Political Friendships and Personal Vendettas: Irish-American Relations During World War II, Karen Garner
Through the personal friendships and conflicts between the American and Irish national leaders and their Dublin-based advisers that were forged during the Second World War, this paper examines what happens when sentiments of fraternal friendship and masculine enmity are politicized and when distinctions between individual self-identities and national identities and allegiances dissolve. Focusing on a few key episodes between 1939 and 1945, this paper explores how those personalized and emotional male relationships warmed and cooled, shifting in response to their nations’ fortunes during the six years’ war, and how they impacted national policies.
Respondent: Brian Girvin, University of Glasgow