Michael Doorley's biography of Daniel Cohalan offers a fresh and thorough analysis of an underappreciated and at times polarising figure in the lexicon of Irish-American history during the early-twentieth century. Born to Irish emigrant parents from Cork, Cohalan was educated at Manhattan College, subsequently trained to be an attorney and was admitted to the New York Bar. Highly recognised in law circles, a proven orator and a devout Catholic, Cohalan became established in the upper echelon of Irish-American society in New York. His public persona was intertwined with a fervent belief in Irish independence and he subsequently became a leading organiser of the Friends of Irish Freedom and an influential member of the United States-based militant Irish republican organisation, Clan na Gael. Cohalan's prominence in these various Irish-American circles coincided with a resurgence of transatlantic Irish nationalism leading to the Irish Revolution and subsequent creation of the Irish Free State.
As Doorley describes, the most notable glimpses of Cohalan in the historical record have mainly centred on his public disagreements with Éamon de Valera during de Valera's Sinn Féin fundraising in the U.S. from 1919 to 1920. De Valera's insistence that the money raised be fully used for Sinn Féin purposes contrasted with Cohalan's desire for portions of the funds to support American-centric issues such as his drive to undermine President Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations goals. Overall, this outlook was shaped by Cohalan's deep allegiance to the U.S. and his desire for the continued upward mobility of the Irish in America. This public disagreement, analysed in cogent detail in the book, was essentially a microcosm of what it meant for Cohalan to be an Irish-American.
Utilising a wide range of sources including Cohalan's personal papers at the American Irish Historical Society (A.I.H.S.) in New York, U.S. congressional records, newspaper archives, and an assortment of collections of Irish and Irish-American personalities, the work provides a sweeping look at Cohalan's life and complements Doorley's monograph, Irish-American diaspora nationalism: the Friends of Irish Freedom, 1916–1935 (Dublin, 2005). This biography does not delve much into Cohalan's law career, but it does provide an engaging introspection into his deep political connections at American local, state and federal levels. Doorley notes how Cohalan's political perspectives, like his perceptions towards Irish nationalism, were multidimensional. Although Cohalan was a high-ranking member of the Democratic Party in New York and served as the grand sachem in Tammany Hall between 1908 and 1911, he clashed with party reformers including Franklin D. Roosevelt. Remaining unafraid to cross party lines, Cohalan even became closely aligned with Republican isolationist U.S. senators.
Cohalan's determination to follow his firm set of beliefs portrayed a fiercely independent streak. However, this attitude also contributed to the intractable rift between himself, de Valera and other Sinn Féin leaders during 1919 and 1920 which also filtered into Irish-American circles. Clan na Gael subsequently fractured when Joseph McGarrity from Philadelphia broke away from Cohalan and Clan stalwart John Devoy. McGarrity's re-organised Clan became directly aligned with the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) and Sinn Féin and subsequently supported the anti-Treaty side after the Anglo-Irish Treaty and during the Irish Civil War. Cohalan and Devoy on the other hand were pro-Treaty and backed the Irish Free State.
Once the fighting in Ireland had concluded, Cohalan became deeply engaged in supporting the initial development of the Irish Free State. Doorley provides vivid details of Cohalan's visit to Ireland in 1923 and his public endorsement of the Cumann na nGaedheal party during its election campaign. This included appearing on an election platform with party leaders in Dublin as well as flying as a passenger in an aeroplane to a campaign gathering in Carlow. Interestingly enough, the aeroplane carrying Cohalan endured a rocky landing and Cohalan was fortunate to walk away relatively unscathed. The tumultuous flight, however, was a harbinger for his future displeasure with Cumann na nGaeheal's domestic and foreign policies. Cohalan was dismayed with the government's handling of the 1924 army mutiny and perturbed by the Irish Free State's economic relationship with Britain. He also voiced private and public opposition to the Irish Free State's membership of the League of Nations.
Realising how little impact he had on Irish government policies, Cohalan turned most of his attention to American politics and foreign policy from the mid-1920s onward. However, as described by Doorley, Cohalan remained an outsider in the Democratic Party. He was dedicated to isolationism and was in opposition to the New Deal policies that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration enacted. Unlike the majority of Americans during the Great Depression period, Cohalan and his family still lived comfortably. Up until the mid-1930s, Cohalan made a number of journeys to Ireland where he stayed at his Irish residence in Glandore, County Cork. Cohalan continued to be a leading member of the A.I.H.S. and was still recognised as a force in Irish-American circles up to his death in 1946.
Cohalan certainly lived a transnational life that was filled with passion, tenacity and determination. Researching and writing about a figure such as Cohalan can be quite difficult due to research logistics, and the deep and varied contextualisation that must occur. Doorley has certainly risen to the challenge by delving deep into archival sources in the U.S. and Ireland and providing the reader with a balanced and thorough examination of Cohalan's life and the American and Irish causes that he stood for. After decades of being compartmentalised in the historical record, Cohalan has finally been given due recognition.
