Really? I never knew that... Was it because of neutrality, or something more?
Mostly neutrality, though personal factors did
not help.
David Gray, FDR's man in Dublin had disastorous relations with Dev.
Essentially the US Government saw Irish neutrality as a weak link in the UK's stand against Hitler, particularly regarding the Treaty Ports and the Battle of the Atantic and tended to ignore or belittle the causes of any Irish animosity towards the UK. There was a lot of paranoia about supposed pro-Axis sentiment and spies in Ireland. There was also the feeling that Ireland depended on British survival for her own so it was surely
obvious that Ireland should aid the UK.
It wasn't just the Government either. The American press tended to take a very dim view of Irish neutrality, as at absolute best, foolish and dangerous: