When the American Army "Invaded" Ireland

US soldiers in North Ireland, February, 1942
Photo from US Army Signal Corps
and Wikimedia Commons

By Adrian McGrath

The American Army "invaded" Ireland in 1942. Well, it was a friendly invasion; and it was Northern Ireland. But technically speaking, at least a part of the island of Ireland was under the control of a foreign power -- the United States of America.

But unlike the other armed and dangerous men who sailed to Ireland over the many centuries -- the Vikings, the Normans, and the forces of the British Empire -- the Americans were greatly welcomed by the Irish ... and, of course, by the British too. That combination in itself was remarkable.

The American invasion was welcomed because the United States Army had come to prevent Adolf Hitler from invading Ireland with Nazi troops and to prepare for the eventual Allied liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany.

The American invasion of Ireland was so popular that some Irish actually fell in love with the American soldiers. Yes, they got married too. About 1,800 marriages occurred between Irish women and American soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland. 

Many couples sailed off to the USA after the war to take up  new lives. Some had other fates. We do not know exactly how many of these young American husbands died fighting the Germans. The average age of a US soldier in Northern Ireland was about 24 years old. (About 400,000 American soldiers died in all of World War 2.)

A dance and party on St. Patrick's Day,
March 17, 1942 in North Ireland
Irish women in uniform and American GIs
Photo from US Army Signal Corps
and Wikimedia Commons
Note the warning poster on the bulletin board
with instructions in case of a poison gas attack.

The Americans built military camps in N. Ireland for training and for preparations for battles and campaigns against the Germans, and they eventually saw combat in North Africa, Italy, the D-Day Invasion, and the Liberation of Europe.

Additionally, the US had a major Army Air Force base at Langford Lodge, east of Lough Neagh near the city of Belfast. Literally thousands of US aircraft gathered or passed through Langford for the air war against Nazi Germany. (See more here at the Ulster Aviation Society. And see American Air Museum Britain.) 

A type of American aircraft used at Langford Lodge,
a P38 Lightning, fighter bomber. The Lockheed
Company, which made the P38, helped run the base.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The Americans eventually came to N. Ireland in tremendous numbers; and although they could occasionally cause trouble and be a nuisance, there is no doubt that they were welcomed. One reason was the Germans actually had a plan to invade Ireland early in the war. It was called Operation Green (Fall Gruen). It was to occur in conjunction with the German plan to amphibiously invade Britain called Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seeloewe). 

Operation Green never occurred because Sealion was prevented mainly because the Royal Air Force (British RAF) stopped the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) in the Battle of Britain in 1940, two years before the Americans arrived. But no one really knew for sure if the Germans would or could invade Britain or Ireland. 

Northern Ireland was controlled by Great Britain then and militarily active during the war, while the south of Ireland -- today called the Republic of Ireland -- was neutral. (How the island of Ireland got divided in two is another long, long story. Read about that at my article on the Easter Rising.)

Hitler's main attention was on an eventual war against the Soviet Union, a desire for Lebensraum or living space. The Germans, however, certainly remained a threat to Britain and N. Ireland with air power and later in the war with special "wonder weapons" like long range rockets -- the V1 buzzbomb and the very futuristic V2. 

Indeed in April and May of 1941 there was something called the Belfast Blitz where Nazi airplanes bombed the city and other parts of N. Ireland. About 1000 people were killed; and over 1,500 people were wounded -- primarily civilians. It should be added that, although a neutral state, Ireland (the South) was also hit be a few German bombs, and there were casualties and property damage and a some deaths, under 100. The typical explanation was navigational error, but it could also have been a Nazi warning to the Irish in the south not to aid the people in the north. 

The terrible results of a German air raid in Belfast,
N. Ireland in 1941. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

The name of the American invasion of N. Ireland was called Operation Magnet. Magnet was first devised by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when Churchill visited Washington DC in late December of 1941. 

US troops on special secret missions had been coming to N. Ireland even before the official American entry into World War 2, before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Specialists came to plan and to assist in the Lend-Lease mission. (Lend Lease was a plan of President Franklin Roosevelt's to help supply Britain with needed war equipment.) The placement of US troops into N. Ireland was actually the first overseas deployment of American troops in force in World War 2.

American soldiers being transported
to Ireland in January, 1942
Photo from US Army Signal Corps, photo #145230
Also see history.army.mil

N. Ireland was seen as critical for the Battle of the Atlantic. This was a sea campaign to keep to supply lines open from the United States to Britain. Ships would land in N. Ireland. German U-Boats (submarines) and some German surface ships, like the infamous Bismarck, threatened these sea lanes.

It is believed that eventually about 300,000 American soldiers came to N. Ireland during the war. This represented about 10 percent of the population of N. Ireland. So, Northern Ireland was becoming Americanized to some extent. The American soldiers guarded the country, so that that the British troops could leave and be deployed to various places around the globe. Britain would eventually fight the Japanese in the Far East as well as the Germans and Benito Mussolini's Fascist army.

One of the interesting and positive facts of the US deployment of soldiers in N. Ireland concerns African American servicemen. Although there was still much discrimination and indeed legalized segregation in the USA, the African American soldiers stationed in N. Ireland were welcomed by the Irish and treated properly without discrimination. 

An example of this is the friendly treatment of sailors from the USS Mason, a Navy destroyer. Its crew was mainly African American -- only one of two US Navy ships with mainly African American crews. It was originally from Boston, Massachusetts but based in Belfast. The USS Mason saw action in the North Atlantic protecting supply convoys. 

