De Valera 2

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Éamon de Valera^[a][b] (/ˈeɪmən ˌdɛvəˈlɛərə, -ˈlɪər-/, Irish: [ˈeːmˠən̪ˠ dʲɛ ˈwalʲəɾʲə]; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera;^[2] 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of government and head of state and had a leading role in introducing the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.^[3][4]

Prior to de Valera's political career, he was a commandant of Irish Volunteers at Boland's Mill during the 1916 Easter Rising. He was arrested and sentenced to death but released for a variety of reasons, including his American citizenship and the public response to the British execution of Rising leaders. He returned to Ireland after being jailed in England and became one of the leading political figures of the War of Independence. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, de Valera served as the political leader of Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin until 1926, when he, along with many supporters, left the party to set up Fianna Fáil, a new political party which abandoned the policy of abstentionism from Dáil Éireann.

From there, de Valera went on to be at the forefront of Irish politics until the turn of the 1960s. He took over as president of the Executive Council from W. T. Cosgrave and later became Taoiseach, with the adoption of the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. He served as Taoiseach on three different occasions: from 1937 to 1948, from 1951 to 1954, and finally from 1957 to 1959. He remains the longest serving Taoiseach by total days served in the post. He resigned in 1959 upon his election as president of Ireland. By then, he had been Leader of Fianna Fáil for 33 years and he, along with older founding members, began to take a less prominent role relative to newer ministers such as Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney. De Valera served as President of Ireland from 1959 to 1973, two full terms in office.

De Valera's political beliefs evolved from militant Irish republicanism to strong social, cultural and fiscal conservatism.^[5] He has been characterised as having a stern and unbending, and also devious demeanour. His roles in the Civil War have also been interpreted as making him a divisive figure in Irish history. Biographer Tim Pat Coogan sees his time in power as being characterised by economic and cultural stagnation, while Diarmaid Ferriter argues that the stereotype of de Valera as an austere, cold, and even backward figure was largely manufactured in the 1960s and is misguided.^[5]

Early life

Éamon de Valera was born on 14 October 1882 in New York City, the son of Catherine Coll, who was originally from Bruree, County Limerick,^[6] and Juan Vivion de Valera, described on the birth certificate as a Spanish artist born in 1853. Some researchers have placed his father's place of birth in Cuba,^[7] while others have suggested other locations; according to Antonio Rivero Taravillo, he was born in Seville,^[8] while Ronan Fanning has him born in the Basque Country.^[9]

He was born at the Nursery and Child's Hospital,^[10] Lexington Avenue, a home for destitute orphans and abandoned children.^[11] His parents were reportedly married on 18 September 1881 at St Patrick's Church in Jersey City, New Jersey, but archivists have not located any marriage certificate or any birth, baptismal, or death certificate information for anyone called Juan Vivion de Valera (nor for "de Valeros", an alternative spelling). On de Valera's original birth certificate, his name is given as George de Valero and his father is listed as Vivion de Valero. Although he was known as Edward de Valera before 1901, a fresh birth certificate was issued in 1910, in which his first name was officially changed to Edward and his father's surname given as "de Valera".^[12][13] As a child, he was known as "Eddie" or "Eddy".^[14]

According to Coll, Juan Vivion died in 1885 leaving Coll and her child in poor circumstances.^[15] Éamon was taken to Ireland by his uncle Ned at the age of two. When his mother remarried in the mid-1880s, he was not brought back to live with her, but was reared by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, her son Patrick and her daughter Hannie, in Bruree, County Limerick. He was educated locally at Bruree National School, County Limerick and C.B.S. Charleville, County Cork. Aged sixteen, he won a scholarship. He was not successful in enrolling at two colleges in Limerick, but was accepted at Blackrock College, Dublin, at the instigation of his local curate.^{[16]: 19–20}

He played rugby at Blackrock and Rockwell College, then for Munster around 1905. He remained a lifelong devotee of rugby, attending international matches even towards the end of his life when he was nearly blind.^[17]

At the end of his first year at Blackrock College he was student of the year. He also won further scholarships and exhibitions and in 1903 was appointed teacher of mathematics at Rockwell College, County Tipperary.^[18] It was here that de Valera was first given the nickname "Dev" by a teaching colleague, Tom O'Donnell.^[19]: 73 In 1904, he graduated in mathematics from the Royal University of Ireland. He then studied for a year at Trinity College Dublin but, owing to the necessity of earning a living, did not proceed further and returned to teaching, this time at Belvedere College.^{[19]: 87–90}

In 1906, he secured a post as a teacher of mathematics at Carysfort Teachers' Training College for women in Blackrock, Dublin. His applications for professorships in colleges of the National University of Ireland were unsuccessful, but he obtained a part-time appointment at St Patrick's College, Maynooth^[20] and also taught mathematics at various Dublin schools, including Castleknock College (1910–1911; under the name Edward de Valera) and Belvedere College.^[21]

