Éamon de Valera

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Éamon de Valera
3rd President of Ireland

Career
Rank	3rd President
2 terms	25 June 1959 – 24 June 1973
Preceded by	Seán T. O'Kelly
Succeeded by	Erskine H. Childers
Rank	Taoiseach
First term	29 December 1937 – 18 February 1948
Preceded by	President of the Executive Council
Succeeded by	John A. Costello
Rank	Taoiseach
Second term	13 June 1951 – 2 June 1954
Preceded by	John A. Costello
Succeeded by	John A. Costello
Rank	Taoiseach
Third term	20 March 1957 – 23 June 1959
Preceded by	John A. Costello
Succeeded by	Seán Lemass
Party	Fianna Fáil
Personal
Date of birth	14 October 1882
Place of birth	Manhattan, New York
Date of death	29 August 1975 age 92
Place of death	Dublin, Ireland
Spouse	Sinéad Bean de Valera
Profession	teacher

Éamon de Valera (born with the name Edward George de Valera,IPA: [e:mˠɔn̪ˠ dʲɛ vʲal̪ʲɛɾʲa]^[1][2]) (14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland. Co-owner of one of the Irish Press Newspapers, he served in public office from 1917 to 1973, holding the various Irish prime ministerial and presidential offices. A significant leader of Ireland's struggle for independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the early 20th century, and the Republican anti-Treaty opposition in the ensuing Irish Civil War, de Valera was the author of Ireland's constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann.

At various times a mathematician, teacher and a politician, he served three times as Irish head of government; as Príomh Aire, as the second President of the Executive Council and the first Taoiseach. He ended his political career as President of Ireland, serving two terms from 1959 until 1973. He was also the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland from 1922 until 1975.

Contents 1 His family 2 Early political activity 3 Easter Rising 4 President of Dáil Éireann 5 President of the Republic 6 The treaty 7 Civil War 8 Entry into the Free State Dáil: the 'empty formula' 9 President of the Executive Council 10 De Valera's new constitution – Bunreacht na hÉireann 11 Neutrality in World War II 11.1 Characteristics 11.2 Analysis 12 De Valera and Churchill clash on radio 13 Post–war period 14 Overview 15 Governments 16 Political career 17 See also 18 References

[edit] His family

De Valera was born in the New York Nursery and Child's Hospital in New York City in 1882 to an Irish mother; he stated that his parents, Catherine Coll de Valera Wheelwright and Juan Vivion de Valera, a Spanish-Cuban settler and sculptor, were married in 1881 in New York. However, exhaustive trawls through church and state records by genealogists and by his most recent biographer, Tim Pat Coogan (1990) have failed to find either a church or civil record of the marriage. Furthermore, no birth, baptismal, marriage or death certificate has ever been found for anyone called Juan Vivion de Valera or de Valeros, an alternative spelling. Consequently, it is now widely believed by academics ^{[weasel words]} that de Valera was illegitimate^{[citation needed]}.

There are a number of occasions where de Valera seriously contemplated such a the religious life like his half-brother, Fr. Thomas Wheelwright. Yet he did not do so, and apparently received little encouragement from the priests whose advice he sought. Éamon de Valera was throughout his life a deeply religious man, who in death asked to be buried in a religious habit.

While 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 only have been a bar to recieving orders as a secular or diocesan cleric, not as a member of a religious order.^[3]

Whatever his parentage, in 1885 following his father's death, de Valera was taken to Ireland by his Uncle Ned at the age of two. Even when his mother married a new husband in the mid-1880s, he was not brought back to live with her but reared instead by his grandmother Elizabeth Coll, her son Patrick and her daughter Hannie, in County Limerick. He was educated locally at Bruree National School, County Limerick and Charleville Christian Brothers School, County Cork. At the age of sixteen, he won a scholarship to Blackrock College, County Dublin.

Always a diligent student, he won further scholarships and exhibitions and in 1903 was appointed "professor"^[4] of mathematics at Rockwell College, County Tipperary. He graduated in mathematics in 1904 from the Royal University of Ireland and then went back to Dublin to teach at Blackrock College. In 1906, he secured a post as "professor" of mathematics at Carysfort Teachers' Training College for women in Blackrock, County Dublin. His applications for professorships in colleges of the National University of Ireland were unsuccessful, but he obtained a part-time appointment at Maynooth and also lectured in mathematics at various Dublin colleges.

