The Green & White House: Ireland and the US Presidents

The Green & White House: Ireland and the US Presidents

Lynne Kelleher
$28.99
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Publisher:
Black & White Publishing
ISBN:
9781785303562
Pages:
336

Description

An affectionate and wry look at the special relationship Ireland, a small nation of less than six million people, has with the greatest superpower in the world.

'Carefully researched and excellently written . . . a wonderful account of the special relationship between Ireland and the USA.' BERTIE AHERN

'Anybody with an interest in Irish-American politics and personalities will want to read The Green and White House.' DICK SPRING

Intimate, complex, long-lasting: the links between Ireland and US presidents extend much further and deeper than JFK. From Andrew Jackson in 1829 to Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and Joe Biden in 2021, Ireland's sway in the White House is hugely significant. Handwritten letters, weatherworn tombstones, shipping records and even an old desk unlock the ancestral secrets of 23 presidents.

Spanning the centuries from covered wagons to the American Revolution, the birth of the Irish Republic to JFK's heady glamour, The Green and White House takes in political machinations and the firebrands who pushed for freedom, justice and peace for Ireland.

For centuries, Irish emigrants crossed the Atlantic by boat, but an intense diplomatic bromance has seen American commanders-in-chief returning to remote Irish villages via Air Force One and armored limousines.

Incredible stories spring from these presidential visits. High-tech phones are installed in an ancient cemetery while an Aran cardigan is treated like a hostile device. Anti-personnel nets produce a bumper catch of salmon, but a Secret Service gun is lost then found amid a jubilant crowd. Each homecoming - always conducted with a twinkle in the eye - turns local people into international media darlings. But this transatlantic courtship, forged over the unearthed mysteries of sprawling family trees, has secured Ireland an annual invite to the White House - something no other nation can rival.

THE GREEN AND WHITE HOUSE takes a wry look at the special relationship one tiny nation shares with the world's greatest superpower.

About the Author

Lynne Kelleher is an Irish journalist who writes for the Sunday Independent, Irish Mail on Sunday, Sunday Times, Sunday World, Irish Sunday Mirror, Irish Examiner, Irish Sun, Irish Star, The Times (Ireland), the Irish Daily Mail and Irish Independent. She has written about every aspect of modern Irish life from the Magdalene Laundries to Fungie the dolphin, from high-profile court cases to US presidential visits. Lynne's interest in Irish-American presidents was sparked when her first job out of journalism college was to help escort the former US ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, around the byroads of Co. Limerick.

Praise for The Green & White House: Ireland and the US Presidents

‘In this beautifully written book, Lynne Kelleher takes us on an exciting journey from the luxurious Kennedy compound in Cape Cod to the family’s ancestral home in rural County Wexford, from the Watergate scandal to Richard Nixon’s Irish setter named in honour of his County Kildare roots, from glamorous receptions in Obama’s White House to pints of Guinness in County Offaly . . .’ BRIAN O’DONOVAN, RTÉ WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

‘Captures the essence of a special relationship between a massive nation that is America and a little island on the periphery of Europe, a relationship that goes from the small farming fields of Ireland all the way to the most powerful office in the world, the White House.’ MARTY MORRISSEY, RTÉ