Reading obituaries is of interest to people of a certain age--and I am almost old enough. But I take a quick look, just in case.
Today's NYTimes had one I read from top to bottom and then repeated details to the near and dear. William McDonagh was chair of the New York Fed, his claim to fame and to a NYTimes obituary.
But wait, there's more. He was born in Chicago of immigrant Irish parents, was orphaned at 11, lived with an aunt and supported himself with a newspaper route. A nun encouraged him to use his brains and he got a Jesuit education. He became a great public servant and, it appears, a good American-Irishman as well. He certainly did well, but he also did good. You can read the details here: William McDonough, former Fed chair dies at 83. (Link now active, apologies.)
My last thought as I closed the paper: a virtuous generation of Irish-American public servants is dying and the likes of Mick Mulvaney, Trump supporter, head of OMB, and grinder of widows and orphans, is tarnishing a great tradition. And you too, Paul Ryan.
The Bloomberg obit includes this item:
ReplyDelete"Twelve months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he gave a speech at Trinity Church near where the towers had collapsed, calling attention to the disparity between rich and the poor and suggesting that Wall Street executives’ compensation was out of line.
"“I remember it well because, on the first anniversary of 9/11, I had said to Bill, this is not the right speech for the first anniversary of 9/11. You should do something else,” said Thomas Baxter, a former colleague who’s now at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. “And he said, ‘No, I really think this is an important topic, and it’s important to me, and I’ve got to do it, and I’ve got the platform.’”"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-25/ex-new-york-fed-chief-mcdonough-dies-led-bank-during-ltcm-9-11
Who are some other Irish-American public servants you would put in this tradition, Margaret? Outside of the Kennedy brothers (the feckless Ted probably did the most because he lasted the longest)? And, of course, Mother Jones?
ReplyDeleteI would bet that leafing through back issues of Commonweal would surface some names.
ReplyDeleteRep. John McCormick; Rep. Tip O'Neill; Sen. Daniel Moynihan; Rep. William Fitts Ryan; Mayor Richard J. Daley; Tim Russert; Mary McGrory; Dan Barry; James Comey; ETC.
ReplyDeleteI wrote Mafia, suggesting tribal loyalties and affections that not everyone would find adorable.
I said did well, and did good, meaning no vows of poverty (applies to some and not to others). And, of course, there is a broad definition of "the good."
And I add served the public good.
You missed Frank Murphy but maybe he was before your time. There are, of course, lots more, but I didn't think Murphy should be missed.
ReplyDeleteI'll buy that:
ReplyDeleteWilliam Francis "Frank" Murphy (April 13, 1890 – July 19, 1949) was a Democratic politician and jurist from Michigan. He was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included stints as Governor of Michigan and Mayor of Detroit. He also served as the last Governor General of the Philippine Islands and the first High Commissioner of the Philippines. (wiki)
Was my prime example an outlier? McDonough was a banker, who was a public servant because he became and was a regulator. I note that WIKI lists Henry Ford as an Irish-American...Was he?
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking Michigan, have to include our Eternal General, Frank Kelly. Gov. Milliken has Irish roots, albeit from Ulster, like mine. A Republican, he endorsed both John Kerry and Hillary Clinton because he believed the GOP options were so poor. Jerry Cavanaugh was a popular progressive Detroit mayor, but the riots in 1967 did him in.
ReplyDeleteThey're good.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Callahan?
ReplyDeleteJames Comey is on the list? The man who single-handedly (well, along with Vlad Putin) killed Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes?
ReplyDeleteYes, James Comey! I think Hillary did a lot to kill her own hopes...alas.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'll propose two more names: Speaker of the House Tom Foley, and Rep. Joe Moakley, named by Foley to head the congressional task force which investigated the killing of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador in 1989. The lead staffer on the task force was Jim McGovern, Moakley's chief aide (and today a congressman himself). Below, I'll paste in an excerpt from a tribute to Moakley delivered by McGovern. It's a bit long, so I'll whet your Irish appetites by telling you that it speaks about (among other things) Moakley singing "If You're Irish, Come into the Parlor" and "Steve O'Donnell's Wake" when he visited a conflict zone during El Salvador's civil war.
DeleteI'll also mention that Elizabeth Drew had an excellent piece in the New York Review of Books (Nov. 1, 2013) about the memorial service for Tom Foley:
"Washington: When Decency Prevailed"
Here's the excerpt from Jim McGovern's tribute to Joe Moakley:
Joe was the first U.S. Congressman to travel to a place in El Salvador called Santa Marta. This was a small village on the Honduran border that had been the scene of a lot of fighting and was under rebel control.
Then-Secretary of State Jim Baker called Moakley personally and urged him not to go to Santa Marta. He said it was too dangerous, and that meeting with the guerrillas would be "counter-productive." But Moakley wanted to go. He told Baker, "I want to see for myself what's going on in this country, and that means not only traveling all over; it also means meeting with everyone, no matter what their politics."
So we went.
We drove by Jeep 6 ½ hours on dirt roads that had been ravaged by the rainy season. On our way, we passed military checkpoints, and then we passed guerrilla checkpoints. When we got there, we found a village of mostly women and children; all the men were either fighting with the guerrillas or had been killed by the Salvadoran armed forces.
Moakley listened to their stories for hours. He learned about their hopes, their dreams and aspirations. He heard about their heartbreaks. And when it was all over, the children gathered and sang a song to demonstrate their friendship and appreciation.
Of course, being the shy and demure guy he is, Joe didn't want the meeting to end there, so HE started to sing. First, it was "If You're Irish Come Into the Parlor," followed by "Redhead," then by a stirring rendition of "Southie - My Hometown." The people loved it. They had no idea what the hell he was singing - frankly, neither did I - but they appreciated his enthusiasm. It was like a Salvadoran version of "Community Auditions," with an elderly Salvadoran woman standing up and singing a song, and Moakley following with a song of his own.
Several months later, I was at the United Nations observing the peace talks. One of the guerrilla comandantes came up to me and said, "You know, Santa Marta was a turning point. That's when we realized that the United States was getting serious about peace. When Moakley came to our turf and stayed for hours, it showed us respect - something that no American official had shown us - and we realized that now was the time to negotiate an end to the war."
Joe Moakley not only exposed the truth about the murders of the Jesuit priests, but he also - more than any other U.S. official - helped bring peace to El Salvador.
A few years later I went back to Santa Marta with Joe. It was like a Bruce Springsteen concert - every person in town turned out not only to say thank you but also to hear Joe Moakley, live and "unplugged," in concert. He did an acoustic version of "Steve O'Donnell's Wake" that brought them to their feet. Believe me when I tell you that nobody in that village was disappointed with Joe Moakley's performance. What was particularly moving about that trip was that so many people remembered - not only who he was, but what he did.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, Gene!
DeleteI wish there was a "like" button; but since there isn't, I'll just say that I liked that very much!
DeleteOne sign of an Irish-American: tells a good story.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGene, that may be your most amazing story yet, and that is saying something. Now I have to decide which audience to "borrow" it for. I'm sure I can weave it into a homily at some point. But I also think that liturgical musicians would love that story: that singing can bring about peace is something that would send a shiver - in a good way - along the spine of any musician worth her/his salt.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link for the Elizabeth Drew piece on the memorial service for Tom Foley:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/nov/01/foley-memorial-decency/
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete