Callahan, Patrick Henry, 1866-1940

Patrick Henry Callahan was born in Cleveland, October 15, 1866. He worked in the varnish manufacturing industry, first in Cleveland, later with the Louisville Varnish Company in Kentucky. In addition, Callahan was involved in several organizations, such as the Catholic Industrial Conference and the National Catholic Charities Conference. Callahan was also involved in other causes, many of these relating to his support of the Prohibition (or Eighteenth) Amendment. He died February 4, 1940.

Patrick Henry Callahan, profound Catholic, staunch prohibitionist and co-creator of the Ryan-Callahan Partnership Plan, was born in October 1865 in Cleveland, Ohio to John Cormic and Mary Anna (Connolly) Callahan. After an education in Cleveland parochial schools and at the Spencerian Business College in Cleveland, Callahan had a short-lived career as a baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings. Under advice from evangelist William "Billy" Sunday, Callahan left the team to become a salesman at the Glidden Varnish Company in Cleveland. The varnish business became his career. Soon after his marriage to Julia Laure Cahill on January 20, 1891, the couple moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Callahan managed the Louisville Varnish Company and eventually became its president in 1908. Just four short years later, Patrick Callahan and John A. Ryan of the Catholic University of America produced a profit sharing plan that was implemented in Callahan's plant. Callahan was very active in industry and labor during these years, organizing the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems, participating in industry and labor conferences and speaking out against child labor. The success of the Ryan-Callahan plan became widely known and Callahan soon implemented other labor-friendly measures such as a fund for employees to purchase homes, group insurance and so on. The friendship between Ryan and Callahan continued for many years. Though the two clashed over prohibition measures, they worked together on progressive labor plans. A strong supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Callahan worked hard to get him elected. "Colonel" Callahan became a key liaison between the FDR administration and both Catholics and businessmen. His opposition to Father Charles Coughlin, the "radio priest," and his backing of Ambassador Josephus Daniels in Mexico brought Callahan much criticism from fellow Catholics, but many thanks from FDR's White House. In return, Callahan, publicly endorsed many of FDR's programs like the New Deal, offering support for its policies and legislation. Though nominated for national posts in the Public Works Administration and on labor administration panels, Callahan preferred to work locally, instead becoming a member of the Advisory Committee of the Loan Agency for the Louisville office of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and of the National Labor Relations Board for Kentucky. After twenty-five years of the "Callahan correspondence" and countless years of public service, "Colonel" Patrick Henry Callahan died on February 4, 1940. To the end he was a devoted Catholic, staunch prohibitionist and a true advocate against prejudice and for labor.

Lay Catholic leader and supporter of the prohibition amendment.