Ireland's Revolutionary Diplomat: A Biography of Leopold Kerney

by Barry Whelan

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268105051
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	02/28/2019
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Barry Whelan is a lecturer of Irish and European history at Dublin City University.

Read an Excerpt

It is clear from the decade-long research undertaken for this book in Irish, Spanish, French, German and British public repositories as well as 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 portrayal 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, 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 this opposing viewpoint on Irish foreign policy. Whilst the former embraced economics as a key component of external relations, the latter saw in Catholicism the driving element to 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 both men is studied from the treaty split to Kerney’s libel action against the historian Professor Desmond Williams and it forms a core element of the investigation. This theme is evident from Kerney’s different educational background, his return to service through political intervention, his past anti-treaty sympathies and his conversion to Catholicism are all shown to be underlying factors that influenced the secretary’s dislike of the diplomat. Moreover, this book investigates at length the efforts made by the secretary to frustrate Kerney’s career in France and in Spain through a practice of deliberate administrative and financial obstruction, petty mindedness and deception. The level of deceit practiced by Walshe against a serving colleague often behind the back of Kerney’s benefactor de Valera is shown in this study to have involved the support of Colonel Dan Bryan of G2. This book traces the wartime and postwar efforts of both Walshe and Bryan to discredit and blacken Kerney’s reputation. This research proves conclusively that they aided Professor Williams in his spurious allegations that Kerney actively negotiated with Nazi Germany to plan a German-IRA operation to unify the island.

There have been several explorations of Kerney by historians, most of whom examine the perceived contentious moments in his career. The first significant publication came in 1953 when Professor Thomas Desmond Williams of University College Dublin (UCD) published several articles in a series entitled A Study in Neutrality in the journal Leader and then in the daily newspaper Irish Press that analyzed Irish neutrality during the Second World War. Williams built on his postgraduate research as well as his service in the British Foreign Office and British intelligence service to publish this groundbreaking work that revealed for the Irish public how its government and civil service charted an independent foreign policy that was not as neutral as previously thought. Williams examined the diplomats who were the eyes and ears of the country abroad and he critically studied Leopold Kerney during the war, though without naming him. Williams charged Kerney with endangering Irish neutrality after the diplomat met a senior SS official and an Abwehr agent to apparently open up a secret line between Nazi Germany and the Irish Government, with Kerney acting as a go-between in this proposed channel with the support of the IRA. Whilst Williams’ series was overall commendable, his sources for the damning charges against Kerney were flimsy. He used no references and based his claims on off the record discussions with former colleagues of the diplomat. Kerney sued Williams in a famous libel case as a result of these false charges. The former diplomat won his action forcing a public apology by Williams. The case had a disastrous impact on Williams’ career with the historian reluctant to publish much material thereafter in the area of diplomatic history. Despite this rebuttal several historians since have maintained that Williams’ contentions about Kerney were sound.

Chief amongst those who maintain Williams’ argument was Eunan O’Halpin. O’Halpin focused on the role army intelligence – G2 – played in safeguarding the state since independence from enemies both internal and external, many of whom posed a real threat to security. O’Halpin drew strongly on the career of G2 Director – Colonel Dan Bryan – whom the historian interviewed extensively and who he adjudged in the book to have played a critical role particularly during the Second World War in capturing Abwehr agents, breaking German ciphers and liaising closely with British intelligence, most notably with Guy Liddell – MI5 director of counterespionage – and his brother Cecil Liddell – head of Irish section. O’Halpin’s research detailed how G2 came to view Kerney suspiciously and as a menace to Irish interests. The historian traced Kerney’s reappointment to the diplomatic service in 1932 and was scathing in his criticism of the diplomat, labelling him a ‘monumental fool’, ‘a man of hopeless judgement’ who was an unsuitable choice to head an overseas mission in wartime, or any time, in fact. O’Halpin in his analysis of Kerney took up much of the criticism begun previously by Desmond Williams in 1953 yet whilst Williams had relied on fragmentary evidence, innuendo and private conversations to build up his case against Kerney, O’Halpin had access to public files to support his contention but many important files were not produced in his book. Also absent were the records of the Williams-Kerney libel case and the acceptance that Williams’ public apology had cleared Kerney’s name of any wrong doing or dereliction of duty.

