Denis Kearney

Denis Kearney
Denis Kearney
Born	1846 or 1847 or 1848 Oakmount, County Cork, Ireland
Died	1907 Alameda, California, USA
Nationality	Irish-American
Occupation	Drayman and labor organizer
Spouse(s)	Mary Ann Leary

Denis Kearney (1847–1907) was a California labor leader of the late 19th century who was known for his nativist and racist views about Chinese immigrants. Called "a demagogue of extraordinary power," he frequently gave long and caustic speeches that focused on four general topics: contempt for the press, for capitalists, for politicians, and for Chinese immigrants. He is known for ending all of his speeches with the sentence "And whatever happens, the Chinese must go." (a conscious inspiration from Roman senator Cato the Elder's fame for ending all speeches with ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam)

Kearney was part of a short-lived movement to increase the power of the working class, but after a few years his increasingly vitriolic language and his repeated arrests for inciting violence alienated many of those whom he was trying to influence. When the economy grew stronger in the early 1880s, Kearney faded from public notice. He started an employment agency where he worked until his health began to fail around 1900. He died in Alameda, California, in 1907.

Kearney was born in Oakmount, County Cork, Ireland. In Census and voter registration records his birth year is listed as either 1846, 1847 or 1848. The second of seven sons, he left home after his father died when he was just 11 years old. He became a cabin boy on the clipper ship ‘’Shooting Star,’’ and by his own account he “circumnavigated the globe.”, In 1868 he arrived in the United States and married an Irish woman named Mary Ann Leary. Census records list a daughter, Maggie, was born in 1871. Two years later he and his family settled in San Francisco, where he became a U.S. citizen and started a draying (hauling freight by wagon) business. A son, William, was born in 1873, and another daughter, Amelia, was born in 1875. By 1877 his business was so well established that he owned five wagons and hauled goods throughout the city.

That same year Kearney entered into the public arena when he challenged a city-backed monopoly on carting and hauling. As part of this effort he helped to start a loosely organized association of laborers, which within a year’s time grew into the Workingmen's Party of California. For several years the Workingmen's Party would provide a forum for Kearney to speak before growing crowds of unemployed people in San Francisco. At first his speeches focused on uniting the poor and the working class while attacking the greed of big business, especially the railroads. He thought of himself as a “workingman’s advocate”, although he remained highly critical of unions throughout his life and frequently denounced strikes.

...
Wikipedia