JD Vance's recent statements that the Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Hunger were responsible for higher crime rates is in the centuries old tradition of American nativists promoting anti-Irish tropes that have called for the exclusion of the Irish from America’s shores.
As Niall O’Dowd points out in his book "George Washington And The Irish" Irish soldiers were the backbone of the American Revolution and were acknowledged as such by General, and subsequent President, Washington.
Yet, succeeding generations of Nativist historians have succeeded in minimizing the role of the Irish while mythologizing the role of the Yankee Farmer, thus perpetuating the myth that America's freedoms depended solely on the actions of the early English settlers.
Of course, the Nativist lies intensified after the waves of immigration brought about by the Famine of 1845 and subsequent years when millions of Irish, given the choice of emigration or starvation, chose the former and fled to New York, Boston, and other east coast cities. The sad truth is that those who could not emigrate perished in the millions.
In response, the Nativist Americans, much like Vance, organized against the wave of immigration alleging, among other lies, that the Irish were responsible for increased crime in the major urban areas of the east coast. The Nativist party was formed and was given the nickname the “Know Nothings” as they were a secret society that told inquirers that they "knew nothing” about their activities.
The Irish were faced with the rankest discrimination and signs such as “No Irish Need Apply” were common throughout the United States.
The violence against the Irish was such that the newly active Ancient Order of Hibernians was marshaled to protect Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York from the Nativist assault, and later the Fighting 69th was sent to protect the Saint Patrick’s Day parade In New York.
The Nativist tradition continued into the 1920s and 30s when the Ku Klux Klan reemerged as a force to protest Catholics, Jews and immigrants, including the Irish, from having their place in American life. Vance's statement, following in the long history of Nativist bigotry, includes his citing of the movie “The Gangs of New York.” But even drawing on that film his assertions are demonstrably false.
A myriad of scholarly studies have concluded that there is no evidence that Irish immigrants committed crime in disproportionate levels to their population numbers, and in fact were arrested in proportionally smaller numbers then their native counterparts.
Professor Tyler Anbinder, in his remarkable book "Plentiful Country" - which is based on newly discovered records of the Emigrant Savings Bank - shows that, contrary to previous scholarship, the Famine Irish were able to move up the economic ladder with remarkable speed.
Subsequent waves of Irish immigrants were similarly quickly assimilated into American life and duly prospered. And there were no more lawbreakers among them than in previous generations. They were not criminals or thugs but hard working immigrants who soon achieved the American Dream.
Ray O’Hanlon, in his book "Unintended Consequences," provides a similarly compressive view of the remarkable achievements of Irish Immigrants in the 20th century. We as Irish Americans can look upon our immigrant ancestors with justifiable pride for their remarkable contributions to their adopted land.
They were neither thugs nor criminals but hard working, faith-filled people that, from the very first day they landed on America’s shores, contributed immeasurably to their adopted land. No amount of nativist propaganda, started by the Know Nothings, continued by the Ku Klux Klan and today perpetuated by vice presidential candidate JD Vance, can take that away from us.
Brian O'Dwyer is an attorney, immigration activist and co-chair of the Irish American Democrats. -
