As we go to press, the troubles of Nancy Reagan have replaced the Kennedys on the front pages of the tabloids. But boy, did the press have a field-day.
A New York Post reporter interviewed in Florida while staking out the Kennedy compound was practically frothing at the mouth. “Classic tabloid stuff!” he emoted with glee, much like a shark in a feeding frenzy. So if you’re looking for more sleaze on the Kennedys in this month’s issue, I’m sorry to disappoint you. There isn’t any. I think we have all had enough.
Ted Kennedy’s record as a politician speaks for itself. On the recent immigration bill, he pulled out all the stops for the Irish, God knows why, because we more than anyone are often the first to throw stones. When it looked like the vote was going to go the other way, Kennedy personally called everyone that mattered and the legislation was passed.
As Ireland continues to cast off her surplus children like old Mother Hubbard whose cupboard is bare, America is the stepmother who takes them in by the thousands. And the new legislation means that they won’t have to live in fear of deportation, that they can have decent jobs and the chance to be a part of the American dream. For that we must be grateful to the many who played a part.
Which means we shouldn’tforget Bruce Morrison either. Morrison’s failed bid for governor of Connecticut left him some $400,000 in the red. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, throwing a few dollars Bruce’s way would be a nice way of saying thanks to the former Congressman who was on top of the immigration issue right from the start.
Just as everyone remembers what they were doing when they first heard that J.F.K. had been shot, the death of Bobby Sands on May 5, 1981 and the slow end to the hunger strike-with nine other young men dying throughout that summer and fall-will never be forgotten, The Hunger Strike caused many to have their first hard look at the situation in the North of Ireland. I remember the nightly vigils outside the British Consulate in San Francisco during that time as being often silent affairs, no shouting, no megaphones, as if those participating were weighted down by a sadness too deep to express.
For the rest of her days Margaret Thatcher will be remembered by the Irish as that immovable woman of stone. I wonder sometimes if she is ever visited in the early hours of the morning by the ghosts of those young men who only wanted to be recognized for what they were – political prisoners.
Afterwards the British were to give to others every concession that Bobby Sands and his companions died for, so surely, the horror of what they and their families went through, could have been avoided Patrick Farrelly writes on the background to the Hunger Strike on this the tenth anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands.
In many ways it’s fighting for some point of principle that has kept us Irish-despite numerous coats of colonial paint. And Margot O’Toole is an Irish woman of principle. As a young scientist she questioned the validity of a senior colleague’s research data and when she refused to back down she was fired. Her reputation as a scientist tarnished, she was forced to take a job with her brother’s trucking company. But Margot and her family did not give up the fight and now six years later, she has finally been vindicated by the National Institutes of Health.
Maire Crowe gives us an inside look at this woman of integrity.
Women have played a much larger role in Ireland’s history than they are often given credit for. The fact that we remember Maud Gonne much more as the unrequited love of W.B. Yeats’ life, rather than for the role she played as an Irish nationalist, is an example of how women tend to be seen in Irish history. Margaret Ward has recently written a book entitled Maud Gonne: Ireland’s Joan of Arc. In her feature, written especially for Irish America she focuses on Maud Gonne’s trips to America, and shows us the real flesh and blood woman immortalized in Yeats’ Cathleen ni Houlihan.
So dear reader, I think that you will find much to hold your attention in this month’s issue. I await your comments.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the May 1991 issue of Irish America. ♦
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