First Irish Race Convention Is Held in New York City

The 1916 convention, comprising 2,300 delegates at the Hotel Astor, was held six weeks before the Easter Rising, and considered the division between the Home Rule parties and the more militant nationalists. The Rising would be supported by Clan na Gael, but other members remained hopeful that the 1914 Home Rule Act, which had been passed but suspended during World War I, might work.

A majority at the convention supported the American policy of neutrality during the war, and were opposed to any alliance with Britain. Woodrow Wilson won the 1916 United States presidential election with help from Irish-Americans and his campaign slogan: “He kept us out of War”.

An important result was the formation of the “Friends of Irish Freedom” that worked as a co-ordinating body to support: “… the independence of Ireland, the industrial development of Ireland, the use and sale of Irish products, and to revive Irish culture.”