Introduction

Summary

If you continue your courageous path toward a permanent peace, and all the social and economic benefits that have come with it, that won't just be good for you, it will be good for this entire island. It will be good for the United Kingdom. It will be good for Europe. It will be good for the world … And you should know that so long as you are moving forward, America will always stand by you as you do.

President Barack Obama, Belfast Waterfront, Northern Ireland, 17 June 2013

In May 2011, President Barack Obama visited the Republic of Ireland in search of his family's ‘missing apostrophe’. The President was following in the tradition of many of his predecessors since John F. Kennedy, including, perhaps most notably, Bill Clinton. That US presidents have enjoyed major trips to Ireland is testament to the emotional and historical connection between the United States and Ireland, particularly with regard to migration from the old country to the new. However, this monograph is a study of connections beyond the simple photo opportunities that can be considered a cynical appeal to Irish–American votes. The relationship between US presidents and Ireland – and, more specifically, the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland – is more complex than a president visiting the village of his ancestors for a pint of Guinness. While there is clearly an emotive visual of an American president leaving the land of his birth and returning to the land of his ancestors, a study of the United States and the Northern Ireland conflict is a case study in nuances of the American presidency and foreign policy.

Irish–American concern about Northern Ireland revolved around the ‘Troubles’, which was paramilitary sectarian violence that resulted from divisions caused by the constitutional relationship between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. From the late 1960s and arguably until the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, this was a violent period in the history of Northern Ireland and, ultimately, the rest of the UK and Republic of Ireland. The majority Protestant unionist community believed that Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK; in contrast, the minority Catholic nationalist community wanted the reunification of Ireland and the withdrawal of the British government (and related army and police).