The Last Hurrah
28 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago -Irish Americans have had a profound impact in shaping urban and national politics in the US since the late nineteenth century. It is a power and presence that has declined in recent generations – there is no longer a recognisably Irish voting block - but it has not simply disappeared. These podcasts will consider the evolution of Irish America’s political culture into the present – and the election of Joe Biden – and speculate on its future.
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Episodes
Looking back on The Last Hurrah
July 07, 2021 14:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBOver the last ten episodes of The Last Hurrah, Liam and Scott have spoken to a wide range of journalists, activists, politicians and academics with differing viewpoints on the past, present and future of Irish America. In the final episode of the season, Liam and Scott discuss the key takeaways from their conversations and delve into the unique insights given by our guests. They also ask what it means to be Irish American in 2021 and discuss how this special relationship has developed in th...
Marion McKeone: A clear-eyed view on the future of Irish America
June 28, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBMarion McKeone is the US correspondent for the Sunday Business Post. Before that, from 2000-2009, she was the US editor for the Sunday Tribune. She has also written for the Guardian, the New York Times, and the Irish Times. She broadcasts a regular US slot on Today FM’s ’The Last Word’ and is a regular contributor to RTE Current Affairs programs discussing US politics, foreign policy, and major news events. Marion has covered all of the major political events in the United States from 9-11 t...
Shipping Up to Boston
May 17, 2021 09:00 - 46 minutes - 31.7 MBKevin Cullen is an author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He has written for the Boston Globe since 1985 where he served as local, national and foreign correspondent before becoming a columnist. Kevin spent more than 20 years covering the conflict in Northern Ireland and in 1994 was honoured by the Overseas Press Club of America for his interpretive reporting from Northern Ireland. In 1997, Kevin was appointed the Boston Globe’s Dublin bureau chief, covering the peace process in Nort...
Shenanigans: The US-Ireland Relationship in Uncertain Times
May 10, 2021 11:00 - 47 minutes - 32.7 MBTrina Vargo is the president of the US-Ireland Alliance. She was employed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and served as his foreign policy adviser during the critical years of the Northern Ireland peace process. Working directly with political leaders in Northern Ireland, the Clinton Administration, and the Irish Government, Vargo served as a key behind-the-scenes player in the Northern Ireland peace process, including the granting of a visa for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to visit the US in 1...
Ted Smyth: The Irish Diplomat
May 03, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 25.3 MBTed Smyth has had distinguished careers in government and public affairs in Ireland and the United States. He was an Irish diplomat from 1972 to 1988 serving in Portugal, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. He participated in the Northern Ireland peace process, serving in the Department of the Taoiseach as Deputy Director of Government Information Services, advisor on Northern Ireland, and in the Secretariat of the New Ireland Forum. He was head of Press and Information in the US from 1976-1981...
Joan Walsh: What’s the Matter with White People?
April 26, 2021 08:00 - 43 minutes - 29.7 MBJoan Walsh is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and a CNN political contributor. She is also the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America, which the Philadelphia Daily News called “one of the best books of 2012 – and even more relevant now.” In the book she “charts growing political divisions in the US through the story of her extended working-class New York, Irish Catholic family”. The book is “a family and political memoir that maps t...
Unintended Consequences: The Story of Irish Immigration to the US Since 1965
April 19, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MBRay O'Hanlon was born in Dublin, is a graduate of University College Dublin, and worked with the Irish Press newspaper group before moving to the United States in 1987. O’Hanlon’s particular beat has long been the immigration issue and his 1998 book, The New Irish Americans, is considered a definitive account of the battle for immigration reform waged by the Irish Immigration Reform Movement and other Irish-American organizations in the late 1980s and early ’90s. His new book, Unintended Con...
From Democrats to Divided Loyalties: Irish American Politics 1930s to the 1990s
April 12, 2021 09:00 - 43 minutes - 29.6 MBTimothy Meagher is a former Associate Professor, Curator of American Catholic History, and University Archivist at The Catholic University of America. Meagher is an expert on Irish American history. His publications on the topic include Inventing Irish America: Generation, Class and Ethnic Identity in a New England City 1880 to 1928 (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001), winner of the James Donnelly Prize for the best book in Irish and Irish American history, and The Columbia Guide to Irish...