There were occasions when de Valera seriously contemplated the religious life like his half-brother, Fr. Thomas Wheelwright, but ultimately he did not pursue this vocation. As late as 1906, when he was 24 years old, he approached the President of Clonliffe Seminary in Dublin for advice on his vocation.^[22] De Valera was throughout his life portrayed as a deeply religious man, and in death asked to be buried in a religious habit. His biographer, Tim Pat Coogan, speculated that questions surrounding de Valera's legitimacy may have been a deciding factor in his not entering religious life. Being illegitimate would have been a bar to receiving priestly orders, but not to becoming a lay member of a religious order.^[23]

As a young Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker), de Valera became an activist for the Irish language. In 1908, he joined the Árdchraobh of Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League), where he met Sinéad Flanagan, a teacher by profession and four years his senior. They were married on 8 January 1910 at St Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin.

The couple had five sons: Vivion (1910–1982), Éamon (1913–1986), Brian (1915–1936), Rúaidhrí (1916–1978), and Terence (Terry; 1922–2007); and two daughters: Máirín (1912–1984) and Emer (1918–2012). Brian de Valera predeceased his parents.

Early political activity

While he was already involved in the Gaelic revival, de Valera's involvement in the political revolution began on 25 November 1913, when he joined the Irish Volunteers. The organisation was formed to oppose the Ulster Volunteers and ensure the enactment of the Irish Parliamentary Party's Third Home Rule Act won by its leader John Redmond. After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, de Valera rose through the ranks and it was not long before he was elected captain of the Donnybrook branch. Preparations were pushed ahead for an armed revolt, and he was made commandant of the Third Battalion and adjutant of the Dublin Brigade. He took part in the Howth gun-running.^[24] He was sworn by Thomas MacDonagh into the oath-bound Irish Republican Brotherhood, which secretly controlled the central executive of the Volunteers. He opposed secret societies, but this was the only way he could be guaranteed full information on plans for the Rising.^[16]: 32

Revolutionary years

1916 Easter Rising

De Valera addressing a crowd on the steps of Ennis Courthouse, County Clare, in July 1917

On 24 April 1916, the Easter Rising began. Forces commanded by de Valera occupied Boland's Mill^[25] on Grand Canal Street in Dublin. His chief task was to cover the southeastern approaches to the city. After a week of fighting, the order came from Pádraig Pearse to surrender. De Valera was court-martialled, convicted, and sentenced to death, but the sentence was immediately commuted to penal servitude for life.

De Valera was among the few republican leaders the British did not execute.^[25] It has been argued that his life was saved by four facts. First, he was one of the last to surrender and he was held in a different prison from other leaders, thus his execution was delayed by practicalities. Second, the US Consulate in Dublin made representations before his trial (i.e., was he actually a United States citizen and if so, how would the United States react to the execution of one of its citizens?) while the full legal situation was clarified.

The UK was trying to bring the US into the war in Europe at the time, and the Irish American vote was important in US politics.^[25] Third, when Lt-Gen Sir John Maxwell reviewed his case he said, "Who is he? I haven't heard of him before. I wonder would he be likely to make trouble in the future?" On being told that de Valera was unimportant, he commuted the court-martial's death sentence to life imprisonment.^[26]: 93

De Valera had no Fenian family or personal background and his MI5 file in 1916 was very slim, detailing only his open membership in the Irish Volunteers.^[26]: 92 Fourth, by the time de Valera was court-martialled on 8 May, political pressure was being brought to bear on Maxwell to halt the executions; Maxwell had already told British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith that only two more were to be executed, Seán Mac Diarmada and James Connolly, although they were court-martialled the day after de Valera. His late trial, representations made by the American Consulate, his lack of Fenian background and political pressure all combined to save his life, though had he been tried a week earlier he would probably have been shot.^{[26]: 91–94}

The Kilmainham Gaol cell of Éamon de Valera

De Valera's supporters and detractors argue about his bravery during the Easter Rising. His supporters claim he showed leadership skills and a capacity for meticulous planning. His detractors claim he suffered a nervous breakdown during the Rising. According to accounts from 1916, de Valera was seen running about, giving conflicting orders, refusing to sleep and on one occasion, having forgotten the password, almost getting himself shot in the dark by his own men.

According to one account, de Valera, on being forced to sleep by one subordinate who promised to sit beside him and wake him if he was needed, suddenly woke up, his eyes "wild", screaming, "Set fire to the railway! Set fire to the railway!" Later in the Ballykinlar internment Camp, one de Valera loyalist approached another internee, a medical doctor, recounted the story, and asked for a medical opinion as to de Valera's condition.

He also threatened to sue the doctor, future Fine Gael TD and Minister, Dr. Tom O'Higgins, if he ever repeated the story.^[27] The British reportedly, however, considered de Valera's forces the best-trained and best-led among the rebels.^[25] De Valera's latest biographer, Anthony J. Jordan, writes of this controversy, "Whatever happened in Boland's Mills, or any other garrison, does not negate or undermine in any way the extraordinary heroism of "Dev" and his comrades".^[16]: 37

After imprisonment in Dartmoor, Maidstone and Lewes prisons, de Valera and his comrades were released under an amnesty in June 1917. On 10 July 1917, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Clare (the constituency which he represented until 1959) in a by-election caused by the death of the previous incumbent Willie Redmond, brother of the Irish Party leader John Redmond, who had died fighting in World War I.

