In May 1949, Massachusetts Calls on US State Department to Send an Ambassador to the Newly Created Republic of Ireland

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In May, 1949, state legislators in Massachusetts sent a resolution to the U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson to "increase the status of the representative to the Irish Republic to that of an Ambassador." 

The request came in the wake of Ireland being "formally proclaimed a Free, Independent and Sovereign Republic on the Historic Day of Easter Monday" on April 18, 1949.

The petition was made by three Massachusetts legislators: Senator William J.Keenan, a native of Ireland,  Representative Bernard M. Lally of Boston, and Representative John  Pierce Lynch of Springfield. They asked Secretary Acheson "to accord the proper recognition to the new Irish Republic, increase the present status of the United States representative from that of a Minister to an Ambassador."

The petition was also sent to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, to Senate Majority Leader William H. White, U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn, and to the Massachusetts congressional delegation. 

Several months later, on September 3, 1949, South Boston's U.S. Congressman John W. McCormack also wrote a letter to State Secretary Acheson, stating that "sending a diplomatic representative with the rank of Ambassador would strengthen the ties of friendship that has existed between Ireland and the United States for many years."

According to US Mission Ireland, "The United States of America was one of the first countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the new Irish Free State....The first Envoy Extraordinary & Minister Plenipotentiary, Frederick A. Sterling, arrived in Dublin in 1927" and took up residence in Phoenix Park.  

On April 10, 1947, George A. Garrett was appointed as Envoy to Ireland, and when Ireland became a Republic on April 18, 1949, the office was upgraded to an Embassy, and Garrett became the first United States Ambassador.  He was appointed as US Ambassador to Ireland on March 17, 1950,  and formally presented his credentials in Dublin on April 18, 1950.

The first  U.S. Ambassador to Ireland to speak Gaelic was William Howard Taft, who was appointed in May 1953.  Taft had previously been an officer of the ECA (Marshall Plan) and had worked in Dublin for three years, completing his mission in 1951, according to The Boston Globe. 

Read story here about the Republic of Ireland Act that led to Ireland severing ties with Great Britain in 26 of the 32 counties.

Text + Research, Michael Quinlin

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