Reportedly, some of the USS Mason African American sailors once had liberty (a day off) in the city of Derry. They went into town apprehensive about how they would be treated. They discovered that they were respected and treated politely and well by the Irish people, with far better treatment than they often received at home in the segregated USA.

Discrimination existed in the segregated US military, and African Americans were typically assigned to menial work. The skilled positions on the USS Mason (and the USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser) were exceptions to the rule and even experimental.

USS Mason (DE 529), a US Navy destroyer escort which protected
Allied supply ships in the North Atlantic from Boston
to Belfast among other duties. It and one other ship
were the only US Navy ships which had largely
African American crews.
Photo from the US Navy and Wikimedia Commons

Famous American generals came to N. Ireland as well. Among the important leaders who came were George S. Patton, "old blood and guts," and, of course, the man who would lead all of the Allied troops at the D-Day Normandy Invasion, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ("Ike"), who later became a US president.

American leaders in the European Theater
of Operations in World War 2, 1945, many of whom, including
Eisenhower and Patton were in Ireland in 1942.
Photo from US Army, National Archives, and Wikimedia
Commons. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower is seated in the middle
of the first row. Gen. George S. Patton, wearing a helmet, is on the
first row, second from the left. 

Ike went to Enniskillen in Fermanagh in May of 1944. The General visited US soldiers who were about to invade the German Atlantic Wall on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Many of the US troops were stationed at a place called Celtic Park in Enniskillen and at Portora Royal School. (A playing field there, where US soldiers once marched and drilled, was later named after General Eisenhower. See more here.)


The first US Army unit to arrive in force was the 34th Division, called "Red Bull Division." It came in January, 1942 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York to Belfast. Reportedly a German U-Boat attempted to attack the American transport ship, but it was defeated by a US Navy ship. The Americans were met by cheering Irish people and a musical band as the GIs disembarked from the transport vessel called the Chateau Tierry and a sister ship called the Stratford.

American soldiers building a steel hut
in Ireland in 1942 for US soldiers
Photo 138660 from US Army Signal Corps,
from army.mil

The first American officially to enter N. Ireland was a soldier from Minnesota named Milburn H. Henke. The first official American unit was Company B, 133rd Infantry Regiment from the 34 Division of the Minnesota National Guard.

It is interesting to note that the US government issued US soldiers booklets about how to behave in N. Ireland. These were called US War Office Pocket Guides. The booklets told the Americans not to brag and boast, how to behave and not to behave towards the locals -- and towards Irish women too -- and what to talk about and what not to talk about. The guides also mentioned the special relationship America had (and still has with Ireland) since many Americans have an Irish ancestry -- from North and South Irish, and Catholic and Protestant Irish.

The guide booklets ended with two pieces of simple and very sage advice, emphasizing this applied especially to Ireland: 1. do not argue religion, 2. do not argue politics.  Yes, some very good advice from the US War Office from back in 1942.

US Army Signal Corps Photo 132954
US soldiers in Northern Ireland on
maneuvers, preparing for war, 1942


An interesting footnote for military history buffs is this. The American soldiers could have been given the newer style steel helmet used throughout most of World War 2 by the American

military, but they were deliberately issued the old World War 1 style American "tin hats" which, in fact, resemble British helmets. The reason was that it was feared that the local civilians and the home guard in N. Ireland would not recognize the newer American helmets and think the American soldiers were invading German soldiers, since the newer helmets looked more like German helmets than the British helmets or the World War 1 "tin hats." 

Ultimately, this is what the American soldiers
in N. Ireland were preparing for, and things like this --
D-Day, June 6, 1944 at Normandy, France.
Photo "Into the Jaws of Death" taken by US Coast Guard
Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent in a LCVP
landing craft (Higgin's Boat) -- Company E, 16th Infantry,
1st Infantry Division, Big Red One, US Army -- Fox Green, Omaha Beach.
Omaha Beach was the most heavily defended invasion beach on D-Day.
The well experienced German 352 Division was dug in. The Americans
suffered over 2,000 casualties on Omaha Beach on D-Day, but they prevailed.

Sources and Further Reading: US government documents on the Irish mission, see this; "The Yanks are Coming" from irelandseye.com; "American Troops Arrive in Northern Ireland" -- article at wartimeni.com; US Army website about the Irish in the US army. About the USAAF in N. Ireland at the Ulster Aviation Society .

Duffy's Cut: Death by Prejudice

The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad,
depot in Philadelphia, 1854
From Wikimedia Commmons

By Adrian McGrath

In the early 19th century, many Irish fled their British-occupied native land because of extreme poverty and political oppression. Irish Catholics and non-Church of England Protestants had been persecuted under the British Penal Laws for many years; the Irish were denied fundamental human rights by law. It seemed better to risk a difficult life overseas than certain despair in Ireland.

Irish Celtic Cross Memorial,
New Orleans, honoring the
Irish who died digging the New
Basin Canal, 1832 to 1838
Photo by A. McGrath

In 1832 some Irish went to New Orleans to dig the New Basin Canal. This was a dangerous and difficult job digging a large trench in a disease-infested swamp without the use of modern machinery. Thousands of Irish died in the process from 1832 to 1838. 

This tragedy was an example of what awaited Irish immigrants when they first arrived in America.

