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Irish-American Republicans ...

The Irish American Republicans

The Irish American Republicans ("IAR" or "IrishGOP") are a political organization in the United States, that advocates for Republican candidates and the Republican Party in the Irish American community; and supports strengthening ties between Ireland and the United States; and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. According to the United States Census, over 40 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. Irish Immigration

Immigrants from Ireland were among the first European immigrants to North America, but large- scale Irish immigration to the United States began during the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852. This Irish immigration went largely to the cities of the United States northeast, including New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. During the American Civil War, large numbers of Irish immigrants enlisted or were drafted into the Union army, and dominated certain army regiments, such as the 69th Infantry Regiment, from New York. Dubbed the "Fighting 69th" by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, the regiment's Civil War battle cry was "Faugh a Ballagh," which is Irish Gaelic for "Clear-the Way."

After the American Civil War, new Irish voters became increasingly attracted to the Republican Party. Factors included alienation from the increasingly corrupt Tammany Hall Democratic Party machine in New York City; the identification of Civil War veterans of Irish descent with fellow Irish American war veterans, such as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Chester. A. Arthur, who ran as Republican Party candidates; and the alignment of the Democratic Party with anti-Catholic Nativist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, in the American South.

Foundings The Irish American Republicans were first organized in October, 1868, in New York City. A mass Rally of Irish American Republicans was held at the Cooper Institute (Now Cooper Union) in support of the election of Republicans Ulysses Grant (whose grandfather was born in Ireland) and Schuyler Colfax, for President and Vice President of the United States. These mass Irish Republican meetings were organized by prominent New York civic leaders, including Chester A. Arthur and Horace Greeley. As President, Ulysses S. Grant won support from Irish Americans by pardoning, on October 12, 1870, the nine members of the Fenian Brotherhood who had launched an invasion of British Canada, in the Fenian Raids, and who had been convicted under the American Neutrality Acts. The Battle of Ridgeway, fought by a Fenian army of 1,300 against the British Canadian militia, was the first Irish armed victory over the British military in over 100 years, and is credited with prompting the subsequent confederation and independence of Canada. Grant was also the first US President to visit Ireland, as part of his 1877-79 World Tour. IAR National Convention 1880 On July 18, 1880, the Irish American Republicans were formally chartered as a national organization, holding the first Irish American Republican National Convention, in Indianapolis, Indiana. With over 300 delegates attending from across the United States, Judge A.L. Morrison of Chicago was elected the first Chairman. In New York, the Irish American Republicans held a formal state convention on September 27, 1880 in Saratoga, NY. In Vermont, The Irish American Republicans held a Rally on August 14, 1880, at the City Hall, Burlington, Vermont. The 1880, the Irish American Republicans supported the election of James Garfield and Chester Allen Arthur as President and Vice President of the United States. Arthur, in particular, had close ties with the Irish community, being himself of Irish descent, and having served as Collector of the Port of New York under President Grant. On September 30, 1884, the Irish American Republicans held a second national convention, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in support of the national Republican candidates James Blaine and John Logan for President and Vice President. After the 1880's, the Irish American Republicans continued for the next 30 years as a mostly New York-based organization. The headquarters of the Irish American Republicans during the 1880's was located in 121 Nassau Street, New York, NY. On July 18, 1894, Irish American Republicans met in Albany, New York, and reorganized as the “Irish American Protective League”. This was followed by a meeting, in 1901, of the “Irish American Republican League,” holding a meeting of 250 members at the Clarendon Hotel, in New York City. William McKinley received strong Irish American Republican support in 1896 and 1900. He supported Irish Catholic rights, and denounced the anti-Catholic American Protective Association. McKinley's Vice President, and later President, Theodore Roosevelt had enjoyed strong Irish American backing as a legislator and Governor of New York, and he was a co-founder of the American Irish Historical Society, in New York City. President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, alienated Irish Americans by refusing to support the cause of Irish independence, and pointedly excluded Ireland from deserving of self-determination in his Fourteen Points. Wilson also refused to meet with Eamon DeValera, the President of the Irish Republic, when DeValera was traveling through the United States in 1919, in support of the Irish independence. As a consequence, Warren Harding, the 1920 Republican nominee for President, carried the Irish American vote. Mid Twentieth Century After World War One, the Irish American Republicans ceased to be an active organization. The still predominantly urban Irish American population remained overwhelmingly Democrat - spurred on by the Democratic Party nominations, in 1928, of Al Smith, the first Irish Catholic nominee for President by a major party; and the nomination and election, in 1960, of John F. Kennedy, the first Irish Catholic elected President of the United States. During this period, however, several trends began, which would ultimately swing Irish Americas support back to the Republicans: First, the post WWII suburbanization of Irish America, as a majority of Irish Americans relocated from the cities to the developing suburbs. This migration broke the connection between the urban Democratic machines and the Irish American population, and created new perspectives, as formerly urban tenant families became suburban homeowners. It also reflected Irish American upward social mobility; Second, the rise of an Irish and Catholic leadership of the Republican Party and in the anticommunist Conservative movement. These leaders included Sen Joseph McCarthy (R-W1); William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review; and Ronald Reagan, who served as Governor of California (1967-74); and Third, the splintering of American society through the traumas of the Vietnam War, Great Society, Urban Riots, Civil Rights movement, and the general leftward drift of the Democratic Party. Increasing numbers of Irish Americans viewed the Democratic Party as hostile to their values and interests. Election of Ronald Reagan in 1980

