An Irish-American Odyssey: The Remarkable Rise of the O'Shaughnessy Brothers

310 Pages·2014·2.103 MB·English

by  Colum Kenny

An Irish-American Odyssey

An Irish-
American
Odyssey
The Remarkable
Rise of the
O’Shaughnessy
Brothers
Colum Kenny
University of Missouri Press Columbia
Copyright © 2014 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14
Cataloging-in-Publication data available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-0-8262-2024-0
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Jacket design: Kristie Lee
Design and composition: Mindy Basinger Hill
Typeface: Arno Pro
For my sons Oisín, Conor, and Sam

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
one Missouri Settlers 1
two James O’Shaughnessy — Star Reporter 24
three Rising Fortunes in Chicago 52
four Hyphenated Immigrant Loyalties 65
five The Irish Fellowship Club and Chicago Politics 74
six Gus and the Gaelic Revival 89
seven James at the Helm of US Advertising 116
eight Two Midwestern Attorneys 152
nine Irish Roots 161
ten An Irish Leader in America 188
eleven The Best in the Business 200
twelve Missouri to Manhattan 212
Appendix one Journalism of James O’Shaughnessy 221
Appendix two A Missouri-Irish Haunting 227
Notes 233
Bibliography 261
Index 281

Preface
The story of the O’Shaughnessys in Missouri, Chicago, New
York, and Ireland between 1860 and 1950 is a remarkable one. They were
the children of an impoverished immigrant who had fled famine and of his
Irish-American wife. Their experiences illuminate the gradual assimilation
of immigrants and their descendants into American society and particularly
into American arts, media, and public life in the O’Shaughnessys’ case.
James O’Shaughnessy of Missouri first came to my notice when I was
writing a short biography of Kevin J. Kenny, who was the founder of Ire-
land’s earliest full-service advertising agency and my grandfather. It emerged
that Kevin had met James in Dublin on several occasions in the 1920s.
Irish admen of the time were so impressed by the energetic and genial
Irish-American that they appointed him the honorary patron of their then-
new national association of advertising agencies.
Time magazine called James “the best in the business” of advertising.
He had been earlier lauded as a star reporter at the Chicago Tribune. His
brother Thomas was also highly regarded; Thomas became the leading
Gaelic Revival artist in America and a promoter of Italian-American her-
itage. He campaigned successfully to have Columbus Day made a public
holiday. Martin O’Shaughnessy was captain of the University of Notre
Dame’s first official basketball team, and Frank was later the first graduate
of Notre Dame to be invited to deliver its annual commencement address.
Among distinguished individuals who have also delivered that address has
been President Barack Obama. And like Obama, both Frank and his brother
John practiced as attorneys in Illinois. For his part, among his clients John
represented the alleged victim in a notorious “white slave trade” case. The
three O’Shaughnessy sisters led quieter lives.
James and Francis played important roles in helping to found and
maintain Chicago’s Irish Fellowship Club, still today a recognized part of
Irish-American life, and some members of the family were active in politics.