Since the foundation of the state, a de Valera has always served in Dáil Éireann. Éamon de Valera served until 1959, his son, Vivion de Valera, was also a Teachta Dála.^[5] Éamon Ó Cuív and Síle de Valera, his grandchildren, are currently members of the Dáil.^[6]

[edit] Early political activity

An intelligent young man, he became an active gaeilgeoir (Irish language enthusiast). In 1908 he joined the Ardchraobh 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.

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. He rose through the ranks and it was not long before he was elected captain of the Donnybrook company. Preparations were pushed ahead for an armed revolt, and he was made commandant of the Third Battalion and adjutant of the Dublin Brigade. He was sworn by Thomas MacDonagh into the oath-bound Irish Republican Brotherhood, which secretly controlled the central executive of the Volunteers.

[edit] Easter Rising

On 24 April 1916 the rising began. De Valera occupied Boland's Mills, Grand Canal Street in Dublin, his chief task being to cover the south-eastern 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. It is often thought that he was saved from execution because of his American citizenship. That is technically incorrect. He was saved by two facts: firstly, he was held in a different prison from other leaders, thus his execution was delayed by practicalities; had he been held with Padraig Pearse, James Connolly and others, he probably would have been one of the first executed; and secondly, his American birth caused a delay, while the full legal situation (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?) was clarified. The fact that Britain was trying to bring the USA into the war in Europe at the time made the situation even more delicate. Both delays taken together meant that, while he was next-in-line for execution, when the time came for a decision, all executions had been halted in view of the negative public reaction; so timing, location and questions relating to citizenship saved de Valera's life.

De Valera's supporters and detractors argue about De Valera's bravery during the Easter Rising. His supporters claim he showed leadership skills and a meticulous ability for 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.^[7]

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 member of the British House of Commons for East Clare (the constituency which he represented until 1959) in a by-election caused by the death of the previous incumbent Willie Redmond who had died fighting in World War I. In the 1918 general election he was elected both for that seat and Mayo East. From 1917 he was president of Sinn Féin, the previously small monarchist party which had wrongly been credited by the British for the Easter Rising and which the survivors of the Rising took over and then turned into a republican party. The previous president of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith, had championed an Anglo-Irish "dual monarchy", with an independent Ireland governed separately from Britain, their only link being a shared monarch. That had been the situation with the so-called Constitution of 1782 under Henry Grattan, until Ireland was subsumed into the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800.

[edit] President of Dáil Éireann

Príomh Aire
Cathal Brugha (January — April 1919)
Éamon de Valera (1919—August 1921)
President of The Republic
Éamon de Valera (August 1921—1922)
President of Dáil Éireann
Arthur Griffith (January—August 1922)
W.T. Cosgrave (August—December 1922)
Office abolished December 1922

Sinn Féin won a huge majority in the 1918 general election, largely thanks to the executions of the 1916 leaders and the threat of conscription. They won 73 out of 104 Irish seats, with about 47% of votes cast. However, such was the level of support for the party, many seats were uncontested and so this percentage is lower than it would have been had this not been the case. In January 1919, those Sinn Féin MPs, calling themselves Teachtaí Dála, assembled in the Mansion House in Dublin on 21 January 1919 and formed an Irish parliament, known as Dáil Éireann (translatable into English as the Assembly of Ireland). A ministry or Aireacht 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 in February 1919. As a result he replaced Brugha as Príomh Aire in the April session of Dáil Éireann. However, the Dáil Constitution passed by the Dáil in 1919 made clear that the Príomh Aire (or President of Dáil Éireann as it came to be called) was merely prime minister - the literal translation of Príomh Aire - not a full head of state.

In the hope of securing international recognition, Seán T. O'Kelly was sent as envoy to Paris to present the Irish case to the Peace Conference convened by the great powers at the end of the World War I. When it became clear by May 1919 that this mission could not succeed, de Valera decided to visit the United States. The mission had three objectives: to ask for official recognition of the Irish Republic, to float a loan to finance the work of the Government (and by extension, the Irish Republican Army), and to secure the support of the American people for the republic. His visit lasted from June 1919 to December 1920 and had mixed success. He met the young Harvard-educated leader from Puerto Rico, Pedro Albizu Campos (who, at Harvard University had previously been a charismatic and eloquent defender of Ireland's right to full and unabridged sovereignty). Éamon De Valera forged a lasting and useful alliance with Campos that would endure^{[citation needed]} for decades. Apart from forging important alliances abroad, De Valera managed to raise a sum of six (6) million dollars, an amount that far exceeded the hopes of the Dáil, which evidently^{[citation needed]} helped him gain wider public support. Nevertheless, recognition was not forthcoming in the international sphere and he had difficulties^{[citation needed]} with various Irish-American leaders, who resented the dominant position he took up, while wishing to retain their control over Irish affairs in the United States.