James R. Barrett: The Irish Way
April 05, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MBJames R. Barrett is a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently scholar in residence at The Newberry Library. Professor Barrett’s research interests include immigration and race and ethnicity in US cities. He is also the author of “The Irish Way”, a book of “social history” that examines “how the Irish took up positions of urban leadership in the late 19th century” and “how they had to adapt to growing numbers of other immigrants in the early 20th cen...
Joe Crowley: The Last of the Irish Bosses in Queens
March 29, 2021 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBFormer Congressman Joe Crowley of New York is “simply one of the most significant Irish American politicians of his generation.” After growing up in an Irish household in Queens, Crowley’s political career began in the New York State Assembly in 1987. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1999 and, from 2017 to 2019, he served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth most powerful position in the House Democratic Party. A member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus an...
Introducing the Last Hurrah
March 16, 2021 09:00 - 11 minutes - 7.67 MBIrish Americans have had a profound impact in shaping urban and national politics in the US since the late nineteenth century. It is a power and presence that has declined in recent generations – there is no longer a recognisably Irish voting block - but it has not simply disappeared. The Last Hurrah will consider the evolution of Irish America’s political culture into the present – and the election of Joe Biden – and speculate on its future. It is a production of the UCD Clinton Institu...
Season Two Finale: Capitol Chaos in Washington
January 09, 2021 12:00 - 26 minutes - 18.6 MBIt didn't take long for political drama to unfold in 2021. Less than a week into the new year, a mob of pro-Trump rioters attacked the US Capitol. The bloody act against the ultimate symbol of American democracy was incited by the current resident of the White House and has led to Donald Trump's banishment from social media platforms and calls for him to resign with less than two weeks to go in his term. In the final episode of our second season, Liam and Scott unpack the events of January...
Women & American Politics in 2020
October 23, 2020 14:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBAmerican women have turned out at higher rates than men in every U.S. presidential election dating back to 1984. That's according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center. But what are the issues driving women to the polls this year? Will the gender gap, discrimination, Trump administration's policies on women's health and especially his continued sexist remarks on women affect the outcome? Have women in America had enough? Professor Melissa Deckman, Professor Sh...
Eyes on the Democrats: Cautious Optimism, Nervousness & Fears of 2000 Redux
October 16, 2020 08:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MBDespite Joe Biden's double digit national lead and a string of new polls showing him ahead in crucial swing states, many Democrats are still feeling nervous about the outcome of this year's presidential election. They are haunted by ghosts of elections past. Namely, the 2000 race between Al Gore and George Bush when the fate of the election wasn't determined at the ballot box but within the august chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States. To get a better sense of what is on the m...
The One Where President Trump Didn't Let Coronavirus "Dominate" Him
October 09, 2020 09:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBIn a week that saw the President and the First Lady of the United States diagnosed with Covid-19, the American public tried to decipher the mixed messages coming from the White House. During this campaign’s first October surprise, the President, while infected, took a trip outside Walter Reed Hospital to wave to supporters, putting the lives of American citizens at risk. After three days in hospital the President was flown back to the White House where he told the public “don’t be afraid” an...
An "Unpresidential" Debate & The View from Washington with Dan Lippman
October 02, 2020 08:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBIt was a presidential debate like none other, characterized not by an exchange of ideas or inspirational rhetoric, but by petty barbs and relentless interruptions. The public learned little about the candidate’s policy platforms, as questions of public health and the economy were largely left unanswered and the President fanned the flames of racial animosity. Civility and decorum were overpowered by insult and lies. What was made clear by this debate -- if it can be called that -- is thi...
2020: The Most Important American Election Ever?
September 24, 2020 08:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThis November, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will compete for the White House in what many believe is the most consequential election in modern U.S. history. Trump infamously vowed to put an end to American "carnage" in his inaugural address. Four years on, "carnage" seems to be an apt description of what is transpiring in America as it grapples with a raging pandemic and racial and social unrest. It seems Donald Trump was merely making a prophetic reference to the America he would create as ...
Season Finale: The International Resonance & Legacy of the American Civil Rights Movement
July 30, 2020 17:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBIn this season finale, Scott and Liam take stock of the biggest political trends facing the United States as it continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic and prepares for a historic presidential elections in November. Liam also chats with Kevin Gaines, the Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia, about the international resonance of the civil rights movement in America at a time of renewed global push for racial and social justice.