Signs read "No Irish Need Apply," in many large American port cities indicating the Irish were not wanted -- they were not wanted as neighbors or as workers. In fact, in the early 19th century the impoverished Irish immigrants were not welcomed at all in most places in America initially.

Prejudice was the reason for the anti-Irish hostility -- fear of immigrants, fear of poverty-stricken people, fear of desperate people, and above all a fear of and animosity towards Catholics. It was fear, but it was also hate. That was the nature of prejudice -- fear plus hate.

The Irish immigrants were, therefore, reduced to taking the dirty and dangerous jobs that nobody else wanted.

Irish immigrants arriving in the 19th century in America
(Boston, 1857) From Wikimedia Commons and
the Smithsonian

So it came as no surprise that when the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad wanted to expand westward from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over treacherous, rough terrain -- ravines, broken ground, hills, and streams, a place called Mile 59 -- it sought out cheap, expendable, unskilled laborers who were desperate for any type of work just to survive. The railroad company wanted laborers who, if they got severely injured or killed on the job, nobody would notice much or care about.  In short, the railroad company wanted the Irish.

A song about anti-Irish
prejudice called
"No Irish Need Apply"
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The railroad turned to a man named Philip Duffy, an Irish contractor, who could gather up immigrants desperate enough to do the job. Duffy got 57 men from Ulster (the North of Ireland) -- from Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone counties. Some were young and apparently strong, and they could do the job.

But within a few weeks after they started the hard, physical work, all 57 Irish immigrants were dead. The railroad company claimed they died of a disease rampant in the area -- cholera.

Cholera is an bacterial infection of the small intestines resulting in severe diarrhea, vomiting, horrible cramps, and eventually, if untreated, death. It also indicates that the patient probably has lived in poor and unsanitary living conditions.

 The unfortunate men were buried in graves -- some in groups, some as individuals -- near the work site in the rough Pennsylvania countryside -- in East Whiteland Township. They were buried and forgotten.

But ... then came the mystery.

Two brothers, in the 1990s, made a discovery based on documents from a relative who once worked for the railroad. The brothers were Reverend Dr. Frank Watson, a Lutheran pastor, and Dr. William Watson, a professor of history at Immaculata University in Pennsylvania.

Over time a research team grew from many disciplines -- mixing scientists and engineers with historians, among others. The team went to the site where the Irish immigrants worked and lived in shanties or primitive huts or cabins. ("Shanty," by the way, comes from two Irish Gaelic words -- "sean" which means old and "teach" which means house.)

The researchers found evidence that, while many or even most of the men did die from cholera, some most probably were the victims of blunt force trauma (meaning their skulls were smashed in by a club or hard object) and some were probably shot with 19th century projectiles (firearms, guns). This leads us to believe that the deaths, in some cases, were not just the unfortunate result of a dreadful disease and/or even possibly abusive living and working conditions, but were the result of deliberate murder.

Breton Railroad Depot in Philadelphia, 1832
Photo from Wikimedia Commons,
Townsend Ward

On top of this the evidence would indicate that the railroad company and perhaps the political powers-that-be knew of the crime and intentionally covered up the murders. The mentality then was this: who cares if some poor Irish immigrants were killed?

Why were the Irish immigrants probably murdered? No one really knows, assuming they were in fact murdered, as the evidence strongly suggests. But part of the reason could be prejudice, a hostility towards the Irish and Catholics. Part could also be the result of irrational fear about epidemics and cholera in general. Kill the Irish and kill the disease, some foolish and hateful people may have thought.

It is also likely that a fight or small battle occurred between anti-Irish vigilantes and the Irish workers, since the Irish usually do not take such matters like oppression lying down and typically rebel against them. But this is, of course, speculation.

The railroad company would not want news of such a fight taking place -- bad for business and bad for acquiring more Irish labor in the future.

The mystery at Duffy's Cut has attained some notoriety. The state of Pennsylvania placed a marker at the work and grave site in June 2004 saying that 57 Irish immigrant workers died there in August of 1832 from cholera, that Duffy was the contractor, and that prejudice against Irish Catholics contributed to their deaths due to a lack of medical care and poor living conditions. 

"The Enclosure" at Duffy's Cut near Malvern,
Pennsylvania, where the remains of many workers lie,
a mass grave memorial built probably in 1909, with stones
likely from the 1832 events Photo from Wikimedia Commons,
by "smallbones" license to Creative Commons

In 2012 the remains of a few of the workers (sometimes called "Navvies" for navigational engineers) were properly re-buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, PA -- thanks to researchers from Immaculata University who discovered the bodies' remains.

Immaculata University,
near Malvern, Pennsylvania
Photo in public domain
from Wikimedia Commons
and "smallbones"

The remains of one body was identified as likely being a young man named John Ruddy, who was only about 18 years old in 1832. Ruddy was from Donegal, and his remains were delivered back to Ireland in a proper ceremony for re-burial in Ireland in 2013. So John Ruddy returned to Ireland after 181 years.

The bones of a woman who was likely Catherine Burns were also returned to Ireland and buried in 2015.

Although the callous mentality of the day in 1832 could not have cared less about the tragic deaths, or the horrendous and probable murders of some destitute Irish immigrants, at least some people in modern times did care. Thanks to the dedicated researchers and the experts from Immaculata University, Duffy's Cut will be remembered.

Of special note Duffy's Cut was remembered by a special program by PBS (the Public Broadcasting System in the USA) called "Secrets of the Dead: Death on the Railroad." See Secrets of the Dead.

