Strained Relations

Book excerpt: Strained Relations is a substantial account of Irish-USA relations during the Second World War. Much of the material is based on previously classified documents, and on personal interviews with the Americans sent to Ireland as spies. The author explores the suspicion and occasional hostility with which the USA and Great Britain viewed this neutral but strategically important country. He discusses the contingency plans for the seizure of Irish ports, the attempt to discredit de Valera, as well as the novel forms of intelligence work engaged in by American diplomats. Contents: Preface; Neutrals at Odds; America Goes to War; Gray Advised by Ghosts; Just in Case; Getting Behind the Green Curtain; The Absent Treatment; American Spies in Ireland; Convenient Fiction for Allied Airmen; Ireland's Phoney Neutrality; The Irish Threat to Postwar Stability; Military did not want Irish Bases; The Truth Behind the American Note; Diplomatic Manoeuvrings; Amid the Press Hysteria; What they Knew; Towards a Troubled End; In the Final Days; Notes; Bibliography; Index D