David Gray (ambassador)

David Gray (1870–1968) was best known as the United States Ambassador to Ireland from 15 April 1940 until 28 June 1947. His official title was 'Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary' and his official residence was Florida. In his own words, his appointment to the Ambassadorship was nepotic, as he was First Lady's Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle through marriage. Gray was the Ambassador through most of the Second World War and the start of the Cold War. He led American efforts to convince Ireland to enter the war on the side of the Allies. His performance was such that Éamon de Valera sought repeatedly to have Gray replaced by another ambassador, especially after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

David Gray believed Ireland was only staying neutral because Eamon Da Valera actually believed the Nazis would eventually defeat the Allies. He also believed that top Irish officials were in fact colluding with Nazi Germany secretly.

The character of David Gray was played in the RTÉ television series Caught in a Free State by the actor O. Z. Whitehead.

As a Roosevelt family member, Gray wrote privately to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt with a number of dry verses and remarks, sometimes humorous and sometimes scathing, on his opinions of De Valera and Irish policy towards the War.

Senior lecturer in U.S. Foreign Policy, Timothy J. Lynch, has observed that 'his animus towards his host nation made Gray atypical of American ambassadors in Dublin'.

Gray, among other things, relied for guidance on seances conducted at the embassy residence, according to T. Ryle Dwyer, author of a number of publications on Irish neutrality. During World War II Gray was completely at odds with the OSS in Ireland. Gray believed the Irish government was secretly pro-Nazi. Gray consistently tried to get Ireland to join the war against the Nazis, though Ireland refused to ever do so. De Valera went so far as to ask the United States government and Franklin Roosevelt to remove Gray from his post because of opposition to Irish neutrality, though the U.S. government never did so.

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