Meanwhile in Ireland, conflict between the British authorities and the Dáil (declared illegal in September 1919) escalated into the Irish War of Independence (also called the 'Anglo-Irish War'). The Long Fellow (or An t-Amadán Fada, another of de Valera's nicknames, given to him because of his great height, meaning the Long Fool) left day to day government, during his eighteen month absence in America, to Michael Collins (The Big Fellow), his twenty-nine year old Minister for Finance and rival.

[edit] President of the Republic

In January 1921, at his first Dáil meeting after his return to a country gripped by the Anglo-Irish War, de Valera introduced a motion calling on the IRA to desist from ambushes and other tactics that were allowing the British to successfully portray it as a terrorist group,^{[neutrality disputed]} and to take on the British forces with conventional military methods. This was immediately shot down, and he was forced to issue a statement expressing support for the IRA, and claimed it was fully under the control of the Dáil. This was seen as evidence of how out of touch de Valera was with the realities of the struggle for independence on the ground by his critics. He then, along with Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack, brought pressure to bear on Michael Collins to undertake a journey to the U.S. himself, on the pretext that only he could take up where de Valera had left off. In reality, these three felt that Collins was overeaching his authority. Collins successfully resisted this move, and stayed in Ireland. In the elections of May 1921 Sinn Féin candidates in 'Southern Ireland' were unopposed, and secured some seats in the north. Following the Truce of 11 July 1921 which ended the war, de Valera went to see David Lloyd George in London on 14 July. No agreement was reached, and by then the parliament of Northern Ireland had met.

In August 1921 de Valera had Dáil Éireann change the 1919 Dáil Constitution to upgrade his office from prime minister or chairman of the cabinet to a full President of the Republic. Declaring himself now the Irish equivalent of King George V, he argued that as Irish head of state, in the absence of the British head of state from the negotiations, he too should not attend the peace conference called the Treaty Negotiations (October–December 1921) at which British and Irish government leaders agreed to the effective independence of 26 of Ireland's 32 counties as the Irish Free State, with the other six in the north remaining under British sovereignty as Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland (Technically, the counties of Northern Ireland were originally part of the Free State, but with the option of opting out immediately, which they did straight away. Having done so, a boundary commission came into place to redraw the Irish border. Nationalists expected its report to recommend that largely nationalist areas become part of the Free State, and many hoped this would make Northern Ireland so small it would not be economically viable. A Council of Ireland was also provided in the Treaty as a model for an eventual all-Irish parliament. Hence neither the pro- nor anti-Treaty sides made much complaint about partition in the Treaty debates. They all expected it would prove shortlived).

[edit] The treaty

The Republic's delegates to the Treaty Negotiations were accredited by President de Valera and his cabinet as plenipotentiaries (that is, negotiators with the legal authority to sign a treaty without reference back to the cabinet), but were given secret cabinet instructions by de Valera that required them to return to Dublin before signing the Treaty. However, the Treaty proved controversial in so far as it replaced the Republic (which was recognised only by the Soviet Union) by a dominion of the British Commonwealth with the King represented by a Governor-General of the Irish Free State.

De Valera balked at the agreement, even though his opponents claimed he had refused to go because he knew what the outcome would be and did not wish to receive the blame. Because of the secret instructions given to the plenipotentiaries, he reacted to news of the signing of the Treaty not with anger at its contents (which he refused even to read when offered a newspaper report of its contents), but with anger over the fact that they had not consulted with him, their president, before signing. All of this, of course, was despite the fact de Valera refused to go to the treaty negotiations in the first place.

After the Treaty was narrowly ratified by 64 to 57, de Valera and a large minority of Sinn Féin TDs left Dáil Éireann. He then resigned and Griffith was elected President of Dáil Éireann in his place, respectfully still calling him 'The President'.^[8] In March 1922, De Valera made an angry speech in Carrick on Suir saying that if the Treaty was accepted it might now be necessary to "wade through Irish blood" to achieve Irish freedom. In Thurles, several days later, he repeated this imagery and added that the IRA "would have to wade through, perhaps, the blood of some of the members of the Government, in order to get Irish freedom." De Valera's detractors claim that this was an incitement to civil war. His supporters say that De Valera was lamenting the fact the British had managed to divide Irish nationalists with the Treaty.

De Valera's major problem with the Treaty was twofold. Firstly, he objected to the Oath of Allegiance the treaty required Irish governments to take to the King. Secondly, he was concerned that Ireland could not have an independent foreign policy as part of the British Commonwealth when the British retained several naval ports (see Treaty Ports) around Ireland's coast. As a compromise, De Valera proposed "external association" with the British Empire, which would leave Ireland's foreign policy in her own hands and a republican constitution with no mention of the British monarch (he proposed this as early as April, well before the negotiations began). Michael Collins was prepared to accept this formula and the two wings (pro- and anti-Treaty) of Sinn Féin formed a pact to fight the Irish Treaty Election, 1922 together and form a coalition government afterwards. However, just two days before the election, the British vetoed this proposal as the Treaty had been signed in good faith. Civil War broke out shortly afterwards in late June 1922.

[edit] Civil War

Relations with the new Irish government, which was backed by most of the Dáil and the electorate, and the anti-Treatyites under the nominal leadership of de Valera, now descended into the Irish Civil War (started 28 June 1922, ended May 1923), in which the pro-treaty Free State forces defeated the anti-Treaty IRA. Both sides had wanted to avoid civil war, but fighting broke out over the takeover of the Four Courts building in Dublin by anti-Treaty members of the IRA. These men were not loyal to De Valera and initially were not even supported by the executive of the anti-Treaty IRA. However, Michael Collins was forced to act against them when Winston Churchill threatened to re-occupy the country with British troops unless action was taken. When fighting broke out in Dublin between the Four Courts garrison and the new Free State army, republicans backed the IRA men in the Four Courts and civil war broke out. De Valera, though he held no military position, backed the anti-Treaty IRA or "Irregulars" and said that he was re-enlisting in the IRA as an ordinary volunteer. On 8 September 1922, he met in secret with Richard Mulcahy in Dublin, to try to halt the fighting. However, according to de Valera, they "could not find a basis" for agreement.

Though nominally head of the anti-Treatyites, de Valera had little influence. He does not seem to have been involved in any fighting and had little or no influence with the military republican leadership - headed by IRA Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch. De Valera and the anti-Treaty Teachta Dálaí formed a "republican government" on 25 October 1922 from anti-Treaty TDs to "be temporarily the Supreme Executive of the Republic and the State, until such time as the elected Parliament of the Republic can freely assemble, or the people being rid of external aggression are at liberty to decide freely how they are to be governed". However it had no real authority and was a pale shadow of the republican Dáil government of 1919–21, which had provided an alternative government to the British administration. Among the Civil War's many tragedies were the assassination of Michael Collins, who was the head of the Provisional Government, the death through exhaustion of the President of Dáil Éireann, Arthur Griffith, the Free State execution of one of the treaty signatories, Robert Erskine Childers amongst others. In March 1923, de Valera attended the meeting of the IRA Army Executive to decide on the future of the war. He was known to be in favour of the truce but he had no voting rights and it was narrowly decided to continue hostilities. On 30 May 1923 after the IRA's new Chief of Staff Frank Aiken (Lynch had been killed) called a ceasefire and ordered volunteers to "dump arms". De Valera, who had wanted an end to the internecine fighting for some time, backed the ceasefire order in a famous speech in which he called the anti-Treaty fighters "the Legion of the Rearguard", saying that "the republic can no longer be successfully defended by your arms [...] Further sacrifice on your part would now be in vain and the continuance of the struggle in arms unwise in the national interest. Military victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed the Republic".

After this point many of the republicans were arrested in Free state "round ups" when they had come out of hiding and returned home. De Valera was arrested in Clare and interned until 1924.

[edit] Entry into the Free State Dáil: the 'empty formula'

After the IRA dumped their arms rather than surrender them or continue a now fruitless war, de Valera returned to political methods. In 1924 he was arrested in Newry for "illegally entering Northern Ireland" and held in solitary confinement for a month in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. After narrowly losing a vote of the Sinn Féin party to accept the Free State Constitution (contingent on the abolition of the Oath of Allegiance), de Valera resigned from the presidency of the party and in March 1926 formed a new party, Fianna Fáil (Soldiers of Destiny), a party destined to dominate twentieth century Irish politics. The party made swift electoral gains but refused to take the Oath of Allegiance (spun by opponents as an 'Oath of Allegiance to the Crown' but actually an Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Free State with a secondary promise of fidelity to the King in his role in the Treaty settlement. The oath was actually largely the work of Michael Collins and based on three sources: British oaths in the dominions, the oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a draft oath prepared by de Valera in his proposed Treaty alternative, Document No.2). The party began a legal case to challenge the requirement that it take the Oath, but the assassination of the Vice-President of the Executive Council (ie. deputy prime minister) Kevin O'Higgins led the Executive Council under W. T. Cosgrave to introduce a Bill requiring all Dáil candidates to promise on oath that if they were elected they would take the Oath of Allegiance. Forced into a corner, and faced with the option of staying outside politics forever or taking the oath and entering, de Valera and his TDs took the Oath of Allegiance in 1927, declaring it "an empty formula", albeit one that hundreds had fought and killed over in a civil war five years earlier. In 1931, in a populist and controversial move, he backed Mayo County Council when they fired a Protestant head librarian on the grounds of religion, stating that "a county that is 98% Catholic is entitled to a Catholic head librarian."

[edit] President of the Executive Council

In the 1932 General Election Fianna Fáil secured 72 seats and became the largest party in the Dáil, although without a majority. De Valera was appointed President of the Executive Council (Prime Minister) by Governor-General James McNeill on 9 March. He at once initiated steps to fulfil his election promises of abolishing the oath and withholding land annuities owed to Britain. In retaliation the British imposed economic sanctions against Irish exports, and the resulting economic war caused much distress. On his advice the appointment of James McNeill as Governor-General was terminated by King George V on 1 November 1932 and a 1916 veteran, Domhnall Ua Buachalla, was appointed Seanascal in his place. Thus another symbol of monarchical authority was virtually removed. To strengthen his position against the opposition in the Dáil and Seanad, de Valera called a general election in January 1933 and won 77 seats, giving him an overall majority. Under his leadership, Fianna Fáil won further general elections in 1937, 1938, 1943 and 1944.

De Valera took charge of Ireland's foreign policy as well by acting as his own Minister for External Affairs. In that capacity he attended meetings of the League of Nations. He was president of the Council of the League on his first appearance at Geneva in 1932 and, in a speech that made a worldwide impression, appealed for genuine adherence by its members to the principles of the Covenant of the league. In 1934, he supported the admission of the Soviet Union into the league. In September 1938 he was elected nineteenth president of the Assembly of the league, a tribute to the international recognition he had won by his independent stance on world questions.

[edit] De Valera's new constitution – Bunreacht na hÉireann

Éamon de Valera

Timeline 1882–1973
Birth	14 October 1882 in New York.
1885	Sent by his mother to live with her family in Ireland.
1904	Graduates from the Royal University of Ireland.
1908	Joins the Gaelic League.
1910	8 January marries Sinead Flanagan.
1913	25 November: Joins Irish Volunteers.
1916	24 April: Commander in Bolands Mills during the Easter Rising. Later sentenced to death for participation but death sentence not carried out
1917	Joins Sinn Féin and replaces longtime leader Arthur Griffith as president. Elected MP for East Clare but refuses to take his seat in the House of Commons.
1918	November Elected MP in 1918 general election.
1919	1 April: Elected Príomh Aire (chief minister) of the new Dáil Éireann, the assembly formed by a majority of Irish MPs. Forms his first government. May Travels to the United States to lobby on behalf of the Irish Republic.
1921	July: Irish and British government call truce. October—December: Envoys Plenipotentiary negotiate Anglo-Irish Treaty. December Dáil, against de Valera's advice, approves Treaty. De Valera resigns as president. Seeks re-election but is defeated.
1922–1923	Irish Civil War
1926	March: Leaves Sinn Féin and sets up his own republican party, Fianna Fáil.
1927	Faced with disqualification from contesting elections, takes the Oath of Allegiance and enters Free State Dáil.
1932	Forms his first Free State government.
1937	Enacts his new constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, becomes Taoiseach for the first time.
1948	Loses power for the first time in the modern Irish state.
Death	29 August 1975

During the 1930s, de Valera had systematically stripped down the Irish Free State constitution that had been drafted by a committee under the nominal chairmanship of his great rival, Michael Collins. In reality, de Valera had only been able to do this due to three reasons. First, though the 1922 constitution was supposed to require amendment through public plebiscite eight years after its passage, the Free State government under W. T. Cosgrave had amended that period to 16 years, meaning that until 1938 the Free State constitution could be amended by the simple passage of a Constitutional Amendment Act through the Oireachtas. Secondly, while in theory the Governor-General of the Irish Free State could reserve or deny the Royal Assent to any legislation, in practice the power to advise the Governor-General so to do as and from 1927 no longer rested with the British Government in London but with His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State, which meant that in practice, the Royal Assent was automatically granted to legislation; the government was hardly likely to advise the Governor-General to block the enactment of one of its own bills. Thirdly, in theory the Constitution had to be in keeping with the provisions of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the fundamental law of the state. However, that requirement had been removed only a short time before de Valera gained power. Thus, with all the checks and balances that had been provided to preserve the Treaty settlement neutralised, de Valera had a free hand to change the 1922 constitution at will.

This he did with a vengeance. The Oath of Allegiance was abolished, as were appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The opposition-controlled Senate, when it protested and slowed down these measures was also abolished. And finally in December 1936, de Valera used the sudden abdication of King Edward VIII as king of his various realms including King of Ireland to pass two Bills; one amended the constitution to remove all mention of the King and Governor-General while the second brought the King back, this time through statute law, for use in representing the Irish Free State at diplomatic level.

In 1931, the British parliament had passed the Statute of Westminster, which established the legislative equal status of the self-governing dominions of the British Empire, including the Irish Free State, and the United Kingdom. Though many constitutional links between the Dominions and the United Kingdom remained, this is often seen as the moment at which the Dominions became fully sovereign states. In July 1936, de Valera as constitutionally the King's Irish Prime Minister, wrote to King Edward in London indicating that he planned to introduce a new constitution, the central part of which was to be the creation of an office de Valera provisionally intended to call President of Saorstát Éireann, which would replace the governor-generalship. The title ultimately changed from President of Saorstát Éireann (Uachtarán Shaorstát Éireann) to President of Ireland (Uachtarán na hÉireann), but it still remained the central feature of his new constitution, to which he gave the new Irish language name Bunreacht na hÉireann (meaning literally the Constitution of Ireland).

De Valera's new constitution embodied a process called Constitutional Autochthony, that is, the assertion of legal nationalism. At various levels it contained key symbols to mark Irish republican independence from Britain. These included:

• a new name for the state, Éire
• a claim that the island of Ireland was a natural national territorial unit (Article 2) and so challenged Britain's partition settlement of 1920;
• a new popularly elected 'President of Ireland' to replace the British King and Crown and the appointed Irish Governor-General;
• recognition of the "special position" of Roman Catholicism, which had for most of Britain's rule in Ireland been suppressed and discriminated against;
• a recognition of a Catholic concept of marriage which excluded divorce, something that was culturally associated with English Protestantism (e.g., Henry VIII) but which had no history of acceptance within Catholicism.
• the declaration that the Irish language was an official language of the nation, along with English.
• the use of Irish language terms to stress Irish cultural and historical identity (eg, Uachtarán, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Rialtas, Dáil, Seanad, etc.)

In reality, as with much of de Valera's policies, most of the above were more apparent than real.

• For all the anti-partition rhetoric, partition remained a legal reality, accepted by Article 3;
• for most of its existence, the popularly elected president was never popularly elected, but chosen by the political parties for their own reasons. In addition, the powers that defined whom a Head of State was, were possessed by the 'King of Ireland' (as George VI was proclaimed and continued to be called until the declaration of the republic in April 1949;
• the "special position" of the Roman Catholic Church was a constitutionally meaningless phrase. In some areas (De Valera's refusal to make Catholicism the established church, his refusal to side with Franco in the Spanish Civil War, the constitutional recognition given to the existence of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians, the Methodists and in particular in Irish Jewish community) de Valera's constitution was actually quite radical and distinctly non-Catholic in its day. For that reason, Pope Pius XI refused to support its adoption, an endorsement constitutions in predominantly Catholic countries routinely sought and often got.
• the features of the "Catholic" family focused on in the constitution (family based on marriage, with no divorce and the belief that the family was central to society) accurately mirrored most of the beliefs (divorce excepted) of the mainstream Protestant faiths on the island, namely the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church (although many conservative Protestants also oppose divorce).
• Though given symbolic superiority, Irish in reality remained a language of a small and rapidly dwindling number of people. In contrast, the state's second official language, English, was the language of the vast majority of people.

