Ireland's Revolutionary Diplomat

Barry Whelan

Description

Leopold Kerney was one of the most influential diplomats of twentieth-century Irish history. This book presents the first comprehensive biography of Kerney's career in its entirety from his recruitment to the diplomatic service to his time in France, Spain, Argentina, and Chile. Barry Whelan’s work provides fascinating new perceptions of Irish diplomatic history at seminal periods of the twentieth century, including the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, the Anglo-Irish Economic War, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II, from an eyewitness to those events. Drawing on over a decade of archival research in repositories in France, Germany, Britain, Spain, and Ireland, as well as through unique and unrestricted access to Kerney's private papers, Whelan successfully challenges previously published analyses of Kerney's work and debunks many of the perceived controversies surrounding his career.

Ireland's Revolutionary Diplomat brings to life Kerney's connections with leading Irish figures from the revolutionary generation including Michael Collins, Ernest Blythe, George Gavan Duffy, Desmond FitzGerald, Arthur Griffith, and Seán T. O’Kelly, as well as his diplomatic colleagues in the service. More importantly, the book illuminates the decades-long friendship Kerney enjoyed with Éamon de Valera—the most important Irish political figure of the twentieth century—and shows how the "Chief" trusted and rewarded his friend throughout their long association. The book offers a fresh understanding of the Department of External Affairs and critically assesses the roles of Joseph Walshe, secretary of the department, as well as Colonel Dan Bryan, director of G2 (Irish Army Military Intelligence), who both conspired to destroy Kerney's reputation and career during and after World War II. Whelan sheds new light on other events in Kerney's career, such as his confidential reports from fascist Spain that exposed General Francisco Franco's crimes against his people. Whelan challenges other events previously seen by some historians as controversial, including Kerney’s major role in the Frank Ryan case, his contact with senior Nazi figures, especially Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer and German military intelligence, and his libel case against an acclaimed Irish historian Professor Desmond Williams. This book offers new observations on how Nazi Germany tried to utilize Kerney, unsuccessfully, as a liaison between the Irish government and Hitler’s regime. Captured German documents reveal the extent of this secret plan to alter Irish neutrality during World War II, which concerned both Adolf Hitler and the leading Nazis of his regime.

Sujets

• Political
• HISTORY
• Lettres et linguistique
• WW2
• Sean T. O'Kelly
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Spanish Civil War
• Edmund Veesenmayer
• Biography
• Desmond FitzGerald
• George Gavan Duffy
• Joseph Walshe
• Ernest Blythe
• Foreign minister
• Irish War of Independence
• Ireland
• World War II
• Politics
• Irish Civil War
• Stephen Ireland
• Autobiography
• Seán T. O'Kelly
• Michael Collins
• Arthur Griffith
• Éamon de Valera
• Western
• Seconde Guerre mondiale
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268105082
• Langue: English

Extrait

Ireland’s Revolutionary Diplomat
BARRY WHELAN
Ireland’s Revolutionary Diplomat
A Biography of Leopold Kerney
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS NOTRE DAME, INDIANA
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
undpress.nd.edu
Copyright © 2019 by the University of Notre Dame
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Whelan, Barry, 1984– author.
Title: Ireland’s revolutionary diplomat : a biography of Leopold Kerney / Barry Whelan.
Description: Notre Dame, Indiana : University of Notre Dame Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002014 (print) | LCCN 2019005070 (ebook) | ISBN 9780268105075 (pdf) | ISBN 9780268105082 (epub) | ISBN 9780268105051 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 0268105057 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780268105068 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 0268105065 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Kerney, Leopold, 1881–1962. | Kerney, Leopold, 1881–1962—Political and social views. | Ambassadors—Ireland—Biography. | Revolutionaries—Ireland—Biography. | Ireland—Foreign relations—1922– | Ireland—Foreign relations—Europe. | Europe—Foreign relations—Ireland. | Europe—Politics and government—1918–1945. | Europe—History, Military—20th century.
Classification: LCC DA965.K47 (ebook) | LCC DA965.K47 W54 2019 (print) | DDC 327.4170092 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002014
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Introduction
ONE From Affluent Sandymount to War-Torn Paris, 1881–1918
TWO The First Irish Consul in Paris, 1919–1921
THREE The Treaty and the Irish Civil War, 1921–1922
FOUR The Consular and Diplomatic Envoy of the Irish Republic, 1922–1926
FIVE The Wilderness Years, 1926–1932
SIX From France to Spain, 1932–1939
SEVEN Franco’s Most Famous Foreign Prisoner and Escapee—Frank Ryan
EIGHT Inside the Viper’s Nest: Kerney and German Military Intelligence during World War II
NINE Confidential Reports from Fascist Spain, 1939–1945
TEN New Beginnings, 1946–1948
ELEVEN “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions!”
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ABBREVIATIONS AGA Archivo General de Administración AMAE Archivo del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores BMH Bureau of Military History BNAK British National Archives, Kew CID Criminal Investigation Department CPIA Communist Party of Ireland Archive CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain C3 Garda crime and security branch DCLA Dublin City Public Library and Archives DÉD Dáil Éireann Debates DFA Department of Foreign Affairs DGS Dirección General de Seguridad DT Department of the Taoiseach FF Fianna Fáil FS Free State GAA Gaelic Athletic Association G2 Irish army intelligence IAC International Agricultural Confederation IBA International Brigade Association IPP Irish Parliamentary Party IRA Irish Republican Army IRB Irish Republican Brotherhood IRCS Irish Red Cross Society KO Kriegsorganisationen LKPA Leopold Kerney Private Archive MAI Military Archives of Ireland MI5 British Security Service MI6 also known as SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) NAI National Archives of Ireland NCO noncommissioned officer NLI National Library of Ireland RDS Royal Dublin Society RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary SOE Special Operations Executive TCD Trinity College Dublin UCD University College Dublin UCDA University College Dublin Archives
INTRODUCTION
The primary aim of this book is to provide, for the first time, a complete biography of the life and times of Leopold Kerney. The study begins with Kerney’s childhood and charts the early influences on his life that shaped his political creed and republicanism. His ideology as a republican and economic nationalist is followed throughout the course of the investigation of his career in various overseas missions in France, Spain, and Argentina in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. By the time Kerney became an adult, and shaped by his republican philosophy, he was committed to the cause of Irish independence despite a background, education, and social class that had tied him to an Anglicized identity. The reasons behind his rejection of a privileged education at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), his conversion from Protestantism to Catholicism, and his acceptance into the republican movement are all examined. Kerney, like many of the revolutionary generation, came to define himself as anti-British, and this theme is traced throughout the book. Kerney maintained this characteristic through most of his career, but by the end of World War II his hostility toward Britain had mellowed considerably. By the time he led a mission to South America it is clear that he was embarrassed by the anti-British attitude of the Irish diaspora in Argentina, a trait he had rejected by then.

