The Reluctant Taoiseach

by David McCullagh

  The Taoiseach’s visit was to coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day, which sent the major Irish-American organisations into a frenzy of excitement. The Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick in Philadelphia had been inviting him since 1950; New York organisations were anxious that he should attend their parade.33 But he had also been invited to attend functions by the authorities of New Haven, where Yale was situated. This invitation, he told John Hearne, the Irish Ambassador in Washington, “came as a surprise to me but in view of the fact that the Yale invitation is such an unprecedented and invaluable one I could not refuse to agree to their wishes”.34

  Hearne, however, had other ideas. He cabled the Department of External Affairs urging them to “advise Taoiseach of absolute necessity of keeping his Saint Patrick’s Day engagements open. Consensus of opinion here is he must not attend proposed banquet New Haven under the auspices of Yale University. Yale regarded as heart of American Protestantism and Yankeeism … it would be impossible to explain to Catholics all over United States.”35 Despite this strong advice, Costello assured Lewis that he would attend the New Haven dinner, after his friend advised him that extensive arrangements had been made. Hearne told Seán Murphy, the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, that this “would obviously cause great disappointment”, adding that Archbishop O’Boyle of Washington had warned him that if the Taoiseach went to New Haven “they might as well close down the Irish Embassy in Washington so far as the American Hierarchy was concerned”.36 Further pressure was applied by Norton, then on a visit to Washington, who sent a telegram warning Costello of the “grave perturbation” that would be caused if he went to New Haven on St Patrick’s Day. The Tánaiste said he would “strongly advise” him to change his plans, saying it had been mentioned to him “by religious and lay friends”.37

  The situation was further complicated by an invitation from the American Government to pay an official visit to Washington. Costello had told Ambassador Taft, who first suggested a visit to Washington, that “I would go where I was invited and to no place where I was not invited.”38 Within a fortnight, Taft had secured an official invitation to Washington, to arrive on 14 March and depart on the morning of St Patrick’s Day. Taft told Costello that the State Department had specifically mentioned the morning of 17 March “because of a possible farewell call which it is hoped can be arranged”.39 This was clearly meant, and understood, to involve President Eisenhower, and therefore could not be ignored. But it added to Costello’s difficulties—he wrote to John Hearne that he had been “in great distress over all this matter and I rely upon you to do what is possible and best”.40

  On the same day he informed his friend Lefty Lewis that he was “in a sea of trouble and difficulties and I want to appeal to your friendship to rescue me”. The engagements in Washington meant he couldn’t go to Farmington as planned. Even worse were “the clamant demands of Irish Societies for my presence on the night of St Patrick’s Day”. Apart from New Haven, Philadelphia and New York, these now included Chicago, Boston and Buffalo among others. “[S]o strong was the feeling that I should be in one of the bigger centres and not in a comparatively small one like New Haven that the suggestion was made that if I did not adhere to this advice the Irish Embassy in Washington would have to close down.”41 As we have seen, it wasn’t the size of the New Haven gathering that led to the objection. In any event, the Mayor of New Haven agreed to change the date of the event there to 18 March. Lewis wrote to Costello saying he was glad everything was sorted out, but regretting “that what began as a quiet academic excursion should have turned into a Donnybrook Fair”.42

  The battle over St Patrick’s Day having been settled, the rest of the programme was quickly filled in. Costello, accompanied by Charlie Murray, his private secretary, and by Alexis FitzGerald (whose airfare was paid by his father-in-law),43 was to arrive in Washington on 14 March. He would go to New York at noon on St Patrick’s Day and review the parade, before travelling on to Philadelphia for the annual dinner of the Friendly Sons of St Patrick. On the following day he would go to Yale, where he would stay until 21 March, followed by a couple of days with Lefty and Annie Burr Lewis in Farmington. The trip would end with engagements in New York.44 He stayed on in the United States for a few days after his official visit ended, but at the request of the State Department he kept a low profile to avoid protocol difficulties,45 telling journalists that he wanted some time to himself for “looking around”.46

