patrick Church in downtown DC that his heritage has been confirmed by DNA testing.

Cardinal McElroy also gave a shout out to Epic: The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin. He said the museum’s modern story-telling techniques of Ireland’s nineteenth century immigrants was “a beautiful, moving experience.” He said that despite different personalities and backgrounds, the immigrants were “filled with Christian hope,” the belief that God is always with us, regardless of our circumstances. He reminded the congregation that “hope is at the center of our faith and the theme of this Jubilee Year.”

ORIGINAL POST:   

It’s now five years since COVID-19 began spreading sickness and death across the world. The cancelation of St. Patrick’s Day parades and related events in America and Ireland became an early, signal sign of the pandemic’s impact on our daily lives. It was hardly the most important development, to be sure, but it certainly presaged the misery and disruptions that lay ahead. Annual parades did not return in most cities until March 2022. This year, I want to remember all those who suffered, especially the earliest fatalities in March 2020. May God rest their souls.

For something lighter, below are a few links to previous posts with historical perspectives on the Irish holiday in America, and my page devoted to St. Patrick’s churches. Enjoy. MH

Stained glass image of St. Patrick in Harrisburg, Pa. church.

3rd annual Washington Forum on Northern Ireland

The live blog is closed. Thanks to those who checked in during the day. MH

Northern Ireland has come a long way in the 27 years since the Good Friday Agreement. The region is uniquely positioned economically. But there is still work to do, especially regarding the legacy of the Troubles.

UPDATE 3:

Northern Ireland and legacy investigations of the Troubles are not the priority for the parliament in London, Boutcher said. He also said that victims’ families have never been treated with dignity and respect. Also, their memories are better than most police and government officials believe.

Not everything in Northern Ireland was collusion, but many cases were mishandled. Boutcher said other crime and terrorism cases are handled publicly, while still protecting national security, but not the Troubles cases. “Let’s just let people know what happened in their individual cases,” he said.

PSNI is 32 percent Catholic nationalist. Boutcher wants it to get to 50 percent. There are recruitment problems with working class unionist Protestants too. Also need better representation among minority immigrant communities.

***

Jon Boutcher is talking about the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including how government and police organizations failed to gave victims’ families full information. This was done, he said, because officials worried about where the disclosure might lead, rather than what was best for the families.

Kenova website on investigations of Northern Ireland legacy crimes. Boutcher lead the effort before taking his current position.

Working for the Royal Ulster Constabulary was the most dangerous police agency in the world during the Troubles, Boutcher said.  But the police force and British state used too much secrecy and too often operated above or outside the law. “This does not had the moral high ground to the terrorists,” he said.

Finding the truth for this families is the unwritten chapter of the Good Friday Agreement.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher of the Police Service of Northern Ireland is being interviewed by American University professor Carolyn Gallaher.

 

UPDATE 2:

Benn is now being interviewed by Associate Director of Global Irish Studies Darragh Gannon. Benn opposed Brexit. He notes that trade implications were not fully considered, or the political consequences.

The most important contribution of the Northern Ireland Executive is “to stay in place,” Benn said. “Investors want stability. They don’t want a place where the government disappears every so often.”

Benn has ruled out a near-term referendum on the reunification of Ireland. His decision, he said, is based on the plain language of the Good Friday Agreement that the Northern secretary “shall” call border poll if it appears the majority of people would support reunification. “I have seen no evidence that in Northern Ireland a majority of people would vote for a united Ireland,” he said. “It is in the distance. Only time and circumstances will tell how long.”

***

Hilary Benn, member of the British Parliament and secretary of state for Northern Ireland is addressing the forum. He notes that changes of government in Washington, London, and Dublin over the past year.

Hilary Benn

In 27 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland has undergone tremendous changes. “Courage and compromise is what ultimately forged the agreement,” he said.

The GFA remains a model for people all over the world, though power sharing is very difficult. There has been no executive for about a third of time since 1998. But, he adds, “Northern Ireland has stability.”

Labor government in London committed to investment throughout the UK. “There is so much potential in Northern Ireland. It is wonderful to see the confidence of US investment.”

Northern Ireland leads in US foreign direct investment in cyber security, Benn said. He also said the shipbuilding will return to the Harland & Wolff docks in Belfast.

Relationship with Irish government is being reset.

“The unilateral approach to the Legacy Act was wrong,” Benn said. The Labor government not only is working to repeal and replace it, but also to end the ongoing scourge of paramilitarism.

