by Sean McCabe
Al Smith is a name all but forgotten to the general American public. He was the first Catholic to run for president, and did so in 1928. He was defeated by Herbert Hoover in a landslide, despite the fact that Hoover had never run for office before.
The problem for Smith was one of identity, not ability. He had proved himself to be to an able, progressive governor of New York. He was elected to that office three times. However, America the country was not ready for a Catholic president. America was not ready for a Catholic, Irish American president. And that is why Hoover won.
I was struck a couple of years ago when the host of a nationwide TV show referred to the Kennedy’s as the ‘drunken Kennedys.’ The remark in fact stunned me and revealed, I thought, a certain latent prejudice towards the Irish; or at least, a tendency to maintain the old stereotypical image of the Irish as drunks, etc. That is precisely what people feared in 1928 when Al Smith ran for president: a drunken Irishman in the White House.
Maybe I’m reading too much into the TV remark, but an Irish person, born and bred in Ireland, I was annoyed by those words. I’ve always been a Kennedys fan. It still impresses me that the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of impoverished emigrants could rise to the pinnacle of American society, from the bottom up, as it were. It’s an impressive achievement by any standards.
No wonder Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, who reached high political office, is a self described admirer of the Kennedys. Also, let us not forget that apart from having the mettle to make it to the top, the Kennedy clan 
produced the individuals (JFK & RFK) who formulated and introduced the first major civil rights legislation. President Johnson, of course, later managed to pass it through congress.
All I know is what the Kennedy’s achieved in the world, which is the official recognition that blacks and whites are equal. As I said, now we hear the word ‘equality’ every day, to the extent that the word has perhaps been cheapened a bit, but back then it was a big deal. There were a lot of people who did not accept the fact that all people were equal regardless of race or colour. The Kennedy brothers were, in essence, espousers of real Catholic values in both word and deed.
Maybe I’m overly romantic. After all, wasn’t Joe Kennedy a bootlegger! But I can also think of less noble ways in which fortunes were built. After all, today’s version of a bootlegger, would be a bar owner, I think.
I was browsing in a bookstore once when I came upon an essay by PJ O’Rourke. I was stunned by the amount of disdain in his essay. It was obvious he personally disliked this family. In fact, this personal dislike was really the basis of the article, because it was more about what they were (to him) than what they did on the political scene. Maybe they snubbed him at a dinner party or something. He seemed especially irritated by their well known penchant for public service.
This enthusiasm for public service is conveyed by a line from one of JFK’s speeches, and I think it captures the essence of what the Kennedys were about: ‘ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.’ To me that’s not a flag waving statement and there’s nothing there to be sneered at. All he’s saying really is ‘help your neighbour.’ Contribute to your community. Again, the Catholic values shine through!
Good as Obama is, I haven’t yet heard him express a simple value so eloquently.
But there does seem to be in some quarters a hostility towards the Kennedys, which baffles me. Even if it comes from famous journalists who may be more associated with the right than with the left these days.
It was really the ascent of the Kennedy’s that brought an end or perhaps a near end to the racial profiling of the Irish that, it seems, had been fairly common up to the early sixties. Isn’t that something to be thankful for by all? I had never really been aware that there had been such a thing as anti-Irish prejudice in the US in the olden days, or anywhere else for that matter, until I actually came to the US.
Of course, we read about the oppression of the Irish by the English in our history books, but that was as far as it went for me. When you grow up in an independent country in which ninety percent of the population is Catholic and Celtic, there is no oppression. You are a Paddy in Paddyland, as a professor said to me once in an effort to persuade me to remain in my home country. And this is perhaps the ultimate gift of all those Irish rebellions against the crown of past times: a solid sense of ourselves.
The Kennedys did a lot for the Irish, both directly or indirectly. To slur the Kennedys, in a funny way (to me anyway), still means to slur the Irish, because they more than anyone else, brought the Irish forward in the US. They certainly didn’t set us back.
There was talk in my father’s old parish in County Cavan of erecting a statue in honour of Al Smith, the great Irish American spokesman of the 20’s, who ran for president when America was not ready for an Irish Catholic president. Al Smith paved the way. He spoke for the common man, who didn’t have the rights that most of us enjoy today. When his name is mentioned I feel proud. When a Kennedy is mentioned, I feel proud. They also fought for the common man. And this is where the Irish greatness comes out.
I must ring up my aunt the next time I’m in Cavan and ask her did they get that statue up. Big Al had roots there. Good strong democratic roots.
*Born in Co Meath, Sean has been singing in pubs and at festivals across the US for ten years. His first book A Good Deed & Other Stories, was published in 2009. He has a new novel out, set in Ireland: The Days. See www.mccabesband.com. Email Sean at
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