Many Irish Americans were active in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Reagan was descended from an Irish Catholic father, whose ancestors immigrated from Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, Ireland. Reagan swept the Irish American vote against Jimmy Carter, winning such heavily Irish states such as New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Reagan had many Irish Americans in leadership positions, including his campaign manager and CIA Director William Casey; Ambassador to the United Nations Jeanne Kirkpatrick; Labor Secretary William Donovan; Chief of Staff Donald Regan; and US Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy. Reagan was the first US President to intervene diplomatically in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, pressuring the British government of Margaret Thatcher to reach the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, with the government of Garrett Fitzgerald in Ireland. He also traveled to Ireland in July, 1984, visiting his family's ancestral home in Ballyporeen, where he publicly spoke of his Irish ancestry and what he called the “Irish-American tradition.” Post-Reagan Era - Restoration of the Irish American Republicans

In the early 1990's the Irish American Republicans were formally reorganized:

In Washington, D.C., Frank Duggan; Rear Admiral (ret) James Carey, and Diedre Woodbyrne refounded the National Assembly of Irish American Republicans, and hosted events at the 1996, and 2000 Republican National Conventions. Duggan served as a Commissioner of the United States National Mediation Board, and both he and Carey are highly respected in Washington Republican circles.

In New York, the Irish American Republicans were refounded by Michael C. Finnegan, the first Counsel to Governor George Pataki; Jeffrey Cleary, who served as Pataki’s Deputy Commissioner of Alcohol & Substance Abuse; and Patrick Crotty, a prominent New York financier. Gov Pataki, himself of Irish descent, played a leading role in the 1995 Gerry Adams visit to America, supported the Irish Peace Process, and established the Irish Famine Memorial in Battery Park City, New York, and the Irish Famine Curriculum to be taught in New York’s public schools.

Other active Irish American Republican chapters were founded in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Florida. During the 1990's the Irish American Republicans developed mobile teams; which they dubbed the "Wild Geese," to strategically deploy to selected Republican campaigns. Election of 2000 - the “Wild Geese of Miami” and “the GOP’s Delta Force”

In the Presidential Election of 2000, the Irish American Republicans founded the "Irish Americans for Bush/Cheney" campaign coalition, and played an active role in the election, including drafting the Republican Party Platform on US-Ireland relations. George Bush became the first Republican nominee to pledge to appoint a US Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. He fulfilled that pledge, appointing Ambassadors Richard Haass, Mitchell Reiss, and Paula Dobriansky, to successfully advance the Peace Process in Northern Ireland.

During the US Presidential Recounts of 2000, the Irish American Republicans deployed en masse to Florida: Grant Lally was GOP Floor Manager of the Miami/Dade Recount; Jeffrey Cleary was GOP Operations Director; Robert Farley was GOP Counsel; and several members, including Brian McCarthy, Duane Gibson, and Lally lead the Miami "Brooks Brothers" protest, demanding an open count of the ballots. As a result of the Irish American Republicans lead role in the Florida Recounts, they were dubbed by Ray O’Hanlon of the Irish Echo newspaper as “the Wild Geese of Miami,” and by Fox News journalist Sean Hannity as “the GOP’s Delta Force.”

Election of 2008 - McCain Announces for President at NY Irish American Republican Rally

Reprising the Grant-Colfax New York Rallies of 1868, Sen. John McCain made his first public appearance, after “pre-announcing” his candidacy for President on February 28, 2007 on the David Letterman Show, before a Rally held that night by the Irish American Republicans, at the Women’s National Republican Club, in New York City. McCain was thronged by enthusiastic supporters, while local Democrats, lead by Irish leftist activist Malachy McCourt, held a noisy protest outside.

McCain was also the first Republican Presidential candidate to appear before the bipartisan “Irish Presidential Forum” of leading Irish American organizations, on September 25, 2008 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Speaking before over 2,000 attendees, McCain pledged his support for the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and to appoint a US Special Envoy to Ireland. Over 200 members of the Irish American Republicans were elected as Delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention. IAR member Alana Sweeny served on the 2008 RNC Platform Committee, and successfully drafted an expansive Irish Plank, promising continued US engagement in Northern Ireland and the appointment of a US Special Envoy for Ireland.

General The Irish American Republicans have 32 chapters in the United States. The current national Co-Chairs are Grant Lally and Jeffrey Cleary, the current national President is Kevin Hanratty. The advisory Board includes US Senators John McCain, Pat Toomey, John Cornyn, and Susan Collins, and US Representatives Mike Pence, Peter King, Bob Turner, Tim Murphy, Tom Rooney and Christopher Smith.

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