BY: John J. Pitney, Jr., Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College.
On January 2, 1855, New York Mayor Fernando Wood wrote to President Franklin Pierce:
The disease and pauperism arriving here almost daily is, of itself, a sufficient evil; but when to it is added crime, we must be permitted to remonstrate. We ask the interference of the general government; as it is its duty to protect us from foreign aggression, with ball and cannon, so it is its duty to protect us against an enemy more insidious and destructive, though coming in another form.
They bring disease. They bring crime. They’re invading our country. Sound familiar? In this case, though, the “enemy” consisted of people like my great-great-grandparents — immigrants from Ireland. I make this point because some of my fellow Irish Americans demean recent immigrants, forgetting the harsh reaction our own ancestors faced when they chose America as their new home.
Anti-Irish prejudice was widespread in the mid-19th century. The famous diarist George Templeton Strong wanted to “see war made on the Irish scum” that he blamed for draft riots in New York City. Strong wrote,
No wonder St. Patrick drove all the venomous vermin out of Ireland!
Its biped mammalia supply that island its full average share of creatures that crawl and eat dirt and poison every community they infest.
And like recent immigrants of today, the Irish were told that they could not succeed in life. Even someone as sophisticated as the young Theodore Roosevelt sneered at the abilities of the Irish.
They are a stupid, sodden, vicious lot, most of them being equally deficient in brain and virtue … the average Catholic Irishman of the first generation as represented in this assembly, is a low, venal, corrupt and unintelligent brute.
~ he wrote of his Irish colleagues in the New York State Assembly.
Because of such attitudes, “no Irish need apply” was a common phrase in want ads.
When considering current debates on immigration and border security, we Irish Americans should reflect on our own history.
John J. Pitney Jr. is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College. He received his B.A. in political science from Union College and a Ph.D. in political science at Yale. Prior to joining the CMC faculty in 1986, he worked in the New York State Senate, as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association, for Senator Alfonse D’Amato of New York and the House Republican Policy Committee. During a leave of absence from CMC, he worked at the Republican National Committee, as deputy then as acting director. He has written for The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, among others. His scholarly works include The Art of Political Warfare, The Politics of Autism and American Government and Politics: Deliberation, Democracy, and Citizenship. His most recent book is called The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics.