BIO: In 1891 an Irish-language enthusiastic and poet named Douglas HYDE visited NY's Gaelic societies. Impressed with their effective promotion of Irish language and culture, he returned to Ireland and in 1893 helped establish the Gaelic League and served as its first president. It was dedicated to not simply to preserving the Irish language, but to reestablishing it as a living language, both spoken and written. By 1903 there were 500 League branches established in Ireland. They held Irish-language classes, performances and events. In 1899 it led the fight to block the removal of Irish from the curriculum at Trinity College in Dublin. Ten years later it succeeded in making Irish a compulsory subject at the National University of Ireland. Many prominent writers were profoundly influenced by this language movement, such as William Butler YEATS. Initially the League was nonpolitical and enjoyed support from Protestants and unionists. But as the nationalist movement i! ntensified, the political undertones of the language movement became clearer in the early 20th century as the nationalist movement intensified. The fact that one of the primary founders of the League, Eoin MacNEILL, would later become commander-in-chief of the Irish Volunteers illustrated the strong connection between cultural and political nationalism. By 1915 IRB influence in the Gaelic League was significant and many members participated in the East Rising of 1916. The British government outlawed the organization in 1919. Douglas HYDE stressed the importance of the Irish language: "In order to de-Anglicize ourselves, we must at once arrest the decay of the language. We must bring pressure upon our politicians not to snuff it out by their racist discouragement merely because they do not themselves understand it. We must arouse some spark of patriotic inspiration among the peasantry who still use the language, and put an end to that shameful state of feeling -- a thousand-tongued reproach to our leaders and statesmen - which makes young man and women blush and hang their heads when overhead speaking their own language!" Excerpt, "1001 Things Everyone Should know about the Irish American History," Edward T. O'Donnell (2002).