Also, the famous Irish musician Christy Moore made a song about Duffy's Cut. See Duffy's Cut.

Furthermore, see this excellent site from Immaculata University with much detailed information on the story of the Irish and Duffy's Cut. See Duffy's Cut.



Sources and Further Reading:
Wall Street Journal article called The Mystery of Duffy's Cut.
Wikipedia article on Duffy's Cut; Christy Moore's song. Immaculata University's site on Duffy's Cut.

Irish Women Activists Trilogy: Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day in 1934
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

By Adrian McGrath

(Editor's Note: This is the third and final part of our trilogy on Irish Women Activists. You can read about the others at this link. This goes to the story on Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, which in turn links to the first story on Mother Jones.)

When he visited the United States in September of 2015, Pope Francis addressed the US Congress and spoke about some of the American citizens he felt were the most significant for the great works they did in their lives. He mentioned Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the monk philosopher Thomas Merton.

Pope Francis visits the USA and
praises Americans who worked
for human rights, listing Dorothy Day
along with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr,
and Thomas Merton, the monk philosopher, 2015
Photo from Wikimedia Commons and US government

Pope Francis named one other person, who might not be as well known publicly. Her life's works, however, were outstanding and represent the best that the Christian faith, and specifically Roman Catholicism, have to offer. This person Pope Francis praised was a woman named Dorothy Day. The Pope specifically recognized what he called her "passion for justice."

Dorothy Day was born in 1897 in Brooklyn Heights in New York City. Her father was of Irish descent, while her mother was of English descent. (The name "Day" is an English version of the old Irish Gaelic name "O Deaghaidh.") Dorothy was born into an Episcopal home.

Dorothy got an early taste of how social activism can help people in need after her family moved to San Francisco where her father worked as a sports writer and journalist. Her family lived through the terrible 1906 earthquake in the Bay Area which destroyed much of San Francisco and left many people in dire conditions and seriously affected the Day family. She saw how lives could be affected and yet improved when neighbors, during times of trouble, helped other neighbors in need. The Day family, like many others in San Francisco, suffered from the earthquake's aftermath; her father lost his job.

Aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, 1906
Dorothy Day's family survived the earthquake,
but her father lost his job and the family became poor.
Photo from US Archives and Wikimedia Commons

After the family relocated to Chicago, where they now lived in a working class area, Dorothy began to educate herself by reading. She read about people in need and people who were being oppressed. She read books like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which dealt with the oppression of workers in the meat packing industry and which discussed socialism and anarchy as a response.

She studied the works of Peter Kropotkin, a Russian intellectual who advocated social reforms; and she began to focus on Russian literature, which had both a social and religious message. Especially she read the works of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodr Dostoevsky. Her reading made her more and more interested in social activism as a solution to poverty and oppression.

Leo Tolstoy at his desk, 1908
His writings on pacifism
influenced Dorothy Day
Photo from Library of Congress
and Wikimedia Commons

Dorothy received a formal education at the University of Illinois at Urbana Campaign, focusing on literature; but she left school after two years and moved to New York. Her main interest was in social work with a religious overtone.

In New York City she lived in the Lower East Side near the Bowery; this area was at that time a home for immigrants and the working class. She took jobs as a writer for several socialist and activist newspapers. Her political philosophy was a mixture of socialism, anarchism (partly based on the writings of Tolstoy), and Syndicalism -- a type of socialism mixed with a support of labor unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World, the IWW. (Note that both Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Mother Jones, the other two members of our trilogy on women activists, were also associated with the IWW.)

Dorothy Day in 1916
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

She became an activist herself for women's suffrage and was in fact arrested in a protest march for women's rights. She stayed in jail for 16 days and went on a hunger strike.

She lived for a while in Greenwich Village and adopted a somewhat Bohemian lifestyle. She met and had a close relationship with the Irish American writer Eugene O'Neill. It is likely that O'Neill influenced her. O'Neill helped her to see the importance of spirituality and religion in social activism.

Eugene O'Neill, the Nobel
Prize recipient and playwright, with
whom Dorothy Day had a relationship
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

In New York she became friends with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Flynn and Dorothy became life-long friends, and there was mutual admiration. They agreed on a common goal -- helping the poor and the oppressed. But they differed on the means to the end. Flynn advocated revolutionary communism; Day advocated Christianity, social reforms, and pacifism.

Dorothy freely associated with radicals and communists, but she was not a communist herself. Dorothy was opposed to atheism and any form of violence or violent revolution. She also rejected the hostility inherent in communism based on socio-economic class struggle or class warfare. Her beliefs were completely peaceful and Christian and especially Catholic in nature.

Dorothy Day had personal relationships with men, and she once had an abortion. She later regretted the abortion, however. She later had a common-law marriage with a political activist and scientist, Forster Batterham, and had a child -- although the common-law marriage eventually failed.

Dorothy first became seriously interested in Catholicism upon meeting a Catholic nun named Sister Aloysia. Dorothy had her own child baptized Catholic, and in December of 1927 Dorothy herself was baptized into the Catholic religion.

Dorothy Day continued her work as a journalist writing articles on topics as diverse as gardening and aspects of Catholicism. Stories on gardening paid the bills, while stories on religion were her passion and calling.

In 1932 she met a Frenchman named Peter Maurin, who was a leader of a movement advocating Christian social activism. His main interest was in helping the poor. Needless to say, with the Great Depression now fully engaged, the poor were everywhere. People who may have been middle class or even well-off were now jobless, and in many cases, homeless and hungry.