UPDATE 1:

Little Pengelly is discussing the complexities of trade and Trump tariffs could impact Northern Ireland after Brexit. Imports are more impacted than exports. “We really want to grow and supercharge our economy. Happy, thriving people do not want to change their government.”

***

Calling herself a proud unionist, Little Pengelly said a border poll on Irish reunification is “not a destination, not an inevitability. … We want more people to be content with Northern Ireland under the current constitutional arrangement.”

“I don’t think it is useful to overly focus on that issue,” she said.

Little Pengelly said she worries that a poll would divide the region again. “A lot of people in Northern Ireland just want to get on with life. (If there is a referendum” everything gets filtered though you need to pick one side of the other.”

She cited the “toxic nature” of the Brexit vote.

***

Hudson-Dean and Little Pengelly agreed on the need for US-NI cooperation on security issues, including critical undersea cables. … The July 13-20 British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim is an example of business and tourism cooperation.

The Trump administration is still considering whether—and who—to appoint as special envoy to North Ireland, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sharon Hudson-Dean has said. The position was held by Joe Kennedy III in the Biden administration.

***

Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly of the Northern Ireland Executive has joked she asked Donald Trump to rename the Irish Sea the Northern Irish Sea. “Stand by for an announcement,” she winked.

Left to right: Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly of the Northern Ireland Executive, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sharon Hudson-Dean, and American University professor Kimberly Cowell-Meyers, moderator.

ORIGINAL POST:

The conference has three main presentations:

  • “Sustaining Peace in Northern Ireland: Governance, Diplomacy, and Transatlantic Perspectives”: A conversation with deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly, of the Northern Ireland Executive, and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sharon Hudson-Dean.
  • Address by Hilary Benn, MP, secretary of state for Northern Ireland.
  • “Building and Maintaining Confidence in Policing in Northern Ireland”: A conversation between Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, QPM, Police Service of Northern Ireland, Prof. Duncan Morrow, Ulster University, and Prof. Carolyn Gallaher, American University.

The Washington Forum on Northern Ireland is presented by Georgetown University’s Global Irish Studies Initiative; the BMW Center for German and European Studies; the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security; the School of Foreign Service; the American University School of Public Affairs; the School of International Service; the Transatlantic Policy Center; Ulster University; the Washington Ireland Program; and the John and Pat Hume Foundation. The forum is supported by the Northern Ireland Bureau, the Northern Ireland Office, and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland.

Martin survives ‘Trump show’ in early St. Patrick’s Day events

(This post will be updated through March 14. MH)

UPDATE 4:

Trump’s Doonbeg course in Clare. July 2016.

Trump’s golf course at Doonbeg, County Clare, has been vandalized. Greens were dug up and Palestinian flags were planted in the ground. The attack followed his Oval Office meeting with Martin. Last week pro-Palestinian graffiti sprayed “Gaza Is Not For Sale” on a building at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Irish Times details the “problematic planning history” at the west of Ireland property. Naturally, it is not as simple as Trump rambled on about in the Oval Office.

UPDATE 3:

Media reports from the US, Ireland, and United Kingdom generally agree that Martin and Ireland did as well as could be expected in the day-long dance with the mercurial Trump. Some website headline writers seem intent on conveying more peril and tension than I think existed. Unsurprisingly, the best news round up comes from veteran correspondent Shawn Pogatchnik of Politico.eu, an American who has spent 35 years covering Ireland and Northern Ireland. Or watch the video of the Oval Office meeting:

 

I’ll top off this post with more opinion pieces as they emerge over the next few days.

UPDATE 2:

Martin appears to be surviving the Washington whirlwind. He was not helped by today’s European Union announcement of reciprocal tariffs on the US. Trump has fumed all day about the EU. RTÉ has quoted Martin as describing the “very positive engagement” of the day and said that Trump was “quite complimentary” of Ireland’s economic management.

Martin missed the DC visit in 2021 and in 2022 due to COVID. The pandemic erupted at St. Patrick’s Day in 2020 when Leo Varadkar was taoiseach. He addressed the Irish nation nation from Washington before heading back to Dublin.

UPDATE 1:

A luncheon with US congressional leaders and the annual gifting of a bowl of shamrocks will occur later today.

Trump dominated the Oval Office meeting. (Hardly a surprise.) “I think the Irish love Trump,” Trump says. “We don’t want to do anything to hurt Ireland but we want fairness.”

