WEBVTT - The Congressman Who Invented His Own Biography: John McCormack

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<v Speaker 1>And we continue with our American stories. Our next story

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<v Speaker 1>comes to us from Jeff Bloodworth, who's a professor of

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<v Speaker 1>American history againan university. He's also a fellow at the

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<v Speaker 1>Jack Miller Center, a partner of ours here on our

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<v Speaker 1>American stories. Let's take a listen.

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<v Speaker 2>John McCormick was the most American Speaker of the House

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<v Speaker 2>in US history, But the roots of this americanness are

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<v Speaker 2>not what he claimed them to be. The supposed son

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<v Speaker 2>of Irish immigrants rose to national prominence on alongside John Kennedy.

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<v Speaker 2>In nineteen sixty one, jfk was inaugurated as the nation's

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<v Speaker 2>first Catholic president. Later that year, McCormick became the first

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<v Speaker 2>ever Catholic Speaker of the House. Proof positive of immigrant

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<v Speaker 2>and America's rise to the mainstream. McCormick, ironically had reinvented

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<v Speaker 2>his immigrant story. In this he could not be more American.

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<v Speaker 2>America is the land of reinvention. Ben Franklin, who was

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<v Speaker 2>often called the first American, established the template. Born in Boston,

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<v Speaker 2>he escaped and dentured servitude as a teen by fleeing

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<v Speaker 2>to Philadelphia. In that city, he reinvented his roots and

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<v Speaker 2>in the process bade himself into a founding father. McCormick

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<v Speaker 2>followed a similar path. He reinvented his immigrant story to

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<v Speaker 2>become Speaker of the House. In that office, he presided

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<v Speaker 2>over the most prodigious legislative session in American history and

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<v Speaker 2>remade the nation's immigration policy. John McCormick claimed to be

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<v Speaker 2>the eldest son of Irish immigrants who dropped out of

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<v Speaker 2>grammar school when his father died to be the family's breadwinter.

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<v Speaker 2>In reality, his dad, Joe McCormick, was neither Irish nor dead.

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<v Speaker 2>Joe McCormick was a Protestant Scotsman who hailed from Canada

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<v Speaker 2>before settling in Boston. The Nobses, they were called, were

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<v Speaker 2>despised in Irish Catholic Boston and far from dead. Joe

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<v Speaker 2>McCormick had instead abandoned his family. Added to this, the

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<v Speaker 2>Speaker was not his eldest son to succeed in Irish

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<v Speaker 2>Catholic Boston politics. Young McCormick had reinvented his family history.

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<v Speaker 2>His living Scottish Novie father became a dead Irish immigrant.

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<v Speaker 2>His live Irish mother, who was born in Boston to

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<v Speaker 2>Irish immigrants, was now born in the Old Country. His

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<v Speaker 2>three older siblings, who were very much alive, were said

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<v Speaker 2>to have died in infancy. The eldest son of Irish

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<v Speaker 2>immigrants who supported a widow mother was a biography more

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<v Speaker 2>befitting an ambitious politician. McCormick came from humble room once

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<v Speaker 2>his father left. He did drop out of high school

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<v Speaker 2>to work and support his mother and younger siblings. That

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<v Speaker 2>much was true. Tall, gaunt and reserved, he lacked the

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<v Speaker 2>shamrock style made famous by colorful Boston politicians. Tellingly, in Congress,

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<v Speaker 2>he'd befriended powerful southern congressional barons of scotch Irish descent.

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<v Speaker 2>The scotch Irish were Protestant Scots who had emigrated to

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<v Speaker 2>Ireland in the seventeenth century before coming to America in

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<v Speaker 2>the eighteenth century. The scotch Irish, as they were dubbed,

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<v Speaker 2>largely settled in Appalachia and the South. Not coincidentally, McCormick,

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<v Speaker 2>the reinvented Irish Catholic with a Scottish father, shared much

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<v Speaker 2>in cultural style with these men. In Congress, McCormick was

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<v Speaker 2>a bridge who built relationships and alliances across religious and

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<v Speaker 2>regional lines, but the reinvented Irish politician nevertheles less, carried

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<v Speaker 2>an urban Catholic grudge his entire political life. In the

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen twenties, Rule Protestant America struck against Catholic urban immigrants

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<v Speaker 2>via prohibition and immigration restrictions. Most everyone knows about Prohibition,

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<v Speaker 2>but forgotten to history was the nineteen twenty four National

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<v Speaker 2>Origins Act. This legislation was the source of McCormick's grudge.

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<v Speaker 2>The nineteen twenty census revealed that urbanites outnumbered Rule Americans

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<v Speaker 2>for the very first time in US history. Massive overseas

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<v Speaker 2>immigration to cities had shifted power to urbanites from Rule Americans.

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<v Speaker 2>In reaction, Congress passed the nineteen twenty four National Origins Act.

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<v Speaker 2>The law and effect froze immigration, especially for Catholics and

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<v Speaker 2>Jews coming from southern in Eastern Europe. Elected to Congress

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<v Speaker 2>in nineteen twenty eight, McCormick devoted his very first House

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<v Speaker 2>speech to denouncing the law. He may have reinvented his

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<v Speaker 2>Irish immigrant story, but the congressman was a devout Catholic

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<v Speaker 2>who loathed the anti Catholicism and ruled bias in the law.

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<v Speaker 2>His career helped soothe these tensions. In nineteen forty he

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<v Speaker 2>became Majority Leader alongside Texas Speaker Sam Rayburn. For twenty

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<v Speaker 2>one years, the duo ruled over House Democrats, but their

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<v Speaker 2>alliance was more than just a partnership between the two men.