In the 1918 general election he was elected both for that seat and Mayo East.^[28] But because most other Irish rebellion leaders were dead, in 1917 he was elected President of Sinn Féin,^[25] the party which had been blamed incorrectly for provoking the Easter Rising.^[citation ^needed] This party became the political vehicle through which the survivors of the Easter Rising channelled their republican ethos and objectives.^[29] The previous President of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith, had championed an Anglo-Irish dual-monarchy based on the Austro-Hungarian model, with independent legislatures for both Ireland and Britain.

President of Dáil Éireann

Sinn Féin won a huge majority in the 1918 general election, largely thanks to the British executions of the 1916 leaders, the threat of conscription with the Conscription Crisis of 1918 and the first-past-the-post ballot. They won 73 out of 105 Irish seats, with about 47% of votes cast. 25 seats were uncontested. On 21 January 1919, 27 Sinn Féin MPs (the rest were imprisoned or impaired), calling themselves Teachtaí Dála (TDs), assembled in the Mansion House in Dublin and formed an Irish parliament, known as Dáil Éireann (translatable into English as the Assembly of Ireland). The Ministry of Dáil Éireann was formed, under the leadership of the Príomh Aire (also called President of Dáil Éireann) Cathal Brugha. De Valera had been re-arrested in May 1918 and imprisoned and so could not attend the January session of the Dáil. He escaped from Lincoln Gaol, England in February 1919. As a result, he replaced Brugha as Príomh Aire in the April session of Dáil Éireann.^[citation ^needed]

...

Final years as Taoiseach

Returning to Ireland during the Mother and Child Scheme crisis that racked the First Inter-Party Government, de Valera kept silent as Leader of the Opposition, preferring to stay aloof from the controversy. That stance helped return de Valera to power in the 1951 general election, but without an overall majority. His and Fianna Fáil's popularity was short-lived, however; his government introduced severe, deflationary budgetary and economic policies in 1952, causing a political backlash that cost Fianna Fáil several seats in the Dáil in by-elections of 1953 and early 1954. Faced with a likely loss of confidence in the Dáil, de Valera instead called an election in May 1954, in which Fianna Fáil was defeated and a Second Inter-Party Government was formed with John A. Costello again as Taoiseach.^[93]

On 16 September 1953, de Valera met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for the first and only time, at 10 Downing Street. (The two men had seen each other at a party in 1949, but without speaking). He surprised the UK Prime Minister by claiming that if he had been in office in 1948 Ireland would not have left the Commonwealth.^[94]

It was during this period that de Valera's eyesight began to deteriorate and he was forced to spend several months in the Netherlands, where he had six operations. In 1955, while in opposition, de Valera spoke against the formation of a European Parliament and European federalism, noting that Ireland "did not strive to get out of that British domination [...] to get into a worse [position]".^[95]

Like the first coalition government, the second lasted only three years. At the general election of 1957, de Valera, then in his seventy-fifth year, won an absolute majority of nine seats, the greatest number he had ever secured. This was the beginning of another sixteen-year period in office for Fianna Fáil. A new economic policy emerged with the First Programme for Economic Expansion. In July 1957, in response to the Border Campaign (IRA), Part II of the Offences Against the State Act was re-activated and he ordered the internment without trial of Republican suspects, an action which did much to end the IRA's campaign.^[96]

De Valera's final term as Taoiseach also saw the passage of numerous reforms in health and welfare. In 1952, unemployment insurance was extended to male agricultural employees, child allowances were extended to the second child, and a maternity allowance for insured women was introduced. A year later, eligibility for maternity and child services and public hospital services was extended to approximately 85% of the population.^[64]

Presidency

While Fianna Fáil remained popular among the electorate, 75-year-old de Valera had begun to be seen by the electorate as too old and out of touch to remain as head of government.^[97] At the urging of party officials, de Valera decided to retire from government and the Dáil and instead seek the presidency of Ireland. He won the 1959 presidential election on 17 June 1959 and resigned as Taoiseach, Leader of Fianna Fáil and a TD for Clare, six days later, handing over power to Seán Lemass.

De Valera was inaugurated President of Ireland on 25 June 1959.^[52] He was re-elected President in 1966 aged 84, which until 2013 was a world record for the oldest elected head of state.^[98] At his retirement in 1973 at the age of 90, he was the oldest head of state in the world.^[97]

As President of Ireland, de Valera received many state visits, including the 1963 visit of US president John F. Kennedy. Five months later de Valera attended the state funeral for Kennedy in Washington, D.C. and accompanied a group of 24 Defence Forces cadets who performed a silent drill at his grave site.^[97] In June 1964, he returned to Washington, D.C. as the second President of Ireland to address the United States Congress.^[99]

In 1966, the Dublin Jewish community arranged the planting and dedication of the Éamon de Valera Forest in Israel, near Nazareth, in recognition of his support for Ireland's Jews.^[100]

In January 1969, de Valera became the first President to address both houses of the Oireachtas, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Dáil Éireann.

