James K. McGuire: Boy Mayor and Irish Nationalist

6. The King, the Kaiser,and the President

127 6 The King, the Kaiser, and the President While McGuire’s criminal case was pending in New York County Supreme Court, he turned his attention to Ireland and its struggle for freedom. He had been a “high-ranking” member of the secret society Clan-na-Gael, which was dedicated to securing Ireland’s independence .1 He also was a frequent visitor to Ireland.2 Irish American sentiment and Clan-na-Gael had always been in favor of a free and independent Ireland. In Ireland John Redmond, chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party, had been advocating for “Home Rule” in the British Parliament. Until 1910 the issue fell on deaf ears because of the Liberal Party’s overwhelming majorities in Parliament. In the 1910 election, however, the Liberal Party’s seats were drastically reduced and Redmond’s party became a much sought-after partner. In 1912 Home Rule became a central issue in Parliament.3 The issue of Home Rule would prove to be a complicated one. The first complication was that Ulster leaders Sir Edward Carson and Bonar Law wanted the six counties in the north of Ireland excluded from Home Rule. So that the world would understand that there would be more than nominal resistance to Home Rule, the Ulster Volunteers were formed and armed, composed of 100,000 militiamen . In response, Redmond organized the Irish Volunteers, a force consisting of 160,000 men. The command structure consisted of a mix of Redmond followers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a 128 | Ja m e s K . Mc G u i r e secret society that favored complete independence. In mid-June 1914, the Irish Volunteers managed to purchase 1,500 rifles in Hamburg, Germany, and on July 26, during an armed parade by the Volunteers, the police shot and killed thirty people in Bachelor’s Walk in Dublin. Calls by Redmond for a full inquiry into the massacre fell on deaf ears. Almost simultaneously, events in Europe were rapidly unfolding that would plunge the continent into war. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated; because of various treaty commitments , Britain would be dragged into the war alongside France. Irish republicans, both at home and in the United States, would view “England ’s necessity as Ireland’s opportunity.” But Redmond’s dream of Home Rule would have to be shattered first. As the war clouds continued to build, Parliament, with Redmond’s acquiescence, excluded Ulster from the Home Rule measure and suspended the effective date of Home Rule until the end of the war.4 Redmond didn’t know it, but he was well on his way to being fully discredited as a leader. In the United States, Irish American republicans would use the U.S. status as a neutral country to advocate for support for Germany in the war against Britain. While much of the activity was overt, covert activities abounded. McGuire would author two books advocating American support for Germany. The first was The King, the Kaiser and Irish Freedom, published in 1915.5 The second was What Could Germany Do for Ireland?, published the following year.6 Lest there be any doubt about the intent of the books, the first one contained a picture of the author inscribed by his “friend” Kaiser Wilhelm. Ireland was a bleak and depressing place during this period. As Redmond’s biographer described it, Dublin desperately needed some prosperity. Ireland’s largest city and former capital ranked as the greatest urban disgrace in the United Kingdom. The census of 1911 listed Dublin’s population at slightly more than 300,000. The working class made up nearly two-thirds of this number. A government report on Dublin housing conditions showed that 45 percent of the working class lived in tenement housing . Dwellings built for one family often housed several, usually k i ng, k a i s e r , pr e s i de n t | 129 with one family to a room. Dublin had more than twenty thousand one-room tenement dwellings, the highest percentage of any city in Britain or Ireland. A large number of these places held as many as seven or eight people to a room. The most egregious example of overcrowding showed ninety-eight people living in a single house. The report further found that “life in tenement houses in the city are [sic] both physically and morally bad” and that the local clergy...