  Costello arrived in Washington to be greeted by “a Dublin-like mist” and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon.47 This was not a snub by Eisenhower—protocol dictated that the President only personally greeted heads of state, and that rarely.48 Costello made a joke of the weather, telling reporters that “even the great American nation, which has achieved so much, can as yet not control the weather”.49 His first engagement was a private lunch in the White House with the President. Eisenhower’s welcome was described as “significantly cordial”; he introduced his visitor to his wife and her mother, and showed him over the private part of the White House. There were 22 guests at the lunch itself, all men, including the Secretaries of the Treasury, Commerce and Labour, as well as a number of senators and congressmen.50 The lavish menu featured clear turtle soup, fillet of flounder and T-bone steak.51

  Unusually for such a private lunch, Eisenhower made an impromptu speech “which was marked by particular friendliness in tone and content”.52 In total, the President spent one hour and 40 minutes with his Irish guest, which seems like quite a substantial chunk of time—although it should perhaps be noted that he later found time to spend an hour on the South Lawn hitting golf balls.53 As we shall see, Costello was to make much of the friendly reception he received. Eisenhower was reported to be pleased by his visitor too—particularly Costello’s comment that one of the things he liked about the President was that he was “a good and not a great golfer”. It was, according to one of his aides, most unusual for tributes to be paid to the President’s golf. An Irish journalist based in Washington reported that the two men played a similar game54—which was not much of a tribute to either, by all accounts.

  The journalist, Muriel Bowen, had formerly worked with the Irish Independent, but was at the time working her way round the world in an effort to improve her chances of getting elected to the British House of Commons for the Conservative Party. She told Costello her editor was eager for her to get an interview with him, particularly to get his impressions of the United States. As Bowen commented condescendingly, “I find the Americans love praise in any shape or form. Despite their cocksureness they think most things in Europe are just that little bit better.”55 As well as explaining Americans to Costello, she told her readers something about the Taoiseach. “Being Prime Minister has meant trying to overcome one of the basic difficulties of his personality: a loathing for the limelight. In private he is just as quick as is Sir Anthony Eden to tell one how much he hates cocktail parties.”56 This may have given some insight into the Taoiseach’s personality; it also gave Ms Bowen’s readers to understand that she was on intimate terms with not one but two prime ministers.

  Costello’s visit was also attracting attention from other newspapers, notably the New York Times, which devoted an editorial to his arrival. We are now used to Taoisigh using St Patrick’s Day to promote Ireland in the United States; then it was a novelty, as the New York Times recognised: “St Patrick’s Day this year will be special”, it said, because of Costello’s presence. The editorial praised Costello’s “integrity, courage [and] high principles”, before wrongly claiming that “as a young lawyer he gained fame in defending the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion against the British”.57 The widespread publicity was clearly a boost for Ireland’s image. Costello’s presence was even noted by some enterprising cadets at West Point, who invited him to visit the military academy—largely because they had been confined to barracks for two months for a misdemeanour, and prime ministers were entitled to grant amnesty to cadets. After discussing thei
r letter with Hearne, Costello wisely decided to ignore it.58

  The first official speech of the trip, at the National Press Club in Washington, turned into a comedy of errors. Shortly after he began reading his script, his private secretary, Charlie Murray, realised to his horror that he had given him the wrong speech—Costello was reading the script he was supposed to deliver to the Senate a couple of hours later. Murray passed a note up to Hearne, who was sitting beside Costello; the Ambassador, however, had forgotten his glasses, and had to get the note read for him by one of the journalists, who had difficulty making himself understood as Hearne was rather deaf. By this time, however, Costello had discovered the error himself. One of those present wrote, “Few of us have ever seen a world figure so discomfited. But he made no attempt to cover up. He confessed what had happened and begged our pardon … he couldn’t have done anything calculated to appeal more to our sense of humour. He completely won our hearts, and we practically knocked ourselves out giving him an ovation. We even cheered when he started his speechmaking all over again.”59 Another witness told Costello he had turned a mistake “into a personal triumph. Some of our members even suspect the whole thing was arranged that way.”60 As at his Canadian news conference eight years before, Costello had decided the best policy to follow with journalists was to tell the truth—though this time with less spectacular results.