Martin has arrived at the White House. Trump is wearing a red tie, not the traditional green. Read into that what you will.

ORIGINAL POST:

Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin has began making the rounds in Washington. This year’s bilateral meetings are so highly anticipated that it only makes sense they would occur five days before St. Patrick’s Day. Martin is the first foreign leader to visit the White House since US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance ambushed Ukrainian’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28.

The Irish leader will need to navigate a minefield that includes trade and tariffs, Ukraine, and Gaza. In addition, the Burke family of County Mayo, activist evangelical Christians with a long history of protest against LGBTQ rights in Ireland, were reportedly flying to DC, which could signal a possible made-for-television confrontation.

Martin has survived a breakfast meeting at Vance’s official residence and will be headed to the Oval Office later in the day. According to a transcript published by the Irish Times, Martin told Vance:

“Last year we marked 100 years of Irish-US diplomatic relations. Together we have built deep and enduring political, cultural and economic bonds, greatly enriching our two nations in the process.”[1]See my post, ‘Special relationship’ or the fading of the green?

“Nowhere is the strength of the US-Irish relationship more in evidence than in our peace process. Forty-four years ago, President Reagan called for a “just and peaceful solution” to the conflict that had for so long devastated lives on our island.[2]See my post, Remembering Jimmy Carter’s words on Northern Ireland Politicians from both sides of the aisle rose to the occasion. The lasting peace we enjoy on our island today is a signature achievement of US foreign policy.”

Sinn Féin has boycotted the annual festivities for the first time. The opposition party contends that Trump’s talk of transforming Gaza into a “riviera” amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Martin’s US swing began with a stop at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

When the Irish ‘exposed’ a New York Herald reporter

In June 1919 the Irish American press praised New York Herald correspondent Truman H. Talley for publicizing a report that criticized the British administration of Ireland. Three months later, as the Herald published Talley’s own investigation of Ireland, the same papers called him a British propagandist. Irish nationalists on both sides of the Atlantic cited what they described as evidence of Talley’s bias. The episode demonstrated how these partisans kept a close watch on correspondents who visited Ireland and monitored their coverage in the foreign press.

Truman Talley’s 1918 passport photo.

Talley joined the ranks of American journalists in Europe at the end of the First World War. The 6-foot-tall, Rock Port, Missouri native had worked at the Herald since 1915. Now 27, Talley soon began to file cable dispatches from London and Paris.[1]National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 621; Volume #: Roll 0621 – … Continue reading He did not travel to Dublin in January 1919 to witness the opening of the separatist Dáil Éireann; the Herald used Associated Press coverage. Talley also remained in London in May when the American Commission on Irish Independence visited Ireland. His cables to New York were based on the British press, which Talley described as “deeply stirred” by the pro-independence speeches of the three Irish American visitors.[2]“Walsh Mission To Ireland Evokes London Protest”, New York Herald, May 5, 1919.

In June, when the American Commission’s Frank P. Walsh and Edward Dunne released their report on British coercion in Ireland,[3]Michael J. Ryan, the Commission’s third member, did not sign the report. Talley became the first journalist to “spread before the American people the full report on Irish conditions.”[4]“England Must Act,” from Harvey’s Weekly, June 21, 1919, republished in the Gaelic American, July 5, 1919. He laid out all seventeen of the report’s charges and quoted passages at length. Talley’s story began on the front page and filled an inside page of the Herald’s Sunday edition, its two hundred thousand copy circulation double the usual weekday distribution.[5]N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual & Directory (Philadelphia: N.W. Ayer & Son’s, 1919) New York City papers, 648-684.

Syndication increased the story’s readership across the country. The Irish World and American Industrial Liberator, and Gaelic American, both of New York, and the Irish Press of Philadelphia, republished Talley’s story.[6]“World Stunned By Atrocities In Ireland”, Irish World; “Horrors Of English Prisons In Ireland”, Gaelic American;  and “Savage British Atrocities Shown In Walsh-Dunne Report” , Irish … Continue reading Dr. Patrick McCartan, Sinn Féin’s envoy to America and editor of the Irish Press, recalled Talley’s “vivid picture of the British press eyeing the report malignantly.”[7]Patrick McCartan, With De Valera In America. [New York: Brentano, 1932], 118. Gaelic American editor John Devoy praised the Herald for its “feat of alert and enterprising journalism.”[8]“English Atrocities in Ireland,” Gaelic American, June 21, 1919.