In 1969, seventy-three countries sent goodwill messages to NASA for the historic first lunar landing. These messages still rest on the lunar surface. De Valera's message on behalf of Ireland stated, "May God grant that the skill and courage which have enabled man to alight upon the Moon will enable him, also, to secure peace and happiness upon the Earth and avoid the danger of self-destruction."^[101]

Death

Éamon de Valera's grave in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. His wife, Sinéad, and son, Brian (who was killed in a horse-riding accident in 1936) are buried there also.

Éamon de Valera died from pneumonia and heart failure in Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, Dublin, on 29 August 1975, aged 92.^[102]

His wife, Sinéad de Valera, four years his senior, had died the previous January, on the eve of their 65th wedding anniversary. His body lay in state at Dublin Castle and was given a full state funeral on 3 September at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, which was broadcast on national television. Over 200,000 people reportedly lined the three-mile funeral route from Dublin city centre to Glasnevin Cemetery.^[103] He is buried in Glasnevin alongside his wife and son Brian.

Legacy

De Valera's political creed evolved from militant republicanism to social and cultural conservatism.^[5]

Ireland's dominant political personality for many decades, de Valera received numerous honours. He was elected Chancellor of the National University of Ireland in 1921, holding the post until his death. Pope John XXIII bestowed on him the Order of Christ (KSC).^[104] He received honorary degrees from universities in Ireland and abroad. In 1968, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS),^[4] a recognition of his lifelong interest in mathematics. He also served as a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (for Down from 1921 to 1929 and for South Down from 1933 to 1937), although he held to the republican policy of abstentionism and did not take his seat in Stormont.

De Valera was criticised for becoming co-owner of one of Ireland's most influential group of newspapers, Irish Press Newspapers, funded by numerous small investors who received no dividend for decades.^[105] De Valera is alleged by critics to have helped keep Ireland under the influence of Catholic conservatism.^[106] De Valera rejected, however, demands by organisations like Maria Duce that Roman Catholicism be made the state religion of Ireland, just as he rejected demands by the Irish Christian Front for the Irish Free State to support Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.^[107]

De Valera's preoccupation with his part in history, and his need to explain and justify it, are reflected in innumerable ways. His faith in historians as trustworthy guardians of his reputation was not absolute. He made many attempts to influence their views and to adjust and refine the historical record whenever he felt this portrayed him, his allies or his cause inaccurately or unfavourably to his mind, these could often mean the same thing. He extended these endeavours to encompass the larger Irish public. An important function of his newspaper group, the Irish Press group, was to rectify what he saw as the errors and omissions of a decade in which he had been the subject of largely hostile commentary.^[108]

In recent decades, his role in Irish history has no longer been unequivocally seen by historians as a positive one, and a biography by Tim Pat Coogan alleges^[109][page ^needed] that his failures outweigh his achievements, with de Valera's reputation declining while that of his great rival in the 1920s, Michael Collins, was rising. A more recent 2007 work on de Valera by historian Diarmaid Ferriter presents a more positive picture of de Valera's legacy.^[110] Bertie Ahern, at a book launch for Diarmaid Ferriter's biography of de Valera,^[5][111] described de Valera's achievements in political leadership during the formative years of the state:

One of de Valera's finest hours was his regrouping of the Republican side after defeat in the civil war, and setting his followers on an exclusively peaceful and democratic path, along which he later had to confront both domestic Fascism and the IRA. He became a democratic statesman, not a dictator. He did not purge the civil service of those who had served his predecessors, but made best use of the talent available.

A notable failure was his attempt to reverse the provision of the 1937 Constitution in relation to the electoral system. On retiring as Taoiseach in 1959, he proposed that the Proportional Representation system enshrined in that constitution should be replaced. De Valera argued that Proportional Representation had been responsible for the instability that had characterised much of the post war period. A constitutional referendum to ratify this was defeated by the people.

One aspect of de Valera's legacy is that since the foundation of the state, a de Valera has nearly always served in Dáil Éireann. Éamon de Valera served until 1959, his son, Vivion de Valera, was also a Teachta Dála (TD). Éamon Ó Cuív, his grandson, is currently a member of the Dáil while his granddaughter, Síle de Valera is a former TD. Both have served in ministries in the Irish Government....

