Dan Mahoney
Encyclopedia
Dan Mahoney was an Irish-American journalist who was investigated in the 1950s by Joseph McCarthy
and James Eastland
for possible Communist activities and party membership.
Born in County Cork
, Ireland
, Mahoney emigrated to the United States
with his family when he was nine. He went to work as a copy boy for the New York Daily Mirror
, a Hearst-owned publication, when he was still in his teens and organized there for the Newspaper Guild
, as did his brother and fellow-journalist William B. Mahoney
. Dan Mahoney worked at the Mirror for nearly 22 years (with time out to serve in the Army during World War II).
In June 1955 journalist Winston Burdett
went before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and fingered numerous other members of the media as potential Communists. One of a number that he implicated was Mahoney. Mahoney received his subpoena in November 1955 and testified the following January in the same set of hearings at which National Guardian co-founders John T. McManus
and James Aronson
also testified.
At the hearing he testified that he was not presently a Communist and denied ever having committed "any subversive act." When queried further, about past membership in the party, he cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer the subcommittee's questions. The next day the Mirror fired Mahoney.
He went on to work as a writer and editor for publications of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union and, subsequently, as a small-business owner in a suburb of New York City and in the U.S. Virgin Islands and then as an actor in Cork, Ireland. He finally settled in Oakland, California, where he died in 1999.
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
and James Eastland
James Eastland
James Oliver Eastland was an American politician from Mississippi who briefly served in the United States Senate as a Democrat in 1941; and again from 1943 until his resignation December 27, 1978. From 1947 to 1978, he served alongside John Stennis, also a Democrat...
for possible Communist activities and party membership.
Born in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Mahoney emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his family when he was nine. He went to work as a copy boy for the New York Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...
, a Hearst-owned publication, when he was still in his teens and organized there for the Newspaper Guild
Newspaper Guild
The Newspaper Guild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933 who noticed that unionized printers and truck drivers were making more money than they did...
, as did his brother and fellow-journalist William B. Mahoney
William B. Mahoney
William B. Mahoney was a prize-winning U.S. journalist and writer who had a successful late-in-life second career as a substance-abuse counselor....
. Dan Mahoney worked at the Mirror for nearly 22 years (with time out to serve in the Army during World War II).
In June 1955 journalist Winston Burdett
Winston Burdett
Winston Burdett was an American broadcast journalist and correspondent for the CBS Radio Network during World War II and later for CBS television news. He was born in Buffalo, New York. From 1937-1942 he was involved with the Communist Party...
went before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and fingered numerous other members of the media as potential Communists. One of a number that he implicated was Mahoney. Mahoney received his subpoena in November 1955 and testified the following January in the same set of hearings at which National Guardian co-founders John T. McManus
John T. McManus
John Thomas McManus was an American journalist active in progressive politics in the 1950s and 1960s best known as co-founder of the National Guardian, a left-leaning newspaper....
and James Aronson
James Aronson
James Aronson was an American journalist. He founded the left-leaning National Guardian. He was a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.- Work before the Guardian :...
also testified.
At the hearing he testified that he was not presently a Communist and denied ever having committed "any subversive act." When queried further, about past membership in the party, he cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer the subcommittee's questions. The next day the Mirror fired Mahoney.
He went on to work as a writer and editor for publications of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union and, subsequently, as a small-business owner in a suburb of New York City and in the U.S. Virgin Islands and then as an actor in Cork, Ireland. He finally settled in Oakland, California, where he died in 1999.