Irish Boston History & Heritage

  One hundred years ago today, a series of monster rallies were held around Boston in support of The American Committee for Relief in Ireland. The national effort aspired to raise over $10 million in relief for the people of Ireland, who were suffering from food shortages, medical supplies and other necessities during the Irish War of Independence against British colonial rule on the island of Ireland. In a letter to the Relief committee in March 1921, President Warren G. Harding wrote, “The people of America never will be deaf to the call for release on behalf of suffering Humanity, and the knowledge of distress in Ireland makes quick and deep appeal to the more fortunate of our own land, where so many of our children Trace relationships to the Emerald Isle." A similar effort by Americans was taken on behalf of Belgium during World War I under U.S. President Herbert Hoover Ireland's Relief Committee was overseen by Texan businessman and Hoover ally J. F. Lucey, who told the P