Some pro-British readers criticized the Herald for publicizing the Walsh-Dunne report. In an editorial reply, the daily said it published Talley’s account “because it is news of the first importance” with serious implication for Anglo-American relations. The editorial emphasized the paper was not passing judgement on the merits of the allegations and “in view of the conflict of the evidence at hand … (was) having its own investigation made.”[9]“The Case of Ireland”, New York Herald, June 26, 1919.

With that, Talley finally headed across the Irish Sea.

Talley in Ireland

“I went to Ireland as an impartial American seeking the truth,” the correspondent told the Herald’s readers when his “Truth About Ireland” series debuted on Sept. 7, 1919.[10]“Full And Free Inquiry Shows Cruelty To Irish Political Prisoners False”, New York Herald, Sept. 7, 1919. He had spent about four weeks in the country during July and August and “retraced the path followed by the Irish American delegation.” Talley portrayed the Walsh-Dunne report as false or exaggerated, especially regarding the treatment of political prisoners, and challenged Sinn Féin’s legitimacy to establish an Irish republic. His book-length series appeared almost daily, more than three dozen installments that stretched into November.

But Irish partisans were also at work—publicly and privately—to undermine Talley’s reporting from Ireland.

The Irish Independent of Aug. 1, 1919,—a month before Talley’s series debuted—reported the correspondent was “pursuing an ‘independent’ investigation in a government motor car, attended by military and police guardians.”[11]”U.S. Pressman On Ireland”, Irish Independent, Aug. 1, 1919. Placing “independent” in quotes is telling; it conveyed skepticism of Talley’s description of his work. US newspapers were doing the same thing at the same time with “President” and “Irish Republic” as Éamon de Valera made his tour of America.[12]See my post, “How Dev’s tour shifted U.S. press coverage of Ireland”, July 19, 2019.

Arthur Griffith

The Independent reported that Talley declared he would hardly have known there was any unrest in Ireland if not for the carbine-totting constable seated at his side in the car. “There is no military occupation or distinction,” Talley said. “The soldiers constitute a reserve force which may never be called upon unless the Sinn Féin  adherents attempt to effect a coup d’etat.”

Talley interviewed Sinn Féin’s Arthur Griffith in Dublin. Ireland’s acting leader told the visiting journalist that the country was “becoming the Mecca of American newspapermen.”[13]“ ‘Acting President’ of Ireland on ‘The Cause’”, New York Herald, Nov. 23, 1919. Quotation is Talley’s paraphrase of Griffith’s remarks, not a direct quote. Talley quoted Griffith … Continue reading Privately, Griffith wrote to de Valera in America to alert him of the conversation with Talley and a separate encounter with John Steele of the Chicago Tribune:[14]Steele was a Belfast native who began his newspaper career in the United States, including the New York Herald. He returned to Europe earlier in 1919 as the Chicago Tribune’s London bureau chief. … Continue reading

“I told Talley if he wanted to see the country fairly, he should go around independently. He said he would. He left Dublin and absolutely put himself in their hands and toured the country in government motors accompanied by English government officers. I don’t know what stuff he is writing, but whatever it is you may take it as Dublin Castle’s voice.”[15]Griffith to de Valera, Aug. 18, 1919. Similar language in Griffith to de Valera, Aug. 29, 1919. Éamon de Valera papers, University College Dublin, P150/727. Thanks to historian Daniel Carey of … Continue reading

Talley was not the first, and would not be the last, journalist to accept transportation from either side of the war between Irish separatists and British authorities. Fourteen London-based newspaper correspondents boarded a British naval destroyer that steamed to Dublin during the April 1916 Rising.[16]See my post, “When a boatload of reporters steamed to the Easter Rising”, Sept. 15, 2023. Several American correspondents in Ireland described being blindfolded by rebel foot soldiers and driven surreptitiously to rendezvous with leaders such de Valera and Michael Collins. Other reporters hired drivers of private motor cars or jaunting cars, navigated the Irish railways system, or simply walked to where they were going.

It is unclear whether Griffith learned about Talley from the Independent’s story, or if the well-connected Irish leader, himself a journalist, first tipped the paper about the American correspondent. By late August, the Gaelic American in New York also reported Talley’s touring in British military motor cars. Devoy’s paper cited the Independent as its source.