Peter Maurin in 1934, a French social activist and
De la Salle brother who helped
create the Catholic Worker
newspaper with Dorothy Day
Photo from Marquette University archive
and Wikimedia Commons

In May of 1933, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin published the first issue of a newspaper called Catholic Worker. This was the start of Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement. This would become the centerpiece of her life's work. She also ran a social services center called Catholic Worker House in New York City.

Today there is still a Catholic Worker publication and house in New York City and in many other cities, both in the USA and overseas. See this link. There is a Catholic Worker program in New Orleans, Louisiana, for example. See this link. (You can read more about the Catholic Worker House in New Orleans, also called the St. Thomas House of Hospitality, at this link to a story in the Clarion Herald, the local Catholic journal.)

The Catholic Worker Houses or centers provide food, housing, and emotional and spiritual care to all people in need.

The Catholic Worker newspaper had a strong influence, and some of the writers for it included the philosopher monk Thomas Merton and the Jesuit priest activist Daniel Berrigan, SJ.


Dorothy Day had a profound influence on social activism based on the Catholic faith with the aims of helping the poor and advocating pacifism. (Dorothy discussed much of her philosophy in her autobiographical book called "The Long Loneliness.")

Some of Day's positions in the Catholic Worker were controversial. She opposed the fascist Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 -1939, although Franco won the support of the Catholic Church. Notably, she advocated pacifism during World War 2 even after the Japanese bombed the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and Adolf Hitler overran much of Europe. She felt injustice and aggression should be opposed through non-violent means.

Such extreme positions lost her much support, but she held to her beliefs. Years later she made favorable reference's to Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba, seeing him as an advocate for social reforms. And she opposed the US involvement in the war in Vietnam.

Dorothy Day was consistent, however, in supporting social justice. She defended Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, who was denounced by the Soviets as a traitor, for his writings against the abuses of Joseph Stalin and communism in the USSR.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1974, the
anti-communist writer and Nobel Prize recipient,
whom Dorothy Day defended against Soviet critics
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

She also met with social justice leaders around the world such as Mother Teresa of India and Cesar Chavez, the labor rights activist in the USA.

As an example of how influential Dorothy became, in 1972 the Jesuit magazine named America labeled her the "best in the aspiration and action in the American Catholic Community" since the 1930s.

Today there is an effort to have Dorothy Day canonized as a saint.
See this link.

Like other Irish American activists such as Mother Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Dorothy Day, though controversial and often taking positions contrary to the prevailing public mood or the powers-that-be, took a stand for justice, for peace, and for the rights of the poor.

Dorothy Day died of a heart attack in November, 1980. She was buried in the Cemetery of the Resurrection on Staten Island, New York. Cardinal Terence Cooke attended her funeral procession at the Church of the Nativity in the East Village, NY. Cardinal Cooke later held a mass for Dorothy Day at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New  York.

For the sake of historical research, the papers of Dorothy Day are stored at Marquette University, a Jesuit educational institution.


Sources and Further Reading: Short video on Dorothy Day by Fr. James Martin, SJ; Wikipedia's article on Dorothy Day; Catholic Worker online; New Orleans Catholic Worker; essay by Jim Forest on the Catholic Worker Movement . See more about Catholic Worker communities here. Read about the Catholic Worker House in New Orleans here. Please note that The Catholic Worker House in New Orleans, aka St. Thomas House of Hospitality, has a relationship with Hope House of New Orleans which was co-founded by Sr. Lory Schaff, CSJ. Sr. Lory was the director of the St. Vincent de Paul-Adult Learning Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Read more about St. Vincent de Paul -- Adult Learning Center here.

Irish Women Activists Trilogy: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
speaking at a silk workers'
strike in Patterson, New Jersey,
1913  Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Wikimedia Commons

By Adrian McGrath

Editor's Note: This is the second of a trilogy on Irish women activists. Find the first article on Mary Harris "Mother" Jones here.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: The Rebel Girl (1890 to 1964)

An example of child labor in 1914 in North Carolina.
Nannie Colson, 11 years old, earned $3 per week
as a "looper" in the clothing factory
Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, working conditions in industrialized Europe and America were often brutal and dangerous. The laws offered little protections for workers then; and capitalism -- although successful in many ways -- was typically unbridled, exploitative, and hostile towards workers. It was a difficult time for the working man, and women and children had few rights and protections. When economic times got rough, workers became desperate.

Because of these dreadful conditions, some political activists became more extreme, seeking solutions out of the mainstream. Some became socialists or anarchists. Others followed the new philosophy of the day proposed by Karl Marx -- Communism.



Today we know Communism is a totally failed system. It made lofty promises such as the ability to create "a workers' paradise." It had idealistic slogans like, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." It asked the workers of the world to unite for they had nothing to lose but their chains.

Garment Workers' strike in Chicago, 1910
Wikimedia Commons

In reality Communism, where ever it appeared resulted in oppression by a new ruling class -- the Communist Party elites -- who simply replaced the old ruling class of Capitalist elites.

Communism where ever it appeared -- in Russia, China, and elsewhere -- resulted in tyranny and a loss of civil liberties, including a loss of fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech, the press, and of religion. Furthermore, it failed to accomplish its main objective -- economic justice for workers.

Nevertheless, considering the terrible oppression workers lived under in the early 20th century, some economic and political activists tried socialism and communism as a solution to their problems. One such activist was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Her heart was in the right place; but her solution was wrong.

