{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"185 The St. Patrick's Day Scandal of 1888 + This Week in US History","description":"This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we take a look at a curious but revealing scandal that emerged in New York City on St. Patrick\u2019s Day n 1888. The mayor refused to attend the St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade and to fly the flag of Ireland over City Hall and paid a heavy political price.   And we also take a look at some key events that occurred this week in US history, like the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, and Amelia Earhart\u2019s final flight. And birthdays, including March 16, 1751 - 4th POTUS James Madison March 18, 1837 - the 22nd and 24th POTUS Grover Cleveland March 17, 1777 - SCOTUS justice Roger B. Taney Feature Story: The St. Patrick\u2019s Day Scandal of 1888 On March 17, 1888 \u2013 132 years ago this week - the mayor of New York City made a huge mistake. It was St. Patrick\u2019s Day and yet, Mayor Abram Hewitt made good on his recent pledge to not review the annual St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade and not to fly the Irish flag over City Hall. The Mayor framed his decision as a stand for pure, enlightened political leadership that was above pandering to what he considered petty, special interests. But the city\u2019s enormous Irish population did not see it that way and Hewitt would soon learn a painful lesson in late-nineteenth century urban politics.  Abram Hewitt was a wealthy industrialist and former congressman who had won election as mayor of New York in 1886.  Although a member of the elite, \u201csilk stocking\u201d set, he ran as the candidate of Tammany Hall, the legendary political organization that drew its power from the city\u2019s immigrant masses - especially the Irish.  Tammany officials had selected him out of panic, because the election of 1886 had featured a stunning challenge by an upstart Labor Party that had selected as its candidate the reformer Henry George, a man immensely popular with the city\u2019s laboring masses. Just as Tammany had hoped, Hewitt\u2019s respectable image helped him garner just enough votes to narrowly defeat George. Although elected on the Tammany Hall ticket and to a large degree by the Irish vote, Hewitt was a blueblood who abhorred the idea of ethnic politics.  Unfortunately for him, he lacked the political good sense to keep this disdain to himself.  So when a delegation of representatives of Irish organizations came calling on March 6, he did little to conceal his contempt.  The delegation had come in response to rumors that Hewitt would not review the upcoming St. Patrick\u2019s Day Parade. \u201cThe majority of Irishmen vote the Democratic ticket,\u201d they reminded him, \u201cand your vote came largely from Irishmen, a considerable portion of whom belong to the societies who will parade on St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d             Hewitt was clearly irked by their suggestion that he owed the Irish an appearance at the parade.  He snapped back, \u201cNow let us understand each other.  I am mayor of this city.  You ask me to leave my duties and review your parade \u2013\u201d At that moment he was interrupted by one of the delegation. \u201cBut Mr. Mayor, St. Patrick\u2019s Day is a holiday.\u201d \u201cIt is not a legal holiday,\u201d continued the mayor testily. \u201cYou ask me to leave my duties and review your parade, and you speak of the vote cast by the Irish in your societies for the Democratic candidates.  I may be a candidate for mayor or for President next fall and may want all the votes I can get \u2026 But for the purpose of getting this [Irish] vote, I will not come down to the level of reviewing any parade because of the nationality represented.  I will review no parades, whether Irish, German, or Italian as a Democrat.  I will review parades only as mayor of the whole city and irrespective of party considerations.\u201d  The delegation of Irishmen left the meeting angry and empty handed.  When word of the mayor\u2019s refusal to review the parade hit the papers, the city\u2019s huge Irish population reacted angrily.  The tradition of having the mayor review the St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade had begun nearly four decades earlier and since that time no mayor had ever refused the honor. Several critics pointed out that Hewitt actually had reviewed an ethnic parade a year earlier, when Italian societies marched in commemoration of Garibaldi\u2019s defense of Rome.  To the city\u2019s Irish, the mayor\u2019s decision was an insult that reflected elite New York\u2019s low opinion of them. The mayor\u2019s blunt refusal to review the parade immediately called into question a second longstanding tradition in Manhattan: the flying of the Irish flag over City Hall on March 17.  In anticipation of a fight, an Irish American Alderman named Patrick Divver authored a resolution calling for the Irish flag to be flown over City Hall on March 17 and it passed unanimously.  