Speaking to trade unionists at a Harris-Waltz campaign event in Pennsylvania, President Biden told a story about his great-grandfather being accused of being a member of a violent Irish secret society, in a revelation that social media commenters called “a very strange story.”
“I remember my great-grandfather was the second Catholic ever elected to the state senate here in Pennsylvania,” Biden told Harris-Waltz supporters at a union hall in Pittsburgh on Labor Day, “and I remember when they ran against him in 1906, they were saying, 'Guess what? He's a Molly Maguire.'
The Molly Maguires were an Irish secret society that operated in Ireland, parts of England and Biden's home state of Pennsylvania. In the Keystone State, they were known as a group of Irish immigrants who allegedly attacked, and sometimes killed, anti-Irish Catholic mine owners.
“The mines were owned by a lot of British people,” Biden said. “They really beat up the mostly Catholic population there. I'm not kidding.”
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President Biden speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate VP Kamala Kamala at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh on September 2, 2024. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Biden went on to explain how the Molly Maguires would defend Catholic immigrants who were targeted by Protestant mine owners and foremen.
“And in the case of the Molly Maguires, if they found out the plant manager was taking advantage of individuals, they would literally kill him – I'm not kidding – and then they would take his body away and put it on his family's doorstep,” he said.
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“It's a little vulgar, but I have to admit, they accused my great-grandfather of being a Molly Maguire. He wasn't, but we were really disappointed,” Biden joked, drawing laughter from union members.
“That's a joke. That's a joke,” Biden told the crowd.
The Molly Maguires have a notorious and controversial history in Pennsylvania, including the 1877 execution of six men allegedly involved in the secret society in Pennsylvania.
Social media commenters said the anecdote was a “very strange story” about X, while others accused the president of repeating a “fictional story.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House about the social media claims that Biden's great-grandfather would have been unlikely to be suspected of being a member of a secret society because he would have been a teenager during the Molly Maguires' heyday in Pennsylvania. The White House referred Fox News Digital to an Irish America Magazine article that previously reported on Biden's great-grandfather's ties to Pennsylvania and the Molly Maguires.
The illustration shows Frank McAndrew driving a sleigh in late 19th century Pennsylvania, warning his passenger McKenna (Pinkerton detective James McParlan) that a suicidal man is pursuing them. (Photo: Interim Archives/Getty Images)
Publications Irish Americans reported in 2020 Biden's great-grandfather, Edward Francis Blueitt, had deep roots in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the turn of the century. Blueitt served as chairman of the St. Patrick's Day parade in 1897, was elected to the state senate in 1906 and co-founded the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Scranton in 1908.
The article detailed how Biden's great-great-grandfather, James Finnegan, emigrated to Scranton, the hometown of the Molly Maguires, and that his son was rumored to be a member of a secret society.
“One person rumoured to have been a member of the Molly Maguires was Mr Biden's great-grandfather, Edward Francis Bluett, who was from Louisiana. His parents, Patrick and Catherine (née Scanlon), were from Ballina, County Mayo,” the article continued.
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Biden has previously cited his great-grandfather during campaign rallies, including in 2008 when he ran for president as the candidate of then-Senator Barack Obama.
This illustration depicts the 1876 trial in Pottsville, Pennsylvania of alleged Molly Maguire members John Kehoe, Michael O'Brien, Chris Donnelly, John Donahue, James Lortie, Dennis Canning, Frank McHugh, John Gibbons and John Morris, who were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. (Photo: Interim Archives/Getty Images)
“Don't blame me, but I'm an anthracite coal miner from Scranton, Pennsylvania,” he said in Virginia in 2008.
“It's good to be back in mining country. … The accent is different. [in Southwest Virginia] … But it's the same thing. We were taught that faith and family are the most important things. And our faith and our family influenced everything we did.”
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President Biden speaks at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris at IBEW Local 5 in Pittsburgh on September 2, 2024. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
He added that, in regards to his great-grandfather being said to have been connected to the Molly Maguires, “he went to great lengths to prove that he wasn't, and we all prayed that that was the case.”
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Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July amid growing concerns about his mental acuity and as traditional Democratic allies in Congress and the media urged him to step aside for other candidates. Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris shortly after dropping out of the race, catapulting her to the top of the list of candidates. Harris became the party's official nominee at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month.
Biden's speech in Pittsburgh on Monday marked his first campaign appearance in support of Harris since dropping out of the race.
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