Wikipedia

NAME: de Valera, Eamon

OTHER-NAME: Dev; the Long Fellow

BIRTH: 10/14/1882, New York, NY

DEATH: 8/30/1975, Dublin, Ireland

CATEGORY: Politics & Government

DISCIPLINE: Statesman

ASSESSMENT: He helped found the modern state of Ireland,

LANGUAGE: English, Gaelic

EDUCATION: National School of Bruree (age 6 (5/7/1888)-12), Christian Brothers High School in Charleville (determined not to become a farm laborer, he walked 7 miles each way to attend this school), Blackrock College, Dublin 1898 (won scholarship at 16), Royal University of Ireland (now the National University of Ireland) (won scholarship), 1902-1904, degree in mathematics

ACHIEVEMENT: Teacher, author, former prime minister and president of the Irish Republic

The Irish Constitution, Fianna Fail political party, the Irish Press Group (2^nd largest Irish newspaper empire)

MAJOR-WORK: Ireland’s Case Against Conscription; The Foundation of the Republic of Ireland in the Vote of the People; Ireland’s Stand, 1939-1945

PARENTS: Catherine (Kate) Coll of Knockmore townland; Juan Vivion de Valera (m. 9/19/1881)

SPOUSE: Jane “Sinead” Flanagan (m. 1/8/1910, d. 1/7/1975)

SIBLINGS: half-sister Annie Wheelright and half-brother Thomas Wheelright

CHILDREN: 5 sons, 2 daughters (Vivion b. 1911; Mairin b. 4/1912; Eamonn b. 10/1913; Brian (b. ??? d. 2/36); Ruari b. 11/1916; Emer b. 8/15/1918; Terry b. 1922)

DETAILS:

Eamon de Valera was born in New York City but was sent to live with his mother’s family in County Limerick, Ireland after his father died in November 1884. He began his career teaching mathematics, physics, Latin, and French.

De Valera, a supporter of the Irish language revival movement, joined the Gaelic League in 1908. It was through this organization that he met his future wife.

In 1911, de Valera was appointed director of an Irish summer school at Tawin where he met Roger Casement*, the school’s patron. In 1913 de Valera’s life changed direction when he joined the newly-formed Irish Volunteers, a secret organization dedicated to expelling the British from Ireland.

De Valera quickly rose through the ranks and was appointed commandant of the 3^rd Battalion in March 1915. During 1915 plans were made for an uprising against Britain. At noon on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, the uprising began. In the court martials that followed, De Valera was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to a life sentence in an English prison; he was freed in the general amnesty of June 15, 1917.

De Valera was elected Sinn Fein political party representative for East Clare (July 11, 1917), President of Sinn Fein (October 25, 1917), and President of the Volunteers’ Executive, the reorganized Irish Volunteers (October 27,1917).

In May of 1918, de Valera was arrested as a leader of Sinn Fein for alleged communication with the Germans, but on February 3, 1919 he escaped from Lincoln Jail with the help of Michael Collins*.

In the December 14, 1918 election Sinn Fein won three-quarters of all Irish constituencies. In 1919, Sinn Fein abandoned the British Parliament and established an independent Irish Parliament, known as the Dail Eireann. The Dail adopted a declaration of independence and reaffirmed the establishment of an Irish republic which had been first announced during the 1916 Easter Rebellion. On April 1, 1919, de Valera was elected Priomh Aire (prime minister) of the Dail Eireann.

De Valera traveled to the U.S. in June to raise funds to aid Ireland in the fight against the British. While in America, he raised over $6 million through the sale of bond certificates. On the opinion of then-lawyer Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the bond certificates (which would be exchanged for real bonds when the Irish republic was recognized) were legal.

While he had been in the U.S., the political landscape in Ireland had changed dramatically with the beginnings of the bloody guerrilla warfare and the development of Michael Collins’ Squad. De Valera was in America for Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920, in which the Squad killed 19 officers of the British Secret Service. De Valera disagreed with Collins’ approach to fighting the British and was upset over the influence Collins exerted as Acting President of the Dail during his absence.

On July 11, 1921, a truce went into effect between Britain and Ireland and De Valera traveled with a delegation to London to negotiate a peace treaty. During these talks he met privately with Prime Minister Lloyd George* four times.

The British offer included dominion status for the 26 counties of southern Ireland. The six northernmost counties were primarily Protestant, pro-British and would be partitioned until such time as they wished to join the rest of Ireland. In addition, the British proposal called for the use of Irish ports, British defense of Irish coastal waters, the limitation in size of any Irish Army, and Irish responsibility for a portion of the British National Debt. De Valera rejected the proposal and said he would not recommend it to the Dail.

On August 26, the Dail accepted de Valera’s proposal to change his title to President and Prime Minister of the Republic. Irish peace delegates accepted British terms, signed a treaty on December 6, and the Dail began its debate on the 14^th. De Valera denounced the treaty creating the Irish Free State because it did not incorporate the six counties of Northern Ireland and it required Irish officeholders to swear allegiance to the British crown. However the Republican Parliament of Dail Eireann approved the Separation Treaty (or Anglo-Irish Treaty) on January 7, 1922, in a vote of 64 to 57.

In protest, De Valera resigned from the Dail on January 9, but remained the president of Sinn Fein.

Michael Collins, the chairman of the provisional government set up by the treaty, called for an immediate general election and the country voted in favor of the Treaty and the Provisional Government.