  More formal speeches followed later in the afternoon, to the Senate and the House of Representatives. He was the first Irish head of government since W.T. Cosgrave to make such an address (though Cosgrave had addressed only one House). Some of his successors as Taoiseach (Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald, John Bruton and Bertie Ahern) were to address a more formal joint session of Congress, but the invitation was still a significant honour. He told the House of Representatives that the world’s future would be in good hands as long as the United States continued to use her power “in an honest and forthright manner”. In the Senate he expressed the hope that ties between the countries would be nourished and would continue to see “full community of sympathy and interest”.61 He received a standing ovation from senators on arrival and again after his speech.62 As a gift, he brought five letters written by Richard Fitzpatrick, a captain in the British Army during the American War of Independence, which had been held in the National Library.63

  Naturally, a visit to the Capitol was marked by partisan politics—particularly as this was an election year. Costello had confessed to Hearne before the trip began that he was “oppressed with the notion that because it is Presidential year there may be strange forces at work and I don’t want to put a foot wrong”.64 The “strange forces” turned out to include a green china donkey (the donkey, of course, being the symbol of the Democrats) presented to him by Democratic congressmen. Appearing slightly embarrassed, Costello protested as he was photographed with the donkey, “You’ll have me ruined here!” The (very) Republican Ambassador to Ireland, William H. Taft III, laughed along with the joke, but declined to join the group for a photograph.65

  The official memorandum of the trip noted that “it was very evident that it was not desired [presumably by the Eisenhower Administration] that the Taoiseach should appear to be closely identifying himself with figures prominent in the Democratic Party. Equally it was obviously incumbent on him not to seem to neglect such people in view of the traditional support of the Irish-Americans for the Democratic Party. The tight rope was, it is believed, successfully negotiated.”66 It wasn’t just good manners that made the tightrope walk necessary. Costello believed Irish prestige in America had grown because the Irish there had moved up the social scale—in the process losing their automatic loyalty to the Democrats. Many of them had voted for Eisenhower in 1952: “… both parties are now fighting for the Irish vote and are, therefore, more conscious of the importance of Ireland”.67

  This added to the potential political significance of Costello’s visit during a presidential election year. The Irish vote may or may not have been swayed by pictures of the Taoiseach with Eisenhower. But the fact that the possibility existed meant the administration felt it was worth making an effort to extract the maximum potential advantage. There were advantages for Ireland too, of course. The very fact of access to the White House was important. And Costello’s visit included a new departure that was to be significant in future years, the presentation of a bowl of shamrock to the President. This ceremony has now become a regular feature of St Patrick’s Day in Washington, giving Ireland unparalleled access to the Oval Office once a year, access that is the envy of other countries.

  Boxes of shamrock had been presented to members of the US Cabinet and Congress for a number of years, but in 1952, External Affairs came up with the idea of presenting some to the President.68 Ambassador John Hearne left a bunch at the White House for Truman. The President was on holiday in Key West in Florida at the time,69 but every tradition has to start somewhere. The following year, Eisenhower was in the White House on St Patrick’s Day. This time the presentation was more elaborate, with the shamrock in a cut-glass bowl (which had been supplied free of charge by Waterford Glass, then trying to break into the American market).70 The President was clearly taken with the idea, writing that the bowl “graced my desk all day, and each visitor to my office took away with him a small bit of the emblem of your country”.71 This was good publicity for Ireland (and for Waterford Glass).