A second resolution, clearly intended to force the mayor\u2019s hand, was also passed, calling for the American flag to be flown at half-staff on March 16 in honor of the Kaiser William I of Germany who had just died. Hewitt tried his best to navigate the political minefield before him, aware of the importance of both the Irish and German vote.  He ordered the American flag flown at half-staff on March 16 as an expression of sympathy for the Kaiser and the following day ordered it raised to full staff in honor of Ireland.  But no Irish flag was raised.  Mentions of Hewitt\u2019s name at the parade that day drew catcalls and hisses from the crowd. That evening, Hewitt tried to mend fences with the Irish by attending the annual dinner of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.  And he delivered a short address in which he said, \u201cThe day will come when you will see the flag of Ireland floating where it ought to float, over a free nation in a free Ireland.\u201d         It was a nice gesture in support of Irish nationhood, but it did little to appease the city\u2019s Irish population. And besides, Hewitt returned to his original form a few days later when the Board of Aldermen passed a law granting them the power to decide what flag would fly over City Hall on any given day. Hewitt vetoed the bill and issued a scathing rebuke to the Irishmen on the Board who were behind it. He noted that while the Irish-born made up 16.4 percent of the city\u2019s population, they constituted an unnaturally high 27 percent of the Board of Aldermen and 28 percent of the police department.  Even worse, continued the mayor, the Irish contributed an even greater percentage to the city\u2019s prison and asylum populations. Apparently, Ireland hadn\u2019t sent its best. \u201cThe facts above stated when properly considered,\u201d concluded the mayor, \u201cshould impose a modest restraint [on the Irish] in claiming new privileges.\u201d The Board promptly passed the measure over Hewitt\u2019s veto.  Well, mayors in those days served only two-year terms, so Hewitt faced re-election that fall.  Tammany Hall, recognizing that Hewitt threatened to erode their Irish voter base, withdrew its support from him and nominated an Irish-born candidate named Hugh J. Grant. Hewitt nonetheless managed to secure the nomination of several Democratic and independent political organizations. The Irish turned out in droves on election day and sent Hewitt to a third-place finish behind Grant and the Republican candidate. The St. Patrick\u2019s Day affair of 1888 established an absolute rule for New York City politics: politicians who insulted the city\u2019s largest ethnic groups did so at their peril. The dominant ethnic and racial groups have changed in the years since 1888 to include Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Asians, and African Americans, but the rule remains the same.  And here\u2019s a fun fact: While NYC\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day parade is huge and gets a lot of attention, it\u2019s no longer the city\u2019s largest ethnic parade. That honor goes to the annual West Indian Day parade that honors people from places like Jamaica, Grenada, and Trinidad. And you better believe the mayor never misses it. Sources: William V. Shannon, The American Irish: A Political and Social Portrait (1964), pp. 75-76; Allan Nevins, Abram S. Hewitt: With Some Account of Peter Cooper (1935), pp. 465-7 For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com  Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) The Joy Drops, \u201cTrack 23,\u201d Not Drunk (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, \u201cI will Be There\u201d (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, \u201cWinter Trek\u201d (Free Music Archive) The Bell, \u201cI Am History\u201d (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight \u00a9 In The Past Lane, 2020 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin\u2019s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast \u2013 the history behind today\u2019s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace \u2013 with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators \u2013 creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast \u2013 Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind \u2013 the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen \u2013 specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast \u2013 fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion \u2013 two historians discuss topics from today\u2019s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers \u200f@ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast \u2013 all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald \u00a9 In The Past Lane 2020 ","author_name":"In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters","author_url":"http:\/\/www.InThePastLane.com","html":"