On June 28, 1922, civil war broke out in Dublin between the Collins Free State Faction and the de Valera Republican Faction. Collins was killed in an ambush on August 22. On October 25, de Valera, with the support of the IRA, formed a new “government” which considered itself to be the second Dail. De Valera was elected President and had the responsibility for the IRA.

After failed negotiations with the Provisional Government, de Valera finally issued a statement calling a halt to the civil war on May 24, 1923. He was arrested on August 15 by the Irish Free State for his civil war activities. While in prison, de Valera won election as Sinn Fein candidate to represent County Clare. He was released from prison on July 16, 1924 only to be re-arrested in October for going into the Six Counties to support an anti-Treaty candidate and disrupt elections.

Although they made gains in every election, Sinn Fein representatives refused to enter the Parliament (which they saw as an illegitimate government set up by Britain). On March 9, 1926, de Valera proposed a compromise to the party that Sinn Fein representatives could enter the Parliament if they did not have to swear the Oath of Allegiance, but the motion was defeated. He resigned his position as president of Sinn Fein to become a free agent, at leave to enter the Dail.

On April 17, de Valera announced his new party, Fianna Fail (Warriors of Destiny), to the press. De Valera easily won the next election.

He tried to enter the Parliament on June 23, 1927, but he was not allowed to enter without taking the Oath. On August 10, he finally signed the Oath of Allegiance, declaring it a political formality, and took his place in the Dail.

During the February 16, 1932 general election, Fianna Fail members formed a coalition government with the Labour party, gaining a majority in the Dail. De Valera was elected to the presidency of the Executive Council on March 9. He then appointed himself Minister of External Affairs in the Cabinet. On April 20, de Valera introduced a bill to abolish the Oath of Allegiance. This bill passed on May 3, 1933.

The Dail approved de Valera’s draft new Constitution on June 14, 1937, declaring itself a sovereign state. In the July 1 election the Constitution was approved by a slim margin and was ratified on December 29.

On April 25, 1938, an agreement with Britain ended British occupation of Irish naval bases. With World War II looming, Winston Churchill* objected to the agreement in the House of Commons, but ir was accepted.

Churchill’s fears were justified when de Valera declared neutrality during WWII and refused to let the British use Irish ports. This policy was implemented in an effort to safeguard Ireland from German bombing campaigns, as well as to demonstrate Ireland’s independence.

In December 1940, the British imposed “punitive” measures against Ireland, which had the effect of severely limiting imports into the country and causing drastic shortages. Throughout the war, de Valera exercised strict censorship of the Irish Press to limit the information reaching the Irish people about the war and German atrocities. Following Hitler’s death, de Valera paid a visit of condolence to the German Embassy.

In the February 4, 1948 general election Fianna Fail lost their majority and John A. Costello became president of the Dail. Costello introduced the Republic of Ireland Act in 1948 which was signed on December 21, 1948 and took effect in April 1949. This Act formally established the Irish Republic. Britain recognized the Republic of Ireland but declared that the northern six counties of Ireland could not be included without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

De Valera returned to power as prime minister from 1951 until 1954 when he was again defeated by Costello. After a last stint as prime minister from 1957 to 1959 he became President of the Republic of Ireland until 1973.

At the conclusion of his second term as President, de Valera retired to Talbot Lodge, a nursing home run by the Sisters of Charity.

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Having been warned that Austrian physicist Edwin Schrödinger* was in danger from the Nazis, de Valera contacted him in Geneva and invited him to Ireland. Schrödinger was appointed Director of the School of Theoretical Physics at the Institute for Advanced Studies on November 21, 1940.

ONELINER: Eamon de Valera, first President of Ireland

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

Coogan, T. P. Eamon de Valera: The man who was Ireland. Dorset Press. New York: 1993.

“De Valera, Eamon.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6^th ed. Columbia University Press, 2001.

“de Valera, Eamon.” Encyclopedia Britannica. http://search.eb.com/eb/article?ue=30094. Accessed August 14, 2002.

“Eamon De Valera.” Almanac of Famous People, 6^th ed. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

“Eamon De Valera.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2^nd ed. 17 vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

“Eamon de Valera.” Historic World Leaders. Gale Research, 1994. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

“Ireland.” Encyclopedia Britannica. http://search.eb.com/eb/article?ue=109324. Accessed August 14, 2002.

Research Notes:

EAMON DE VALERA:

Irish politician and patriot, prime minister (1932-48, 1951-54, 1957-59),

and president (1959-73). Statesman and leader, visionary, scholar - great

loves Irish language and mathematics.

Eamon de Valera was born Edward de Valera on 14 Oct 1882, in Manhattan, New

York City, son of Vivion Juan de Valera, Spaniard who had studied to be a

sculptor but through ill health had reverted to teaching music, and Irish

mother, Kate Coll from Knockmore, near Bruree, Co. Limerick. Father died

when de V. aged 2, and mother decided he would be better off in Ireland -

was sent to be brought up by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, who lived in a

labourer's cottage in Knockmore. In Ireland, de V. attended the local

national school at Bruree, and then the Christian Brother's School at

Charleville, walking the 7 miles there and back everyday since the Colls

cdn't afford a bicycle. At 16 (1899), he won a scholarship to Blackrock

College in Dublin as a lay boarder, where studied for 2 yrs before entering

the Royal University, Dublin, where he developed his intense love for

mathematics. After graduating in 1904, de V. became a mathematics teacher

at Rockwell College nr Cashel, and lectured part-time at Maynooth and

various Dublin colleges. Later he became a professor of mathematics in the

training college of Our Lady of Mercy, at Carysfort, Blackrock.

In 1908, de V. joined the Gaelic League, which marked the beginning of his

lifelong support for the revival of the Irish language. One of his teachers

was Sinead Flanagan, 4 yrs his senior, whom he married in Jan 1910, with

whom he wd have seven children. Their lives changed dramatically, however,

with the introduction of the 1913 Home Rule Bill in England: in response,

Ulster Protestants established a provisional govt and organized military

resistance, and in turn in Nov 1913 a public meeting was called in Dublin to

establish a militant nationalist volunteer force in southern Ireland to

fight the Protestants. De V. was at the meeting and founding member of

Irish Volunteers, thus committing himself to armed struggle. He took part in

the landing of guns from the Asgard in July 1914, and commanded the Boland's

Mills garrison during the 1916 anti-British Easter Rebellion in Dublin,

being the last commander to surrender. He was sentenced to death along with

the other commanders, but this sentence was later commuted to life

imprisonment - probably in response to the outcry against 16 earlier

executions.

While in Lewes and Dartmoor prisons de V. began to show his abilities as a

political leader, and when along with other Irish prisoners he was released

by a general amnesty in June 1917 was greeted as chief survivor of the

uprising. On his release, he was elected deputy for the recently-established

nationalist political party Sinn Fein ("We Alone") for East Clare on policy

of complete and absolute independence of an Irish Republic. Then, in Oct

1917, at the Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis, he was elected president of the party and

at the end of the same month he was elected also president of the Irish

Volunteers. When the British Govt proposed to extend conscription to Ireland

in early 1918, de V. led the successful opposition to this proposal, for

which on 17 May 1918 he was arrested and deported for internment to England.

During his absence, Sinn Fein won three-quarters of all the Irish

constituencies (Dec 1918), and republic "illegally" declared in Ireland,

with de V. as its absent president.

In Feb 1919 de V. made dramatic escape from Lincoln Jail using a key

smuggled to him in a cake. Remained in hiding til June, when escaped as

stowaway in disguise on ship to U.S. to seek financial and political support

for an independent Ireland - raised six million dollars for cause of Irish

independence. Returned to Ireland in Dec 1920 to take up post of President

of Ireland, at point when guerrilla War of Independence was at its height -

republicans fighting regular British forces + "Black and Tans" (ex-army men

brought into Ireland to assist British). Truce was declared on 11 July 1921,

and negotiations opened with English PM Lloyd George - five Irish delegates

(not including de V. - had to defend his decision to remain in Ireland for

many yrs afterwards - said he thought he'd have more influence from Ireland,

not altogether convincing, and totally backfired) went to London in Oct

1921, and after intense negotiations on 6 Dec 1921 they signed - under

threat of war, without consulting de V. - the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which

officially divided country in two - Irish Free State (26 counties) and

Northern Ireland - and imposed on Irish Free State politicians an Oath of

Allegiance to the British crown. Although de V. fought against treaty, in

1922 it was accepted by the Dail (Irish Assembly), 64 in favour, 57 against,

and Arthur Griffith (leader of delegation) was elected president in his

place, and de V. became unofficial leader of opposition.

De V. thus became central figure in ensuing civil war (June 1922 - May 1923)

many republicans up in arms over treaty, and he supported armed resistance

which however ended in complete failure. On 15 August 1923 at Ennis, he was

arrested under the Public Safety Act as a threat to law and order by William

Thomas Cosgrave's Irish Free State ministry, and was not released until July

Despite this, he was elected as Clare deputy in general election on 27

August 1923, and continued to represent Clare for rest of political career.

On his release, de V. began to organize a Republican opposition party that,

owing to oath of allegiance, cd not sit in the Dail. However, by end of 1925

he had changed his mind on this - believed that oath was "an empty political

formula" that cd be taken and then disregarded - and this decision split

Sinn Fein in two: supporters of de V. who wanted to be part of political

process, and those of the I.R.A. (Irish Republican Army, created Jan 1919 as

successor to Irish Volunteers), dedicated to armed struggle and overthrow of

Anglo-Irish Treaty. In March 1926, de V. resigned as president of Sinn Fein

over the issue, and decided to launch a new party - May 1926 launched Fianna

Fial (Band of Destiny) to pursue republican principles by electoral means.

