The Loyal Irish: Pro-War Patriotism and Irish Home Rule Activism in New York City

In the years 1914-1917 the vigorous Irish Home Rule movement in New York City morphed into support for a United States entry into World War I, though this cause was initially rejected by supporters of Irish republicanism, as the Third Home Rule Bill (endorsed by John Redmond) excluded the Ulster provinces. This article considers three elements in that transition. The first part considers the unsuccessful attempt by female members of the United Irish League of America to take a firm stand against Ulster exclusion, which resulted in women’s leaving the organization. The second part examines the links between American Irish Home Rulers who supported the bill and Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, which strengthened their position, despite widespread opposition in the local Irish community. Key to this was Mitchel’s control of the New York Police Department, which provided the means to silence or attack his republican adversaries. Third, violent NYPD attacks on republicans in 1917 were widely characterized as part of a general attack on anti-war agitators in the city; the article concludes that the attacks were part of a larger pattern of police assistance to the overlapping causes of pro-war patriotism and Redmondite Irish Home Rule.