“Mr. Talley has been dined and wined by England’s satraps in Ireland and in return for this hospitality he has whitewashed martial law and militarism in Ireland,” the Gaelic American reported. “He is certainly trying to make himself worthy of his hire.”[17]“On His Majesty’s Service”, Gaelic American, Aug. 30, 1919.

John Devoy

In addition the chauffeur services, Devoy criticized Talley’s July 20 Herald story about a post-war “peace parade” in Dublin. The correspondent described the large turnout and cheering for the parading troops as “striking evidence of loyalty” to the London government. “…all Dublin was surprised and the Sinn Féin chagrined that such a demonstration and loyal outpouring would mark the event, especially since there were present all the elements to make trouble if the Sinn Féin wanted trouble. … (The) demonstration and spectacle bore eloquent witness that Ireland’s heart still is with the Empire.”[18]”Dublin Displays Her Loyalty At A Big Peace Parade”, New York Herald, July 20, 1919.

Attacks continue

As Talley’s “Truth About Ireland” series unspooled in the Herald, Devoy continued to attack it in the Gaelic American. An editorial headlined “The ‘Herald’s’ English Propaganda” circled back to Talley’s June coverage of the Walsh-Dunne report:

Talley is a trained newspaper man and if not under orders to lie and misrepresent would probably tell the truth. Some time ago he cabled to the Herald the substance of the report of Frank P. Walsh and Edward F. Dunne on British atrocities in Ireland and the paper published it full. It was a good stroke of journalism, because the English papers had suppressed it, the censor had forbidden its publication in Ireland, and therefore, up to the Herald’s publication, the American people had no knowledge of it. People began to look to the Herald for ‘scoops’ about Ireland and to regard Talley as an enterprising American journalist who could be depended upon to give them.[19]“The ‘Herald’s’ English Propaganda”, Gaelic American, Sept. 13, 1919.

Such trust was misplaced, Devoy continued. The editorial repeated the same two sentences about Talley being “dined and wined by England’s satraps in Ireland” and the correspondent making himself “worthy of his hire” from the front page story a few weeks earlier. Devoy also said the Herald tried to buy advertising in his paper to promote Talley’s upcoming series, but he refused this because of the Independent’s story about Talley’s rides with the British authorities.

Opening installment of Talley’s “Truth About Ireland” series, including editor’s note, Sept. 7, 1919.

The Gaelic American’s broadside against Talley and the Herald continued for several weeks as Devoy refuted the reporting nearly point by point. The weekly highlighted correspondence from Griffith, who “exposed the hollowness of the pretensions” of Talley’s claim of being an “impartial investigator.” In addition to repeating the car story, Griffith alleged that during his meeting with Talley, the correspondent “frankly admitted to us that his paper was inimical and that he was ‘prejudiced against Sinn Féin.’ ”[20]See “New York Herald’s War On the Irish Cause”, Gaelic American, Sept. 20, 1919; “Talley Continues His Attacks on Ireland”, Gaelic American, Sept. 27, 1919; and “Talley Exposed by Arthur … Continue reading

The attacks by Devoy and Griffith are also notable for relitigating the Herald’s coverage of Charles Stewart Parnell’s 1880 visit to America, and the testimony of Herald correspondent Chester Ives during the “Parnellism and Crime” inquiry of 1889. Devoy was a reporter at the Herald in 1880, nine years after his exile to America for Fenian activities in Ireland. He worked among the press who covered Parnell’s visit and simultaneously maneuvered behind the scenes to assist the nationalist MP. Devoy accused the late Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. of working to undermine Parnell’s fundraising for the Land League in Ireland. The Herald, in its presentation of Talley’s series, recalled Bennett’s $100,000 relief fund for Ireland as proof the paper was not biased against the country.[21]”Herald’s Irish Relief Work Not Forgotten”, New York Herald, Sept. 21, 1919. I’ll explore this aspect in a future post.

More reaction

Talley’s series also drew the attention of Daniel T. O’Connell, director of the Irish National Bureau in Washington, D.C, the publicity arm of the Friends of Irish Freedom. In a letter to Walsh of the American Commission, he described Talley’s series as “a bold piece of British propaganda.” Walsh replied that he was “keeping track” of Talley’s series and, if he deemed it wise, would “make a concise reply after the appearance of his final article.”[22]From O’Connell to Walsh, Sept. 11, 1919; Walsh to O’Connell, Sept. 15, 1919, in Frank P. Walsh papers, MssCol 3211, New York Public Library.

Frank P. Walsh

O’Connell had no such restraint. The weekly News Letter he published warned readers that “Tally seeks to convince the American public the articles are without bias or prejudice. It is safe to assert, however, that a jury of any twelve well-trained newspaper correspondents, would, after reading the first five articles, convict Talley of gross prejudice toward Ireland.”[23]No headline, Irish National Bureau’s News Letter, Sept. 19, 1919.

The same jury, presumably, would also find the News Letter guilty of being an Irish propaganda organ.

Talley’s series had another problem. It trailed by the British government’s official denial of the Walsh-Dunne report. Walsh urged American newspapers and magazines to give “equal publicity” to his editorial replies to the British response.[24]To Chicago Examiner, Aug. 2, 1919; Harvey’s Weekly, Aug. 4, 1919, Walsh papers, NYPL. It does not appear that Walsh responded to Talley’s series, based on a review of the Herald through Dec. 31, 1919.

Other readers did respond to the series; more than 30 letters to the editor of the Herald, which in three issues filled up most of a page.[25]New York Herald, Sept. 21, Sept. 28, and Oct. 16, 1919. The opinions ranged from support to opposition of Talley’s work, or why the Herald was even bothering with the story. A sampling:

  • “To hell with England and you, also your opinion about Ireland …”
  • “I have twenty-three years been a reader of the Herald and always will be on account of Mr. Talley’s ‘truth and nothing but the truth.'”
  • “Surely we have enough domestic matters in our great country to occupy the attention of our politicians instead of their time being taken up by the discontent of a foreign corner of the earth, such as Ireland.”

The Herald circulated Talley’s series to newspapers across the US and Canada. Some of these papers edited the reporting into a single feature. The News Letter worried that “Talley’s articles will influence readers to blame the newspapers publishing his articles. Many will find it difficult to distinguish between the author and the medium of expressing his prejudiced views.”[26]News Letter, Sept. 19, 1919.

This is an important point. O’Connell wanted readers to disregard Talley’s anti-Irish reporting, but he did not want them to lose confidence in the papers that published it. Just as Griffith noted the rise of American correspondents to Ireland, O’Connell recognized many of these journalists would write stories that were helpful to Ireland in these same papers.

Devoy was less concerned. He predicted Talley’s series “will make no impression on the American public because their partisanship is not even disguised.”[27]“New York Herald’s War On the Irish Cause”, Gaelic American, Sept. 20, 1919.

Afterward

Talley’s series and the Walsh-Dunne report soon enough were left in the wake of ongoing developments in the Irish war of independence. Nearly a year after his series debuted, Talley wrote:

Events of the utmost significance are crowding upon one other so rapidly in Ireland at the present time that it is frequently difficult to assess any or all of them at their true relative value or to discern their precise cause and effect beyond, of course, the daily generalization that the situation is still more serious and nearer a calamitous climax. Every day the first pages of the newspapers contribute further complexities to this age-old and bitterest of modern political dramas. News, as such, coming from Ireland for weeks and months past has been anything but dull and desultory; it has bristled with violence and bulged with rumblings of impending bloodshed on a widespread scale.[28]“Sinn Féin’s Provocative Martyrdom”, New York Times, Aug. 29, 1920.

Irish separatists and the British government each kept a close eye on visiting correspondents and monitor foreign press coverage of Ireland. In January 1920 Dublin Castle authorities seized American newspapers shipped to the Irish capital because they contained coverage of the Irish bond drive in the United States, which was led by de Valera and Walsh. The British Embassy in Washington, D.C. regularly assessed the Irish news coverage and editorials in American papers. Officials there described the New York Herald as “friendly to us.”[29]Document 32, #11767, “The American Press”, from the British Embassy, Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1921, p. 130 in Kenneth Bourne and D. Cameron Watt, general editors, British Documents on Foreign … Continue reading Irish-American organs such as the Gaelic American and News Letter continued to question the self-declared impartiality of American correspondents in Ireland. They criticized what they found objectionable, praised what supported the Irish cause.

Griffith died suddenly in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War. Devoy lived until 1928. Talley served as European manager of the New York Herald News Service and a special writer for the New York Times and national magazines such as World’s Work and McClure’s. In 1922 he joined Fox Movietone News, where he revolutionized newsreel production and distribution, “a new type of pictorial journalism designed to do away with the monotony and lack of personality of the old.”[30]”Truman Talley Dies; Movietone Executive”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 19, 1941. Talley died in 1941–22 years after Irish partisans exposed his ride through Ireland with the British military.