Eventually nicknamed "The Rebel Girl" because of her revolutionary ideas, fiery speeches, and political activism, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born in New Hampshire to Irish immigrants. Her mother was Annie Gurley from Galway, Ireland; her father was Thomas Flynn from County Mayo, Ireland. In typical Irish fashion, she was a rebel. There was even a song about her called "The Rebel Girl; and this was the name of her autobiography too.

Lawrence, Massachusetts textile workers strike in 1912
State militia with rifles and fixed bayonets against unarmed
striking workers, led by the IWW  Wikimedia Commons

Her Irish father instilled upon Elizabeth the importance of rebelling against tyranny by teaching her Irish history. Elizabeth once wrote that "when one understood British imperialism, it was an open window to all imperialism." Elizabeth thus developed a hatred of oppression in general, in a sense, comparing any oppression, political or economic, to the oppression Britain forced upon Ireland for centuries.

She became knowledgeable of Irish history, and came to believe that each generation of her ancestors had played a role in a rebellion against British tyranny in Ireland. She saw herself as a continuation of Irish rebellion against oppression, anywhere and everywhere.

When the family moved to the Bronx in New York, her father, Thomas Flynn, became active in socialism and politics. He, along with Elizabeth's mother, taught their daughter about these topics.

Because of the family's poverty and the awful conditions workers lived under then, socialism was seen as the best solution to the problem. Instead of having the means of production owned by a few big shot capitalists, the means of production should be controlled by the people, or the state which in theory represented the people.

Elizabeth came to believe, as she later stated, that "scientific socialism made it clear that it was not a poor man's fault if he was out of work." She felt people could be poor because they simply did not want to exploit their fellow man or woman, the way capitalists did.

Workers of the Lane Cotton Mill in New Orleans,
Louisiana from 1913, original photo by Lewis Hine,
from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons.
Note how young some of the workers look.

Elizabeth began to educate herself on politics by reading on the subject including the works of Peter Kropotkin, a Russia political activist who believed in anarcho-communism; and she extended her education to feminist politics. She developed impressive public speaking abilities, and in fact made her first public speech at the Harlem Socialist Club at only 15 years of age. Her topic was "What Socialism will do for women."

(Here is a youtube link to a reproduction of a speech she gave in Union Square in New York City in 1914. This is related to the Tenement Museum in New York City.)

"Rebel Girl"
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn making a speech,
circa 1910
Photo from the Library of Congress and
Wikimedia Commons

An interesting anecdote about Elizabeth states that a Broadway producer once proposed to make her an actress. She had such a tremendous public speaking ability and commanding stage presence, he figured crowds would love it. But Elizabeth refused saying she did not want to act; she wanted to speak ... her own words.

She was electrifying as an extemporaneous speaker and motivator; some people compared her to Saint Joan of Arc. She was clearly very intelligent and became a first class orator. She did not, however, graduate from high school, leaving Morris High School in the Bronx. She regretted this move later but nevertheless continued to educate herself.

Elizabeth married J.A. Jones in 1907, an activist with an economic political organization called the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). She and her husband had two sons, one of whom died shortly after birth; and the other son only lived to be 30. Despite being in love, her marriage also did not last. We must wonder to what extent these tragedies affected her later behavior.

Flynn worked for the IWW and continued to make rousing speeches against capitalism and advocating workers' rights and women's rights. She fought for economic rights for laborers as diverse as garment workers, textile workers, restaurant workers, and coal miners. He relationship with the IWW became strained over time, however, for various reasons. (IWW members were nicknamed "Wobblies.")

Amazingly, in 1920 she played a key role in creating a new political and legal organization -- the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She is recorded as being one of its founders.

She was a strong advocate for the women's right to vote (which became American law with the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920) and was an advocate for the legalization of birth control (which was not legalized even for married couples in the USA until the US Supreme Court decision of Griswald v Connecticut.) In this way Elizabeth showed that she was way ahead of her time, anticipating fundamental societal, political, and legal changes in America.

Flynn was involved in many workers' strikes and was arrested several times for various reasons relating to her activism, which were always non-violent, though very vocal.

In 1936, however, Elizabeth made a critical move in her life; she joined the Communist Party of the USA. This radical move resulted in her expulsion from the leadership of the ACLU. In 1940 she was removed from the governing board.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn at the Patterson
Silk Workers Strike, 1913
Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth became a journalist for the newspaper of the Communist Party USA called the Daily Worker. In 1942 she even ran in an election for Congress, but she lost. She did, however, get almost 50,000 votes.

Elizabeth was arrested in 1951 under the Smith Act, for advocating the violent over throw of the US government, largely because of her membership in the Communist Party. She was not involved in any violence, just accused of "advocating" a violent overthrow.

Despite the argument that she was exercising her right of free speech, protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment, she was found guilty and sent to jail.

Elizabeth served two years at a federal prison at Alderson, West Virginia. She considered herself to be a political prisoner and wrote an account of her experience called The Alderson Story: My Life as a Political Prisoner.

When she got out of jail, she simply picked up where she left off. Elizabeth made speeches and advocated Communism. She ran for public office, for New York City Council, and lost.

Flynn became the chairwoman the Communist Party USA in 1961 and traveled to the Soviet Union. In 1964, however, at age 74, she died while visiting the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Cover page to sheet music written
for a song called "Rebel Girl"
about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, 1915
Wikimedia Commons

The Russians held a state funeral for her in Moscow, and reportedly 25,000 people attended. Her remains where sent back to the USA, and she was buried in Chicago. (Here is a link to a video of her state funeral in Moscow.)

