Memorandum by Michael McDunphy
'Complaint by the American Minister, Mr. Gray, to the President. June, 1945'

The President informed me today that the American Minister, Mr. David Gray, had complained to him that while I as Secretary to the President had called upon the German Minister in Dublin in connection with the death of the Chancellor of the German Reich, Herr Hitler, I had not called upon Mr. Gray the American Minister, in connection with the death of President Roosevelt.

Mr. Gray regarded this omission on my part as a serious discourtesy to himself and to his country and expected an apology. Until the matter was cleared up to his satisfaction, he would not call upon the President.

I showed our official file to the President, and he expressed himself as perfectly satisfied that Mr. Gray had no cause for complaint.

The circumstances of the two cases were entirely different. Following the death of President Roosevelt on 12th April, 1945, the Taoiseach as head of the Irish Government and as Minister for External Affairs cabled a message of sympathy to the American Secretary of State,¹ while President Hyde as head of the Irish State cabled a message of sympathy to President Roosevelt's successor in office, President Truman. The text of the President's message was agreed to by the Taoiseach before issue. The texts of President Hyde's message and of President Truman's reply were duly published in the Dublin press of 14th and 24th April respectively.

With such direct communication between the heads of the two Governments and the heads of the two States, international courtesies were fully observed, and for the Secretary to the President to call on behalf of the President on the American Minister would in the circumstances have been not only an act of supererogation but possibly an anti climax. In any case it was not suggested to me by the Department of the Taoiseach or the Department of External Affairs that such action was either necessary or desirable.

It is interesting to note that in the 'Irish Press' and 'Independent' of 14^th April the following notice appeared:

'Among the many persons who called at the American Legation in Dublin yesterday to express their sympathy to the American Minister and Mrs. Gray on the death of President Roosevelt were: Mrs. Cambreth Kane on behalf of the President'.²

This statement was not issued from the Éras, or with the consent or knowledge of the President or of myself. I understand that it was given to the press by the American Legation. As a matter of fact Mrs. Cambreth Kane did not call at the Legation, nor did she purport to represent the President. She spoke over the phone to Mrs. Gray, the wife of the Minister, and spoke to her purely in her personal capacity, making that quite clear.

When the Chancellor of the German Reich, Herr Hitler, died at the end of April the circumstances were quite different from those which attended the death of President Roosevelt. Herr Hitler was both head of the German State and head of the German Government, and with his death the joint post became vacant and was not immediately filled, the capital of Germany, Berlin, being then in the military occupation of the Allies. There was consequently no one with whom the head of the Irish State or the head of the Irish Government could communicate directly, as was done in the case of the United States. Messages of sympathy were accordingly conveyed personally to the German Minister by the Taoiseach on behalf of the Irish Government, and by the Secretary to the President on behalf of the head of the State, these necessarily limited courtesies being in fact of a lesser degree than those accorded three weeks previously in the case of the United States.