Aims were: a united Ireland as a republic; to restore the Irish Language and

develop Irish culture; to develop a social system with equal opportunity for

all; to have a fair system of land distribution in Ireland; to make Ireland

as self-sufficient as possible, with a proper balance between agriculture

and other industries. In November 1926, Fianna Fail held its first Ard-Fheis

and de V. was elected president of the new organisation.

In June 1927 general election, Fianna Fail won 44 seats, and, having taken

the oath (big U-turn, which caused huge criticism of de V.), they entered

the Dail on 12 August. Although a minority, party began immediately

demanding abolition of the oath of allegiance, of the governor-general, of

the present Seanad (senate), and of land-purchase annuities payable to

Great Britain.In order to spread their ideas, the Fianna Fail party founded

own daily newspaper, 'The Irish Press', Sept 1931.

General Election 1932: Fianna Fail increased their seats from 57 to 72, and

in a coalition with Labour Party formed a govt. with de Valera as Taoiseach

(Head of Government) and Minister for External Affairs. At last in power, de

V. quickly set about severing connections with GB - including withholding

payment of land annuities. Result of second policy was start of an economic

war with GB which to great extent played into de V.'s hands - meant had

every reason to develop his intended programme of national self-sufficiency

in an Irish-speaking Ireland, while building up Irish industry behind

protective tariffs.

In general election of 1937, de V. won an absolute majority, scrapped the

oath of allegiance to the British crown, and secured the adoption of a new

constitution for Irish Republic as a sovereign state, (without however

completely severing ties to the Commonwealth), name of which changed from

Irish Free State to Eire. Dail passed new External Relations Act which, plus

new constitution, destroyed Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 - much to delight of

most Irish. During 1930s, de V.'s international prestige enhanced by his

success as president of Council of League of Nations (1932), and of Assembly

of League of Nations (1938). Growing threat of war also led Neville

Chamberlain in 1938 to end economic war with Eire by mutual concessions - in

particular, under 1938 agreement, GB relinquished naval bases at ports of

Cobh, Berehaven, and Lough Swilly. Irish neutrality secured also when in

September 1939 on outbreak of WWII de V. immediately proclaimed that 26

counties wd remain neutral and wd resist attack from any quarter - meant

that Irish spared many of major disadvantages of war, and in fact brought

temporary prosperity. Meant that de V. retained office in subsequent

elections til 1948, despite post-war probs of economic depression and

unemployment, plus feelings against partition of Ireland still running deep.

De V. & Science: throughout life, V. had two steadfast basic ideals: i) for

the revitalizing of the Irish language and associated culture; ii) for

establishment in Ireland of a centre of research in theoretical physics of

world renown. By 1938, had plan for institution based along lines of

Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, founded 1930, where Einstein and

other scientists had gone as refugees from Nazi Germany: in March 1938

Hitler invaded Austria, and V. decided to invite theoretical physicist Erwin

Schrodinger to Ireland - had to do it through undercover means (in which,

through his republican history, V. was an expert) and managed to arrange

secret contact with Schr. who met him in Geneva in September 1938. In July

1939, he introduced to the state parl., his bill for the establishment and

maintenance in Dublin of an Institute for Advanced Studies, consisting of a

School of Celtic studies and a School for Theoretical Physics - was

possible, even though Ireland a poor country and during WWII, because these

two subjects didn't require any elaborate equipment (pre-computers etc),

just brains and paper, and was unusual time when great mind like Erwin

Schrodinger (who arrived Oct 1939) was forced to leave Europe. Bill became

law on 19 June 1940. First two schools, for Celtic Studies and Theoretical

Physics, were located in two adjoining Georgian houses in Merrion Square,

and opened in Oct 1940.

In 1948, de V. called sudden general election: Irish discontent had grown

during 1940s, and Fianna Fail gained only 68 seats out of 147 and the

anti-Fianna Fail parties came together to form a coalition government under

John A. Costello, which immediately repealed External Relations Act, taking

Republic of Ireland out of the British Commonwealth. (De V. had avoided

this, as had hoped for eventual reunion of Northern Ireland and Eire).

However, coalition collapsed in 1951, and de. V was returned to power until

1954, when Costello formed second interparty coalition govt. In March 1957,

after three yrs of rising prices, continued emigration, and agricultural

recession, 75-yr-old de V. was returned with first overall majority since

1944 election. However, after two years growing blindness led to his

resignation in early 1959 as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail. Instead

agreed to stand as candidate for the presidency, and was elected President

of Ireland June 1959, with seven-yr term.

During presidency, de V. received many visitors including Presidents Charles

de Gaulle and John Kennedy. He was re-elected President in 1966 at the age

of 83. He received honorary degrees from universities in Ireland and abroad.

After 14 years as president (the longest time allowed), he retired from

office in June 1973. Died two yrs later at nursing home nr Dublin -on 29

August 1975 - at age of 92. He was buried in Glasnevin cemetery after a

state funeral. Remains major political figure of modern day Ireland.

N.B. Will continue to hunt for quirky stuff on de Valera.