Today is the anniversary of the opening of one of the world’s great landmark buildings, with a story connected to Ireland and Irish labour in many ways.

On 1st May 1931, President Herbert Hoover symbolically pushed a button in the White House that supposedly turned on the lights of the Empire State Building.

The gesture was merely symbolic, but in New York a building that would change the appearance of a city forever was finally completed, ahead of time and under budget.

Gavan Reilly was joined by Donal Fallon for another episode of Hidden Histories to discuss.

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