Kerney’s early adolescent interest in economics was formed by observation and readings, particularly from works by the nationalist writer John Mitchel. When Kerney joined the nascent diplomatic service in 1919, he found in Arthur Griffith a shared viewpoint on how economics formed a key tenet of Irish foreign policy—that establishing direct trade with other countries fosters stronger bilateral ties while asserting national independence from Britain. In France Kerney set about implementing this economic vision. Initiating trade deals and agreements was undoubtedly his strongest skill set. This core element of his philosophy is followed from his time in Paris during the War of Independence, on the continent during the Anglo-Irish Economic War, and in Spain from prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War up to the mission to South America in 1947.
A major research finding and central theme that runs throughout this investigation is the close and friendly lifelong relationship that Kerney maintained with Éamon de Valera (called “Dev” or the “Chief” by his political followers). The book traces the origins of their comradeship during the fallout from the Anglo-Irish Treaty. De Valera’s republican and constitutional vision for Ireland came to encapsulate for Kerney the true national path, and he stayed loyal to de Valera throughout the Irish Civil War, during the Sinn Féin split, after the creation of Fianna Fáil in 1926, and during the wilderness years when Kerney found himself in the cold politically. Letters and correspondence between the men throughout the 1920s help illustrate their closeness. After de Valera was elected to government office in 1932 as president of the executive council, he moved to reinstate Kerney into the service. The book traces the multiple times de Valera intervened personally in Kerney’s favor and how, despite reproaches from within the civil service, from serving ministers and the director of Irish army intelligence (G2), de Valera maintained his confidence in Kerney’s ability as a loyal, trustworthy, and competent official and colleague throughout his lifetime. Although Kerney’s time in Spain created a natural distance between the men, the study goes on to highlight de Valera’s continued faith in his republican stalwart, which is demonstrated by his request for Kerney to stay on in the service beyond retirement and the Taoiseach’s recommendation that Kerney leave retirement to head the political, diplomatic, and economic mission to Argentina in 1947. Through analyzing this close friendship, this book aims to rebut contentions that Kerney was incompetent and unsuited to heading a diplomatic mission.
It is clear from the decade-long research undertaken for this book in Irish, Spanish, French, German, and British public repositories, as well as through unprecedented access to the Kerney private papers, that the study of Irish foreign policy and how it was framed has been neglected in many respects. A picture emerges from this research of the Department of External Affairs that is far from the glowing one it is often identified with under the stewardship of Joseph Walshe. In fact, this book calls into question Walshe’s handling of Irish foreign policy in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his obsession with Catholicism in defining Ireland’s place in the world and in its external relations. Kerney’s fraught relationship with Walshe can be sourced to their opposing views on Irish foreign policy. While the former embraced economics as a key component of external relations, the latter saw in Catholicism the element driving national independence. This book contends that Kerney was an early pioneer of the seminal role of trade in external relations and that his vision, not Walshe’s, has stood the test of time, as evidenced in the current title of the state body, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Throughout this book the hostile relationship between Kerney and Walshe is studied, from their split over the treaty to Kerney’s libel action against the historian Professor Desmond Williams, which forms a core element of the investigation. This theme is evident from Kerney’s different educational background, his return to the service through political intervention, his past anti-treaty sympath