  The presentation became a tradition, which was highly valued by Irish diplomats in Washington because of it gave them “the unique privilege … in being admitted to a private audience with the President … on our national feast day”.72 An audience for an ambassador was obviously of benefit—but far more important was the potential for a political engagement. John A. Costello was the first to take advantage of this potential (although, despite Taft’s insistence that he should remain in Washington until the morning of St Patrick’s Day, the presentation actually took place on the sixteenth).

  Rather than Waterford Glass, Costello chose an antique Irish silver bowl for the presentation. The newspapers reported that he “took a sprig of shamrock from the bowl and put it in the President’s lapel”.73 Eisenhower, according to the Irish memorandum of the visit, “was obviously touched by, and grateful for, the gift”. The Irish record of the visit said the President and the Taoiseach had a half hour’s discussion. However, the detailed White House record of Eisenhower’s day shows that Costello’s visit lasted just 10 minutes, from 9:02 to 9:12 a.m.74 No matter how long the visit lasted, at the end the President “bade a cordial farewell to the Taoiseach and his party”. The memorandum noted that Eisenhower later sent a personal letter to the Taoiseach: “The terms of that letter and, indeed, the fact that such a letter was sent are significant.”75 The President thanked Costello for his “kindly gesture” in bringing the shamrock and the bowl, which was “a fine example of the work of Irish silversmiths of the eighteenth century. I am taking the bowl with me up to our farm so that Mrs Eisenhower can see it at once.”76

  Costello was much taken by the friendly reception he received, particularly from Eisenhower and Nixon. “In private relations … they spoke in terms which might almost suggest they were concerned to flatter me … As these were … private occasions they cannot be explained simply by reference to the fact that this was a Presidential election year.” Apart from the fact that the Republic of Ireland Act had made it easier for the Americans to treat him as the representative of the Irish people, he identified three reasons for his warm reception. The first was his belief that the Americans were impressed by his invitation to speak at Yale. “I believe that Washington became extremely interested in an Irish Catholic Statesman who was chosen to be honoured by one of their two most important non-Catholic Universities.” This seems rather doubtful—Costello greatly overestimated the importance of the Chubb Fellowship. His other reasons seem more likely explanations—his own efforts in his speeches to stress Irish understanding of American difficulties, and the Republic’s new membership of the
United Nations (Irish membership had been vetoed by the Soviets, but she was admitted after a 10-year wait at the end of 1955 as part of a “package deal” which saw 16 countries from both sides of the Iron Curtain admitted).77 In any case, Costello was prone to mistake courtesy and friendliness from foreign leaders for signs of deep affection—his reaction to Mackenzie King in Canada in 1948 being a prime example.

  Still basking in the warm glow of his meeting with the President, Costello then had an equally congenial visit to the Supreme Court, where the Chief Justice and Associate Justices had come in specially to meet him. They had “an interesting and informal talk on various matters mostly of legal concern or reminiscence”.78 This was followed by a lunch given by Vice-President Nixon at the Capitol, the conferring of an honorary degree by Catholic University, a reception hosted by Hearne in the Mayflower Hotel, and finally a speech at Georgetown University. Costello later told Government colleagues that “as a matter of deliberate policy, I adopted in my speeches throughout a conciliatory attitude and tried to make the American people aware of our appreciation of their difficulties”.79 He certainly fulfilled this aim at Georgetown, telling his audience that Irish neutrality did not “spring from indifference to the outcome” of a war. “In the battle of ideas we are firmly committed … And we hope to work with you in your Atlantic partnership and in the wider framework of UNO towards maintaining the peace.”80

  Costello’s forthright anti-communism and expressions of support for the United States were welcome to Washington, but not surprising. Background information on the Taoiseach from the State Department said he had “always shown a friendly and cooperative attitude towards the United States and the United Kingdom” (although it was noted that he believed that partition prevented Irish membership of NATO).81 Former US Ambassador George A. Garrett told Eisenhower that Costello was “a brilliant man, a first class administrator and a great friend of the United States”.82