It is interesting to note that Elizabeth donated her belongings (consisting mainly of personal items like books, clothes, and some furniture) to another Irish American woman activist (the third subject of our trilogy) named Dorothy Day, the founder of the newspaper Catholic Worker.

Dorothy and Elizabeth became friends in New York around 1910, and both shared an interest in helping the poor and the working class. Elizabeth would send needed supplies sometimes to help Dorothy at the Catholic Worker House, a social services center Dorothy operated in New York.

Dorothy Day, though a socialist, found salvation for the poor through Catholicism, charity, and spiritual aid, while Elizabeth advocated Communism.

Dorothy Day, friend of
Elizabeth's and head
of the Catholic Worker
House, journalist and social
activist, 1916
Wikimedia Commons

Interestingly, among the many noteworthy people Elizabeth befriended during her life's work in activism were the Irish revolutionary and socialist James Connolly, who was executed by the British in the famous Easter 1916 Rebellion in Dublin, and also Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (the first woman of our trilogy on women activists.) She also knew John Reed, the Harvard-educated, socialist journalist, who wrote about the Bolshevik Revolution in his book Ten Days that Shook the World (and who was portrayed by Warren Beatty in the film Reds.)

How can we asses the life of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn? Different people will see her in different ways, of course. As for me, she was clearly an intelligent and talented person who initially and generally advocated for good causes -- workers' rights, equal rights, women's rights, and social justice. She was right in that social and economic reforms were definitely needed at that time.

She was misguided, however, to think socialism would solve the economic problems of the poor. And she was tragically mistaken to join the Communist Party and be fooled into believing that Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, or any ism that sprang from the communist philosophy could do anything but result in more tyranny and more oppression.

We need only look to the many millions of innocent people who died under Communist regimes to see the tragic error Elisabeth made. Some historians believe the number of people who were killed under communism to be around 100 million.

Despite the mistakes Elizabeth made in her life, she was a remarkable woman; and a study of her life (with both the good and bad things she did) is worthwhile.


Sources and Further Reading: See wikipedia.com's article on Flynn; "The Story of the Rebel Girl" by Benjamin Silverman at socialistworker.com; speech by Elizabeth with the Tenement Museum at youtube  ; Weekly Comment: The Irish of Labor History from irishamerica.com 

Irish Women Activists Trilogy: Mary Harris Jones, "Mother Jones"

Mary Harris Jones,"Mother Jones"
Photo from Library of Congress
and Wikimedia Commons

By Adrian McGrath

(Editor's Note: The Irish, it seems, have always been involved in politics. This is almost certainly the result of 800 years of occupation and oppression in Ireland by a foreign and hostile power. For 800 years Great Britain occupied Irish lands and oppressed Irish people, mainly for religious and ethnic reasons. But there were other reasons, including economic ones. The British exploited Ireland and its people for money and the equivalents of money.

It is no wonder that the Irish produced over the centuries not just rebels for a political cause, but rebels with an economic cause.

James Connolly, Irish Rebel and
socialist who was executed
by the British after the
Easter 1916 Rebellion
Photo from Wikimedia Commons 

Many Irish men became famous for struggling for economic justice, not just for the Irish, but for all people. We can think of James Connolly  who fought in the bloody 1916 Easter Rebellion in Dublin who also was an advocate of socialism and economic equality.

We can think of men who advocated economic justice by the pen rather than the sword such as Eugene O'Neill, the Irish American author of famous plays about people who lived on the fringes of life. (See more about Eugene O'Neill at my article on him.)

Eugene O'Neill,
Irish American playwright and
Nobel Prize recipient who
wrote about social injustice
Photo from
  Wikimedia Commons
and Library of Congress

But it was not just Irish men who advocated and took great risks for economic and social justice; it was also Irish women.

IrishAmericanJournal.com will now look at three Irish and Irish American women who took a stand against overwhelming odds and faced great difficulties to help other people in need. The next three articles, a trilogy, will be about Irish women activists and the impact they had not just on the Irish but on all people worldwide. We will examine Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones), Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and Dorothy Day.

Women have always played a major part in Irish and Irish American history. There are many more fine examples besides these three above; but it is hoped that by studying the lives of these three significant women, readers will be encouraged to learn more about the subject.

The article below is about Mary Harris Jones, a school teacher, an advocate for proper child labor laws, and a labor organizer who became famous and beloved as "Mother Jones." The next will be about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn -- a feminist, a socialist labor leader, and a leader of the political union called the International Workers of the World. The third and final article will cover the life of Dorothy Day, a founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper and social activist who was praised by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.)


Mary Harris Jones, "Mother Jones"

Mother Jones, circa 1912
Photo from Library of Congress
and Wikimedia Commons 

Mary Harris was born in the city of Cork in Ireland in 1837.
Her parents were poor Irish Catholic farmers who rented their land. She and her family fled Ireland for North America when she was young because of the potato blight and the Great Hunger (Potato Famine of 1845 to 1850.) The horrors of the Famine forever scarred the psyche of Mary Harris. One million Irish people died of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, while another one million sailed away into permanent exile from Ireland. Most, like Mary's family, eventually came to the United States. (Read more about the Great Hunger at my article here.)

