841D.01/249a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Ireland ( Gray )
26. Following is the text of a memorandum of conversation today with the Irish Minister:
“The Irish Minister, Mr. Brennan (on his own initiative and without making an appointment) called today on Mr. Hickerson20 and stated that he personally interpreted our approach to the Irish Government on the removal of Axis representatives in Ireland as an ultimatum and that he felt that if the Irish Government should refuse our request, Ireland would be invaded by American forces. He added [Page 227] that he knew for a fact also that the authorities in Dublin were deeply disturbed.
“Mr. Hickerson assured Mr. Brennan that this request was not in the nature of an ultimatum and that he was certain that no use of military force against Ireland was contemplated; the principal sanction which we had in mind, in the event of a refusal, was the wrath of American mothers whose sons’ lives would be placed in jeopardy. Mr. Hickerson added that the assurances which the President gave to Prime Minister de Valera in early 1942 still stand. The President’s message to Prime Minister de Valera, transmitted through a note to the Irish Minister in Washington on February 26, 194221 included the following statement with reference to the landing of American forces in Northern Ireland: ‘There was not, and is not now, the slightest thought or intention of invading Irish territory or threatening Irish security.’
“It was agreed that Mr. Brennan might inform his government to this effect. Mr. Brennan stated that he felt greatly relieved to hear this and would telegraph his government today.”
Please inform the Irish authorities orally at once that you have been in touch with your government and are authorized to give them assurances in the sense of the foregoing.
- John D. Hickerson, Chief of the Division of British Commonwealth Affairs.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 758.↩