Friends of Irish Freedom

Membership application card for the Friends of Irish Freedom for 1921. Dues were set at $2 for the year.

TheFriends of Irish Freedomwas an Irish-Americannationalistorganisation founded at the thirdIrish Race Conventionheld in New York (4–5 March 1916). Supported by theUnited Irish League,theAncient Order of Hiberniansand other leading Irish-American organisations.Clan na Gaeldominated the Executive (holding 15 of the 17 seats).

The Organisation's aims were to 'encourage and assist any movement that will tend to bring about the National Independence of Ireland'.Among the first members of the Executive Committee wereVictor Herbert(President), Thomas Hughes Kelly (Treasurer) and John D. Moore (Secretary). An office was set up in Sweden and relations established withImperial Germany.The Friends of Irish Freedom supported the1916 Risingand in the months following, raised $350,000 through the Irish Relief Fund to assist dependents of many who fought in the Rising.

In 1917, the Executive Committee of the Friends of Irish Freedom circulated a petition calling for the Independence of Ireland throughout the US and secured several hundred thousand signatures. President Wilson in turn directed Secret Service agents to examine the membership and funding of the organisation. In May 1918, the Friends of Irish Freedom organised the fourth Irish Race Convention during whichDiarmuid Lynchbecame National Secretary holding the post until his return to Ireland in 1932.

By 1920, there was a Regular membership of 100,000 and 484 Associate Branches with an Associate membership of 175,000. At the end of 1920 the Friends of Irish Freedom had collected almost $900,000.During the Irish War of Independence, the Friends of Irish Freedom raised over $5,000,000 inDáil loansfor the newly declared Irish Republic through the promotion of Bond Certificates. Legal advisor to the organisation for the Bond Drive wasFranklin Delano Roosevelt.In October 1920, a rift developed between the Irish American leaders andÉamon de Valerawhich resulted in a split between the Friends of Irish Freedom in the United States and theIrish Republican Brotherhoodin Ireland. Prior to his departure from the US, de Valera founded a rival organisation—the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic—to take over the activities of the Friends.

The Friends of Irish Freedom was wound up in 1932 following extensive litigation concerning the funds raised for the Irish Republic which were claimed by de Valera, most of the funds were returned to the original donors.

Publications

• Brine, Blanche Marie,Sinn Fein: An Epitome.Pamphlet no. 16. Washington, DC: Friends of Irish Freedom, National Bureau of Information, June 1920.
• Cobb, Irvin S.,The Lost Irish Tribes in the South: Noted American Writer Delved into History and Found that Dixie wasn't as Anglo-Saxon as It Thought.Friends of Irish Freedom, National Bureau of Information, n.d. (c. 1920).
• Hickey, D. J. & J.E.Doherty.A Dictionary of Irish History.Gill & MacMillan. Ireland 1980. p. 181.
• Tansill, Charles Callan.America and the Fight for Irish Freedom.Devin Adair Co. NY. 1957. pp. 189, 228, 233-234, 415-416.
• Wright McCormick,Irish Republican Arbitration Courts: Their Work in Combating Land and Emigration Evils.Pamphlet no. 17. Washington, DC: Friends of Irish Freedom, National Bureau of Information, June 1920.

Further reading

• Michael Doorley,"The Friends of Irish Freedom: A Case-study in Irish-American Nationalism, 1916–21,"History Ireland,vol. 16, no. 2 (March/April 2008).
• Michael Doorley,Irish-American Diaspora Nationalism: The Friends of Irish Freedom, 1916-35.Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005.