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<v Speaker 2>They established what was called the Austin Boston Alliance. In

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<v Speaker 2>this a congressman from Texas and Massachusetts held either the

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<v Speaker 2>Democratic Speaker or Majority Leader post for nearly a half century.

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<v Speaker 2>This cemented a political alliance between the Catholic and Jewish

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<v Speaker 2>urban north and the rule Protestant South. Mccorick was one

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<v Speaker 2>half of the Democrat's political spine for more than his

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<v Speaker 2>purported irishness. A devout Catholic who never drank alcohol, he

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<v Speaker 2>valued loyalty, remembered everything, and kept everyone's secrets. There was

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<v Speaker 2>never a hint of scandal in his political life. He

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<v Speaker 2>and his wife, Harriet Joyce were renowned for being one

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<v Speaker 2>of Washington's most devoted couples. Unlike other congressional leaders who

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<v Speaker 2>worked late and then hit the cocktail circuit, McCormick dined

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<v Speaker 2>with his wife every night of their fifty one year marriage. Madest, thrifty,

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<v Speaker 2>and upright, he was regarded as the moral compass of

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<v Speaker 2>the House. In nineteen sixty one, the legendary Sam Rayburn

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<v Speaker 2>died elevated to the Speaker's office, the seventy one year

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<v Speaker 2>old McCormick became the first ever Catholic Speaker of the House.

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<v Speaker 2>Along with jfk and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen sixty two, America's three highest ranking officials were all Catholic.

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<v Speaker 2>This was yet another sign of immigrant America's rise after

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<v Speaker 2>jfkase assassination. Linda Johnson's nineteen sixty four landslide victory gave

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<v Speaker 2>Speaker McCormick an historic opportunity, and the Speaker did not disappoint.

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<v Speaker 2>In nineteen sixty five, he passed ninety three percent of

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<v Speaker 2>all White House submitted bills, and that session, alongside Franklin

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<v Speaker 2>Roosevelt's first Congress, is recognized as the most productive in

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<v Speaker 2>American history. But no single piece of legislation pleased McCormick

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<v Speaker 2>more than the nineteen sixty five Immigration Act. Equipped with

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<v Speaker 2>big majorities, passions of the bill was never in doubt.

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<v Speaker 2>The only real roadblock was Cleveland Congressman Michael Fehan. He

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<v Speaker 2>chaired the House Subcommittee on Immigration and he opposed reform.

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<v Speaker 2>The administration had pushed a bill that gave skilled immigrants priority,

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<v Speaker 2>but Feehan made family unification primary. In other words, those

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<v Speaker 2>migrants seeking entry into the US with an American citizen

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<v Speaker 2>as a family member were given priority. V Hen believed

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<v Speaker 2>this would keep American demography unchanged. Ironically, Feehan's stipulation resulted

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<v Speaker 2>in the exact opposite of his intentions. By the nineteen sixties,

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<v Speaker 2>European immigration to the US had ebbed, but migration from Asia, Africa,

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<v Speaker 2>and Latin America surged. It was these migrants who used

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<v Speaker 2>Vehn's family unification policy. The results are clear. In nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty five, eighty four percent of the US population consisted

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<v Speaker 2>of non Hispanic whites. In twenty fifteen, that number fell

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<v Speaker 2>to sixty two percent. Today, this demographic change has made

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<v Speaker 2>immigration into a hot buttoned political issue yet again. John

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<v Speaker 2>McCormick would recognized today's debates, but Speaker McCormick's career shows

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<v Speaker 2>that immigration is a solvable issue. We have survived these

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<v Speaker 2>debates before and reached a consensus, so we can do

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<v Speaker 2>so again. We did so in nineteen sixty five because

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<v Speaker 2>Speaker McCormick, with his reinvented background had built alliances beyond ethnic, religious,

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<v Speaker 2>and regional boundaries. The Austin Boston Alliance had bridged the rural, urban,

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<v Speaker 2>and Catholic Protestant divide. America is a land of reinvention.

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<v Speaker 2>We Americans are almost always in the process of reinvention

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<v Speaker 2>and becoming something new, but in doing so we stay

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<v Speaker 2>true to our roots. Americans like Ben Franklin and John

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<v Speaker 2>McCormick know that where are you from is not as

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<v Speaker 2>important as where you are going.

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<v Speaker 1>And no finer sentiment has been expressed on our show.

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<v Speaker 1>We Americans are almost always in the process of becoming

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<v Speaker 1>something new. Where you are from is not nearly as

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<v Speaker 1>important as where you're going. A terrific job on the production,

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<v Speaker 1>editing and storytelling by our own Greg Hangler. And a

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<v Speaker 1>special thanks to Jeff Bludworth for bringing us the story

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<v Speaker 1>of speaker John W. McCormick and what a story indeed

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<v Speaker 1>it was. And a special thanks to the Jack Miller

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<v Speaker 1>Center He's a fellow there. Professor Bludworth and the Jack

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<v Speaker 1>Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars and teachers

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<v Speaker 1>dedicated to educating the next generation about America's founding principles

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<v Speaker 1>and history. And does this all sound familiar? Immigration debates,

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<v Speaker 1>the divide between rural America and the city. Well, it's

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<v Speaker 1>still here, folks, and that's why we love telling these stories,

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<v Speaker 1>the story of Speaker John W. McCormick. Here on our

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<v Speaker 1>American Stories.