February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Edward T. O’Donnell
One hundred and 30 years ago this week, on Sept. 3, 1872, hundreds gathered in a convention hall in Louisville, Ky. They represented a breakaway faction of the Democratic party called the Straight-Out Democrats and were gathered to nominate a candidate for president. They chose one of the most respected legal minds of the day, Charles O’Conor, to head the ticket, making him the first Catholic nominee by a major party for president. It was just one of many milestones in O’Conor’s remarkable career.
Charles O’Conor was born in New York City on Jan. 22, 1804. His father, Thomas O’Connor, emigrated from Ireland in 1801 as a refugee from the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798. Thomas eventually became a journalist, a career that included the co-founding in 1810 of The Shamrock and Hibernian Chronicle, the first Irish American newspaper. His son Charles studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1824. From an early stage in his career Charles impressed people with his sharp legal mind and superb skills in the courtroom.
Throughout his life, no doubt because of his father’s history, O’Conor took a keen interest in the affairs of Ireland. He was a member of several Irish fraternal, charitable, and nationalist organizations and was an ardent supporter of Irish freedom. This explains his decision to change his last name from O’Connor to O’Conor, a spelling he believed more authentically Irish. O’Conor was also a pillar of the early Catholic Church in New York.
O’Conor achieved national fame in 1851 when he represented Mrs. Edwin Forrest in a headline-grabbing divorce case. Her husband, a famous actor, had sued for divorce, accusing her of adultery. Forrest’s team of lawyers, some of the most successful in the nation, waged a relentless campaign against her reputation and character. Nonetheless, O’Conor won the case, earning his client a substantial alimony award. He was praised far and wide for his prowess as an attorney, as well as for his role in upholding the honor of a woman many believed falsely accused and brutally defamed. The case no doubt led to O’Conor’s elevation to U.S. district attorney for New York in 1853-54.
O’Conor, like many Irish Catholics in the 1850s, was a staunch Democrat. But his commitment to an extreme interpretation of states rights, unabashed defense of slavery as an institution “just, benign, and beneficent,” and vocal support for the Confederacy made him a controversial figure during the war. So too did the major role he played in the legal defense of ex-Confederate President Jefferson Davis against the charge of treason. Indeed, it was O’Conor who gained Davis’s release from prison on bail and eventually succeeded in getting the indictment quashed by the Supreme Court.
Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter
But as the passions whipped up by the war and Lincoln’s assassination cooled and Northerners soured on the federal effort to reconstruct the South and protect the rights of the emancipated slaves, the controversy surrounding O’Conor’s views dissipated. They all but disappeared in 1871-72 when he led (pro bono) the legal attack against William “Boss” Tweed and his corrupt Tammany Hall cronies. Already recognized as a legal superstar, O’Conor now had impeccable credentials as a squeaky clean reformer.
So when the Straight-Out Democrats bolted from the Democratic party in protest over its nomination of the eccentric and controversial Horace Greeley to oppose incumbent Ulysses S. Grant, O’Conor emerged as a favorite. Few Straight-Out Democrats believed O’Conor would actually win, but they hoped a strong showing against Greeley would help them regain control of the party.
There was one major problem with their plan: O’Conor declined the nomination. Nonetheless, his name appeared on ballots in 23 states and he garnered 29,000 votes (mostly in the Midwest). Thus, even though he declined the nomination, O’Conor is still accorded the distinction of having been the first Catholic candidate for president nominated by a major party (or at least part of one).
O’Conor remained active in law and politics for the rest of the decade. One of his last significant assignments was representing Democratic candidate for president Samuel J. Tilden in the controversy surrounding the disputed election of 1876. He retired a few years later and moved to a cottage on Nantucket. He died there in 1884 at the age of 80. Obituaries from coast to coast hailed him as one of the great legal minds of the era. His funeral was attended by thousands and he was buried at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mott Street.
Hibernian History Week
Sept. 1, 1932: New York City Mayor James “Jimmy” Walker resigns in the face of a mounting corruption scandal.
Sept. 2, 1931: “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” debuts on CBS radio, launching the singer’s career.
Sept. 2, 1939: The Irish government declares its intention to remain neutral on the eve of World War II.
Hibernian Birthdates
Aug. 30, 1893: Louisiana Senator and populist Huey P. Long is born in Winn Parish, La.
Aug. 31, 1945: Rock star Van Morrison is born in Belfast.
Sept. 1, 1842: Nationalist John Devoy is born in Kill, Co. Kildare.
Sept. 2, 1952: Tennis pro Jimmy Connors is born in Belleville, Ill.
Read about Ed O’Donnell’s new book, “1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History,” or contact him at www.EdwardTODonnell.com.