Professor Timothy Smiddy's Tenure as Irish Free State Minister to the United States

Abstract

Now that Dr Whelan has gotten Professor Smiddy appointed, let us examine his overall record as minister in the U.S. from 7 October 1924—90 years ago today—to early 1929. We will look at the themes of Smiddy’s tenure as head of the legation in Washington, and we will consider what Smiddy’s activities—and the instructions he received from the Department of External Affairs—have to tell us about the Free State government’s view of its position in the world during the early years of its existence. An examination of the diplomatic correspondence passing between the government in Dublin and the Legation in Washington during the period reveals a preoccupation with three major concerns. First was the desire to publicise the status and stability of the Free State government. Second was the need to counter the activities and propaganda of the Free State’s opponents in the United States, and by extension, its opponents in Ireland itself. And third was the need to maximise the commercial and financial well-being of the Free State by stimulating economic ties with the U.S. Given time constraints, I will limit my comments today to the first of the above-mentioned themes, which represents a continuation of work Smiddy performed in the U.S. prior to his official recognition as minister. When Smiddy first arrived in America in 1922, he had no formal diplomatic standing. Rather, he was essentially a propagandist for the pro-treaty viewpoint in opposition to republican spokesmen in the U.S. Even after the Irish Civil War and Smiddy’s subsequent accreditation to Washington, however, the Free State’s position was far from secure, given the continued refusal of anti-treatyites to accept the legitimacy of the government in Dublin. Under those circumstances, a central part of Smiddy’s mission as minister continued to be to emphasise for American audiences that the Free State was a sovereign and stable member of the international community. Thus, in early 1925, the new minister reported with satisfaction to Desmond FitzGerald, the Free State’s Minister for External Affairs, that the recent registration of the Anglo-Irish Treaty by the League of Nations—a sign of the