No Longer A Shining City on the Hill?
July 17, 2020 15:00 - 33 minutes - 23.1 MBAs America continues to grapple with a deadly coronavirus pandemic, Scott and Liam discuss all the latest political drama gripping Washington. Scott also discusses the declining image of America as a redemptive power inspiring people around the world with writer, activist and storyteller Tori Egherman. They chat about identity, race and Tori's experiences living in Iran.
No Longer A Shining City on the Hill?
July 17, 2020 15:00 - 33 minutes - 23.1 MBAs America continues to grapple with a deadly coronavirus pandemic, Scott and Liam discuss all the latest political drama gripping Washington. Scott also discusses the declining image of America as a redemptive power inspiring people around the world with writer, activist and storyteller Tori Egherman. They chat about identity, race and Tori's experiences living in Iran.
Special Edition: A Very Different Fourth of July
July 03, 2020 14:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBFourth of July, when America declared independence from Britain in 1776, is an annual celebration synonymous with big public displays of patriotism, parades, outdoor barbecues, fireworks and family gatherings. But this year, things are different. America is convulsed by disease, rocked by protest against racism and consumed by a presidential race wherein the incumbent occupant of the White House has seemingly ceded any national leadership role in favour of appeasing his base. Then ther...
Special Edition: A Very Different Fourth of July
July 03, 2020 14:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBFourth of July, when America declared independence from Britain in 1776, is an annual celebration synonymous with big public displays of patriotism, parades, outdoor barbecues, fireworks and family gatherings. But this year, things are different. America is convulsed by disease, rocked by protest against racism and consumed by a presidential race wherein the incumbent occupant of the White House has seemingly ceded any national leadership role in favour of appeasing his base. Then ther...
Black Lives Matter: The View from Ireland
June 29, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBThe killing of George Floyd has sparked a global conversation about racism, racial inequality, historic narratives and structural barriers to progress. Large protests in Dublin pledged solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement while highlighting local concerns like the fight against Direct Provision. In this episode, Liam chats with author and social activist Dr. Ebun Joseph about racism and racial inequality in Ireland.
Black Lives Matter: The View from Ireland
June 29, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBThe killing of George Floyd has sparked a global conversation about racism, racial inequality, historic narratives and structural barriers to progress. Large protests in Dublin pledged solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement while highlighting local concerns like the fight against Direct Provision. In this episode, Liam chats with author and social activist Dr. Ebun Joseph about racism and racial inequality in Ireland.
Black Lives Matter: The View from the UK
June 18, 2020 13:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBThe murder of George Floyd has triggered mass anti-racism protests across the US. It has also energized a global Black Lives Matter movement that is not only marching in solidarity with protesters in America, but shedding light on local issues pertaining to race and systemic injustice. In this episode, Liam and Scott are joined by Dr. Michell Chresfield, Lecturer in United States History at the University of Birmingham to talk about the events in the US and the way they are inspiring prote...
Will There Be An Obama Legacy?
June 02, 2020 12:00 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MBBarack Obama remains an inspiration for millions of Americans. As the first African-American President in the nation's history, he shattered a glass ceiling. But apart from that pivotal achievement and beyond the stark difference in leadership style and tone between him and his successor, what will Obama's legacy be? Liam Kennedy discusses with Clodagh Harrington, author of Obama's Washington and Senior Lecturer in Politics at De Montfort University Leicester and Scott Lucas, Professor of ...
Criminal Justice Reform in the Age of Trump
February 28, 2020 10:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBDr. Allison Page is an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Humanities Institute and the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion in Virginia, and has focused much of her work on race in areas such as the criminal justice system and how the media reproduces concepts about race. She joins Liam for a wide ranging conversation about criminal justice reform and how the Trump administration has treated the subject. Producers: UCD Clinton Institute MA students ...
Deciphering Unfiltered with Scott Lucas
February 20, 2020 14:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MBWhat does America Unfiltered mean? Why do we need another podcast on US affairs? Liam Kennedy tackles these questions with Scott Lucas in our inaugural episode. Scott is Professor of International Politics and American Studies at the University of Birmingham and the founder and editor of EA Worldview, a leading source of daily analysis and insight on American foreign policy as well as Middle Eastern and European Affairs. Music for this episode was provided by Kevin McLeod at incompetech.com