References

References
1 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 621; Volume #: Roll 0621 – Certificates: 43500-43749, 05 Nov 1918-06 Nov 1918; Ancestry.com. U.S.
2 “Walsh Mission To Ireland Evokes London Protest”, New York Herald, May 5, 1919.
3 Michael J. Ryan, the Commission’s third member, did not sign the report.
4 “England Must Act,” from Harvey’s Weekly, June 21, 1919, republished in the Gaelic American, July 5, 1919.
5 N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual & Directory (Philadelphia: N.W. Ayer & Son’s, 1919) New York City papers, 648-684.
6 “World Stunned By Atrocities In Ireland”, Irish World; “Horrors Of English Prisons In Ireland”, Gaelic American;  and “Savage British Atrocities Shown In Walsh-Dunne Report” , Irish Press, all on June 21, 1919.
7 Patrick McCartan, With De Valera In America. [New York: Brentano, 1932], 118.
8 “English Atrocities in Ireland,” Gaelic American, June 21, 1919.
9 “The Case of Ireland”, New York Herald, June 26, 1919.
10 “Full And Free Inquiry Shows Cruelty To Irish Political Prisoners False”, New York Herald, Sept. 7, 1919.
11 ”U.S. Pressman On Ireland”, Irish Independent, Aug. 1, 1919.
12 See my post, “How Dev’s tour shifted U.S. press coverage of Ireland”, July 19, 2019.
13 “ ‘Acting President’ of Ireland on ‘The Cause’”, New York Herald, Nov. 23, 1919. Quotation is Talley’s paraphrase of Griffith’s remarks, not a direct quote. Talley quoted Griffith elsewhere in this story.
14 Steele was a Belfast native who began his newspaper career in the United States, including the New York Herald. He returned to Europe earlier in 1919 as the Chicago Tribune’s London bureau chief. Griffith dismissed him as an “Ulster Protestant.” See Note 15. Steele later claimed credit for helping with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. See my post, ” ‘The Republic of Ireland is dead; long live … ‘ “, Jan. 7, 2022. Steele reported on Ireland into the 1930s.
15 Griffith to de Valera, Aug. 18, 1919. Similar language in Griffith to de Valera, Aug. 29, 1919. Éamon de Valera papers, University College Dublin, P150/727. Thanks to historian Daniel Carey of Dublin for help deciphering Griffith’s penmanship.
16 See my post, “When a boatload of reporters steamed to the Easter Rising”, Sept. 15, 2023.
17 “On His Majesty’s Service”, Gaelic American, Aug. 30, 1919.
18 ”Dublin Displays Her Loyalty At A Big Peace Parade”, New York Herald, July 20, 1919.
19 “The ‘Herald’s’ English Propaganda”, Gaelic American, Sept. 13, 1919.
20 See “New York Herald’s War On the Irish Cause”, Gaelic American, Sept. 20, 1919; “Talley Continues His Attacks on Ireland”, Gaelic American, Sept. 27, 1919; and “Talley Exposed by Arthur Griffith”, Gaelic American, Oct. 11, 1919; and others.
21 ”Herald’s Irish Relief Work Not Forgotten”, New York Herald, Sept. 21, 1919. I’ll explore this aspect in a future post.
22 From O’Connell to Walsh, Sept. 11, 1919; Walsh to O’Connell, Sept. 15, 1919, in Frank P. Walsh papers, MssCol 3211, New York Public Library.
23 No headline, Irish National Bureau’s News Letter, Sept. 19, 1919.
24 To Chicago Examiner, Aug. 2, 1919; Harvey’s Weekly, Aug. 4, 1919, Walsh papers, NYPL.
25 New York Herald, Sept. 21, Sept. 28, and Oct. 16, 1919.
26 News Letter, Sept. 19, 1919.
27 “New York Herald’s War On the Irish Cause”, Gaelic American, Sept. 20, 1919.
28 “Sinn Féin’s Provocative Martyrdom”, New York Times, Aug. 29, 1920.
29 Document 32, #11767, “The American Press”, from the British Embassy, Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1921, p. 130 in Kenneth Bourne and D. Cameron Watt, general editors, British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports And Papers From The Foreign Office Confidential Print. Part II, Series C, Vol. 1. [University Publications of America, Inc., 1986.]
30 ”Truman Talley Dies; Movietone Executive”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 19, 1941.