United States foreign policy and Ireland

From empire to independence, 1913–29

Bernadette Whelan

This book deals with United States policy towards Ireland between 1913 and 1929. Focusing on Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, it examines their ties with Ireland and the development of the relationship between their administrations and Ireland. The formulation of US policy towards Ireland was influenced by the US public and politicians, the State Department, British politicians and officials, and nationalists and unionists in the US and Ireland. The author examines the implementation of foreign policy by US representatives in Ireland and Britain.

Set in the context of three US administrations, it treats the Irish issues of self-determination, legitimacy, state-building, immigration and commerce as well as the Irish dimension to US policy in waging war and making peace, debt recovery, rearmament and economic growth. It offers a pioneering perspective on the views of key policy-makers in Washington and the policy enforcers in far off Dublin, Belfast, Cork and London.

Bernadette Whelan is a senior lecturer in the department of history, University of Limerick.