(excerpted from the introduction)

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. From affluent Sandymount to war-torn Paris, 1881-1918

2. The First Irish Consul in Paris, 1919-21

3. The Treaty and the Irish Civil War, 1921-22

4. Consular and Diplomatic Envoy of the Irish Republic, 1922-26

5. The Wilderness Years, 1926-32

6. From France to Spain, 1932-39

7. Franco’s Most Famous Foreign Prisoner and Escapee – Frank Ryan

8. Inside the Viper’s Nest: Kerney and German Military Intelligence during the Second World War

9. Confidential Reports from Fascist Spain, 1939-1942

10. New Beginnings, 1946-48

11. “When Sorrows Come, They Come not Single Spies, but in Battalions!”

Editorial Reviews

"This new study of Leopold Kerney provides a fascinating account of a largely overlooked figure in Irish history. As a biography, it fulfills an important role, but it also provides a valuable new perspective on Irish, French, and Spanish political culture in the early twentieth century. Barry Whelan's use of sources is excellent, and he provides an insightful account of the career of an Irish diplomat during a turbulent period in Europe's history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this period or in politics and history in general." —David Murphy, Maynooth University

"Ireland’s Revolutionary Diplomat provides a much-needed study of Leopold Kerney, an important but often overlooked figure in Ireland’s turbulent twentieth-century political history. Barry Whelan presents a balanced, meticulous, and thorough work that is a delight to read. You will not be disappointed." —Timothy J. Demy, U.S. Naval War College

"This biography of Leopold Kerney focuses on his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the first decade of the Francoist regime. The work draws on the previously unavailable private papers of Kerney. To me, the central point illuminated by this book is the difficulties in moving from a clientalist system to a professionalized civil service. Barry Whelan has done an admirable job highlighting this issue." —Jason Knirck, Central Washington University

"[Barry Whelan] gives a valuable insight into the early years of the Irish diplomatic service by going behind the official records. He has also helped restore the reputation of one of its pioneers." —The Irish Catholic

"[In] Whelan's biography of Kerney, his meticulous research successfully upends what has hitherto prevailed as academia's received wisdom." —History of Ireland

“This monograph is a strong piece of research and an original contribution to the growing number of Irish diplomat biographies. Based on an examination of new primary source material, Whelan’s book is as impressive as it is original.” —Irish Migration Studies in Latin America

From the Publisher

"Ireland’s Revolutionary Diplomat provides a much-needed study of Leopold Kerney, an important but often overlooked figure in Ireland’s turbulent twentieth-century political history. Barry Whelan presents a balanced, meticulous, and thorough work that is a delight to read. You will not be disappointed."

Timothy J. Demy

"This biography of Leopold Kerney focuses on his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the first decade of the Francoist regime. The work draws on the previously unavailable private papers of Kerney. To me, the central point illuminated by this book is the difficulties in moving from a clientalist system to a professionalized civil service. Barry Whelan has done an admirable job highlighting this issue."

Jason Knirck

"[Barry Whelan] gives a valuable insight into the early years of the Irish diplomatic service by going behind the official records. He has also helped restore the reputation of one of its pioneers."

The Irish Catholic

"[In] Whelan's biography of Kerney, his meticulous research successfully upends what has hitherto prevailed as academia's received wisdom."

History of Ireland

"This new study of Leopold Kerney provides a fascinating account of a largely overlooked figure in Irish history. As a biography, it fulfills an important role, but it also provides a valuable new perspective on Irish, French, and Spanish political culture in the early twentieth century. Barry Whelan's use of sources is excellent, and he provides an insightful account of the career of an Irish diplomat during a turbulent period in Europe's history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this period or in politics and history in general."

David Murphy

"Leopold Kerney is a worthy subject for a full-length book not only in the biographical sense but also because of the light it throws on interwar international relations. It is a major treatment of the career of a diplomat from the early years of the Irish state."

Peter Collins

"Barry Whelan has produced a well-written and impressively sourced portrait of Leopold Kerney, Ireland's controversial Minister to Spain between 1935 and 1946, tracing his political development from liberal Protestantism to De Valerite Republicanism. Whelan has rescued Kerney's reputation, showing him to be a loyal servant of the new Irish State, a humane man with an independent mind who was denigrated by conservative colleagues in Dublin and later subjected to unfair treatment at the hands of revisionist Irish historians."

Barry McLoughlin

"[In] Whelan's biography of Kerney, his meticulous research successfully upends what has hitherto prevailed as academia's received wisdom."

null History of Ireland