John Hearne: Ireland's first Ambassador to the United States
In July, I travelled to my native city of Waterford for a conference to mark the 80th anniversary of Ireland's Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, and the life of its chief draftsman, Waterford-born John Hearne. A bust of Hearne was unveiled by the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, in Waterford's newly-named Constitution Square. The Minister described Hearne as someone who made an 'outstanding contribution to the Ireland of his time and ours.' The Constitution he helped to write has served Ireland well for 80 years.
My interest in the life and work of John Hearne stems from the fact that, like me, he spent most of his working life with the Department of Foreign Affairs, in his case as legal adviser and later as an Ambassador. I was also drawn to him by the fact that he also served as Ireland's Ambassador to the United States, a position I have recently taken up.
John Hearne was born in 1893, the son of a Waterford businessman, Richard Hearne (1850-1929) and was educated at Waterpark School and at University College, Dublin. Father and son were both staunch supporters of the Irish Party led by John Redmond, who served as MP for Waterford for nearly three decades until his death in 1918. The by-election fought over Redmond's vacated seat was a tense affair as Irish Party stalwarts successfully fought off the challenge from Sinn Féin, newcomers on Ireland's electoral stage. A youthful John Hearne spoke passionately in defence of the principles of 'constitutional home rule' and in opposition to what he called Sinn Féin's 'erroneous and maudlin patriotism'.
Given his political background, it was inevitable that Hearne would favour the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and take the side of the Cumann na nGaedhael Government in opposition to Sinn Féin and its leader, Eamon de Valera. Hearne must have feared for his career when de Valera came to power in 1932, but he quickly became a trusted advisor of the new head of government.
When de Valera sought to draw up a new Constitution in order to express his vision of Irish independence, Hearne was one of those to whom he turned for support. De Valera gave Hearne full credit for his efforts, describing him as 'Architect in Chief and Draftsman' of the Constitution.
In 1939, Hearne became Ireland's first High Commissioner to Canada and in 1950 he transferred to Washington to become our first Ambassador to the US (his predecessors had been Minister Plenipotentiaries as it was only when we became a republic in 1949 that we were eligible to appoint a full Ambassador).
John Hearne spent 10 years in Washington. During those years, he initiated an important St. Patrick's Day tradition, for he was the first to present shamrock to the US President, something that is now done each year by our Taoiseach. It was Hearne who conveyed to Dublin the news of Ireland's admission to the United Nations in 1955.
Shortly after his arrival in Washington, Hearne wrote a very lengthy memorandum which is reprinted in Documents in Irish Foreign Policy X, 1951-1957, pp. 45-56. It is revealing on a number of counts. First, it highlights Hearne's deep Catholicism and his sense that Ireland had a special mission in the modern world in light of its ancient Christian heritage. Second, it points to the difficulties Ireland faced in the US in the early 1950s on account of resentment about our wartime neutrality and our unwillingness to join the newly-established North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation. And third, it reflects the salience of anti-partition objectives in the work of the Embassy that Hearne headed up in the 1950s.
Today, our diplomatic service represents a very different Ireland with a wider range of political and economic objectives to advance. We have hugely important trade (two-way trade of around $100 billion annually) and investment (US companies employ some 150,000 people in Ireland while Irish companies employ up to 100,000 Americans) ties with the US which benefit both our economies very significantly. The US has also exercised a positive influence with regard to the Northern Ireland peace process going back to the 1980s. Many members of Congress retain a strong commitment to the cause of peace and reconciliation in Ireland.
While some of Hearne's preoccupations may have dimmed over time, in his 1951 memorandum he makes two key points that retain their relevance. The first is the support of Irish Americans for Ireland and Irish causes. This remains true and I have been uplifted by the many people I have met here whose forebears came to America generations ago, but who maintain a genuine interest in, and affection for, their Irish heritage. Hearne's second point of enduring relevance concerns the value of cultural diplomacy in promoting Ireland's interests. In his memorandum, he stressed the importance of communicating to Americans the realities of 'contemporary Irish life, political, economic, social and cultural, and the whole historic background.' He concluded that there is 'no part of the world in which an Irish cultural foreign policy would be more fruitful than in North America.' An active cultural diplomacy is certainly part of Ireland’s 'soft power' armoury today, in the US and around the world.
John Hearne retired in November 1960, spent two years as a legislative consultant to the Government of Nigeria before returning to Ireland. He died in 1969 and his funeral was attended by President Eamon de Valera and Fine Gael leader, Liam Cosgrave. Hearne is the subject of an excellent new biography by Eugene Broderick, John Hearne: architect of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland (Dublin 2017). He was part of that generation born around the turn of the 19th century whose task it was to make a reality of our hard-won independence. He deserves to be remembered for all that he and his contemporaries achieved in consolidating our independence, the fruits of whose legacy we enjoy today.
Daniel Mulhall is Ireland's Ambassador to the United States