Eamon de Valera

Posted by Jim on March 9, 2018

Left to right: Harry Boland, Michael Collins, and Eamon de Valera

AOINE — On March 9, 1932 Eamon de Valera formed his first Free State government. Eamon was born on October 14, 1882 in New York City, of an Irish mother from Country Limberic and a Spanish father. When his father died in 1885 his mother sent Eamon back to Bruree, County Limerick to be raised as an Irishman from the age of three by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll.

Following his graduation from college he taught mathematics at several different colleges. His political activism began through an interest in the Irish language which cause him to join the Gaelic League in 1908, where he also met his future wife, Sinèad Flanagan. De Valera joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and rose to become commandant of the 3rd Battalion and adjutant of the Dublin Brigade as well as becoming a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization that controlled the Irish Volunteers. During the Easter Rising in 1916 he commanded the 3rd Battalion at Boland’s Mills and was the last commander in the city to surrender. Though he was sentenced to death, his US birth probably saved his life, as his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

When he was released under a general amnesty in June 1917 he was elected as the Sinn Fein candidate for MP from East Clare, a post he would hold until 1959. De Valera became president of Sinn Fein in October and led Sinn Fein to a huge victory in the 1918 elections. He was arrested by the British as part of their bogus “German Plot” in May 1918 and was in prison when Sinn Fein MPs meet in Dublin and declared themselves an Irish parliament, known as Dàil Éireann. De Valera was broken out of prison by Harry Boland and Michael Collins in February 1919

A trip to the US following his escape designed to help raise funds for the Irish cause from the Irish American community did not go well, as his relations with several US leaders was strained, but money did flow from the US for the Irish cause in spite of his problems. Following the truce that ended the Irish War of Independence in 1921 de Valera made a controversial decision not to be on the committee negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty. His opposition to that treaty led to the tragic Irish Civil War.

Following the defeat of the anti-treaty forces in the Civil War de Valera founded a new party, Fianna Fáil (The Warriors of Destiny), in March 1926. It would become the dominant Irish Party of the 20th century. In 1932 the party won a majority in the Dáil and formed a government with the Labour Party, putting de Valera in charge. He immediately began a campaign to remove all visible and eventually all actual connections to Great Britain and would continue that process as his party held power through the next 16 years. He would keep Ireland neutral during WWII, and controversially offer condolences to the German Ambassador following Hitler’s suicide in 1945.

The process of totally ending Ireland’s connections to Great Britain would culminate on April 18, 1949 when Ireland was declared a republic, though not by de Valera, but his successor Taoiseach John Costello after de Valera was voted out of power in 1947. De Valera would be voted back into power in 1951, out in 1954 and in again in 1957 and then would be elected President of Ireland in 1959. He would hold the post until 1973, when he retired. He would pass away on August 29, 1975.

Eamon de Valera was a controversial figure in Irish history, but whether for good or ill, there is no question that he was the towering figure of 20th century Ireland.