LYNCH VISIT TO US:TOP WHITE House staff in the administration of president Jimmy Carter were not just ignorant of the basic facts about Northern Ireland but also apparently unwilling to study the issue or even to take it seriously, according to Ireland's Washington envoy at the time.
However, in a briefing document for the US visit of taoiseach Jack Lynch from November 7th to 16th, 1979, ambassador Seán Donlon praises Mr Carter as “the first president to commit his administration on the Northern Ireland issue”.
But this was done “exclusively because of pressure from individual members of the House and Senate”.
The president issued a statement in August 1977, expressing his support for “peaceful means for finding a just solution that involves both parts of the community of Northern Ireland”.
The confidential document, released under the 30-year rule, goes on to say that “he is, incidentally, the first Democratic president in many years who has no close Irish links, either personally or through senior staff or cabinet members.
“It is clear that his senior advisers have little understanding not just of Ireland but even of Irish America.
“Casual conversations which I have had with a number of them over the last year reveal a complete ignorance of the facts and an apparent unwillingness to acquire a basic knowledge or to take the issue seriously.”
But this had worked to the Irish advantage “to an extent”.
As long as former senator Edward Kennedy and former speaker of the House of Representatives, TP “Tip” O’Neill agreed on “what it was the president should do in relation to Ireland or the Irish-Americans” then Mr Carter did it, “without seriously questioning and possibly without understanding what it was he was doing”.
However, a problem had now arisen as a result of Mr Kennedy’s decision to challenge Mr Carter for the Democratic nomination in the 1980 presidential elections.
“Some very senior people in the White House take the attitude on Irish questions that there were and are two sides, namely Kennedy and Biaggi.
“Because of Kennedy’s challenge, they now automatically oppose all his positions and their opposition on the Irish issue takes the form of supporting Biaggi.
“The fact that Biaggi has identified with violence in Ireland means little. What matters is that Biaggi is anti-Kennedy.”
As a result, Mr Biaggi had been invited to the White House dinner for the taoiseach on November 8th.
But Mr Donlon writes that the influence of Mr O’Neill is such that, “it will be possible, through him, to ensure that the White House approach on Irish matters will not be too much at variance with what we would wish it to be”.
The ambassador goes on to comment that Mr O’Neill, “by instinct, personal preference and geography”, prefers Mr Kennedy to Mr Carter, but “though his heart is with Kennedy, his head is neutral”.