Skibbereen, Ireland during the Great Hunger
(Potato Famine) Illustrated London News, 1847
by James Mahony from Wikimedia Commons

In permanent exile Mary first lived in Canada and was educated in Toronto. After completing her schooling in her early 20s, she moved to Michigan and worked as a teacher in a Catholic convent school. She eventually moved on, first to Chicago and then to Memphis, TN. In 1861 she married a man named George Jones who was a labor leader.

She and her husband had four children, but tragically the husband and all the children died from an epidemic of yellow fever in Memphis. Mary had abandoned teaching and began making dresses and women's clothing for a living, eventually moving back to Chicago.

Tragedy again fell upon Mary when in 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed her dress shop and home, as it destroyed much of the city.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
which destroyed the home and dress shop
of Mary Harris Jones
Photo by Currier and Ives, Wikimedia Commons

Much like the story of the Irish philanthropist in New Orleans (also discussed on this blog, see Margaret Haughery), Mary Harris Jones, instead of being destroyed by tragedy, responded by doing positive things for her community.

She became a member of the Knights of Labor and advocated for fair treatment of workers. She led strikes and put herself into dangerous situations when riots occurred sometimes mixed with violence and police brutality. She eventually joined the United Mine Workers and advocated for a fair wage.

It is significant to note that some labor protests at this time became very dangerous and even deadly, such as the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886. At Haymarket, Workers protested police abuse and advocated an eight-hour working day. A bomb was thrown from the crowd at the police; the police opened fire; and there were many casualties. Such was the nature of protest in those days.

The Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886.
Workers were demanding an eight hour working day
Photo from Harper's Weekly and Wikimedia Commons

Mary Harris Jones seemed to have a philosophy of social justice which had a mixture of Christian beliefs from her Roman Catholic background (indeed, her brother became a Catholic priest) and socialism. She became active with the Socialist Party of America. She was in fact one of the first organizers of the Industrial Workers of the World, a Leftist political/economic labor organization and union.

Mary would organize protests made up not just of striking men, but also of their wives and children. This made the protests very strong and persuasive. But it was also in keeping with Mary's strong belief in the importance of the family unit.

Child workers at a cotton mill in 1911
Photo from the Library of Congress and
Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons

The elites of society and their political representatives, of course, feared and detested Mary Harris Jones. One politician, a district attorney called Reese Blizzard, who strongly opposed Mary called her "the most dangerous woman in America." Mary was on trial in 1902 before this man after being arrested for disregarding a judicial decree which banned a strike for miners in West Virginia.

Interestingly, Mary was not an advocate for the women's right to vote. Rather she stressed workers' rights and fought for laws protecting the working class -- composed of men, women, and children. Some suffragettes criticized her for not openly supporting the women's vote.

Children working in a textile mill in
Georgia in 1909, instead of going to school
Photo from the Library of Congress
and Wikimedia Commons

Mary, as a big supporter of the family unit, always included protecting the rights of children as well as adult workers. In 1903 she famously led a protest march from Philadelphia to Long Island, NY to the home of President Theodore Roosevelt to bring awareness to the problems facing working children. This was called the "march of the mill children."

Children as textile workers in Georgia, 1909
Photo from the Library of Congress and
Wikimedia Commons

By the late 1890s, now with national and international fame, Mary Harris Jones became known openly as "Mother Jones," partly because of her age, being over 60, and her demeanor. She treated the working men she represented as a mother treated her children. She also supported humane child labor laws which allowed for children to go to school rather than go to work at an early age.

Children in a workers' protest in New York City
in 1909. The sign says "Abolish Child Slavery" in English
and in Yiddish. Photo from Wikimedia Commons and
the Library of Congress

In 1912 Mary participated in a strike in West Virginia. The United Mine Workers were literally at war with a force of private security guards controlled by the mine owners. Fights and gunshots were involved. Mary was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Although she was given a long sentence from an ad hoc military court, of questionable legitimacy, she was let go after about three months. She had developed a case of pneumonia while being under arrest. This incident resulted the an investigation by the US Senate.

It was common at that time for some large businesses, like coal mine companies, to hire virtually small armies of armed security guards who roughed up striking workers.

Mother Jones by this time had become a simultaneously beloved and despised well-known figure. She had been arrested time and again and appeared in court time and again because of her advocacy for social justice.

She was loved by the working class and the oppressed, and she was hated by the ruling class. She was once denounced in the US Senate as the "grandmother of all agitators."

Mother Jones lived an incredible life -- born in impoverished and occupied Ireland, a survivor of the Great Hunger (Great Famine) in Ireland, a woman who lost her husband and four children to an epidemic, a woman who lost her career and home to the Great Chicago Fire, and a woman denounced by powerful politicians as "a dangerous woman" and "grandmother of agitators," but a woman who was heroic, caring, and bold who significantly influenced American society and American history.

As a true Irish Rebel, Mother Jones lived by her own war cry -- a mix of religious mercy from her Catholic upbringing and boldness from her troublesome Irish nature. Her motto was: "Pray for the dead and fight like Hell for the living."

Mary Harris Jones, "Mother Jones," lived to be 93 years old and left a significant impact on all labor movements since her death in 1930. She is buried in the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois.

Mother Jones lives on as a hero who spent her life trying to help oppressed workers and poor children and create a more civilized society.

Note: There is today a magazine in the USA named Mother Jones. It is named in honor of Mary Harris Jones. See more about it here and its discussion of Mary's life and works.


Sources and Further Reading: Mother Jones magazine, discussion of Mary Harris Jones' life and works; Wikipedia article on Mary Harris Jones.