Thus for all the constitutional autochthony symbols, the Irish state was neither as nationalist nor as Catholic, neither as Gaelic nor as free from the Crown as de Valera, through his use of symbols, tried to suggest.

Ireland was declared a Republic in 1948 by John A. Costello at a time when de Valera was in opposition and Ireland ceased to be in the Commonwealth on 18 April 1949. The twenty-six county Éire^[9] left the Commonwealth and became the Republic of Ireland. The last constitutional links to Britain had finally been cut, ironically not by the revolutionary de Valera.

[edit] Neutrality in World War II

Germany's interest in Ireland before and in the early years of World War II (called The Emergency in the Free State) included investigating whether the IRA could be used against Britain, investigating the tactical advantages of invading Ireland, and negotiating with the Irish government. Germany courted the Irish government, before and during the war, though with little success. De Valera kept the Free State neutral in World War II. The British MI5 naturally took more than a passing interest in his deeds and whereabouts. Whereas the neutrality of the USA was terminated with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Irish neutrality was maintained right through to the end of the war. Both the possibility of a German invasion and a British invasion were discussed in the Dáil.

[edit] Characteristics

Irish neutrality took on some unique characteristics of its own:

• The Irish government secretly aided the Allies side; for example, the timing of D-Day was decided thanks to weather reports supplied by Ireland which told of incoming weather conditions from the Atlantic.
• The Irish government also allowed British planes to fly from a base at Castle Archdale on Lough Erne in County Fermanagh (part of the six northern counties which had remained within the United Kingdom) across Donegal to the Atlantic. The twenty mile strip, often called "the Bundoran corridor" was heavily traveled by aircraft searching for German surface ships and U-boats. A plane from the base in Fermanagh spotted the Bismarck, which was later sunk by the Royal Navy.
• The Irish government permitted the German Ambassador Eduard Hempel to maintain a radio transmitter which was used to make reports on weather, troop movements, and the effects of bombing raids on Britain to Germany until 1943 when the radio transmitter was shut down.
• A mechanism was devised to allow Allied airmen who crashed in Free State territory to be returned to duty across the border. A fairly spurious distinction was established between combatant airmen on "operational" and "non-operational" flights, with practically all Allied airmen who came into Irish hands being judged to be on "non-operational" flights, while German airmen were judged to be on "operational" flights, and thus interned for the duration of the war.
• Roughly 45,000 Irish Free State men voluntarily joined the Allied forces (including Patrick Clancy and his brother, Tom Clancy, both of whom, ironically had also been IRA volunteers) without interference from the Irish government (which had prohibited Irishmen from entering the Spanish Civil War, some years earlier).
• On the occasion of the death of Adolf Hitler, de Valera paid a visit to Eduard Hempel, the German minister in Dublin, to express sympathy over the death of the Führer.^[10] Along with President Douglas Hyde, De Valera was the only head of government to express condolences. News of the Holocaust had already emerged and De Valera was criticised worldwide, though he claimed his action was based on courtesy for the German nation and Dr. Hempel personally.^[11][12] He later wrote "I expected this. I could have had a diplomatic illness but, as you know, I would scorn that type of thing". De Valera did not apologize later. This has been seen by many as evidence that he offered condolences out of spite towards the British, against whom he likely held a bitter hatred. It does not square in any event with de Valera's failure to sign the book of condolences at the American embassy following the death of Roosevelt, as David Gray, the American Ambassador said he would not receive de Valera. All flags were flown at half mast on Roosevelt's death on de Valera's instructions
• The behaviour of de Valera's government towards Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust is also controversial. Ireland's Justice Minister Michael McDowell later described the Irish government's treatment of Jewish refugees as "antipathetic, hostile and unfeeling". Dr Mervyn O'Driscoll of University College Cork reported on the unofficial and official barriers that prevented Jews from finding refuge in Ireland: "Although overt anti-Semitism was untypical, the Irish were indifferent to the Nazi persecution of the Jews and those fleeing the third Reich"[5].^[13]. However, this attitude towards Jewish refugees differed little from other Western governments – as exemplified by the abject failure of the Evian Conference - who were unwilling to admit Jews fleeing Nazism.
• De Valera as been reported to have helped Nazi war criminals and collaborators find asylum in Eire^[14][15]

[edit] Analysis

Non-neutrality could either have meant support for Germany or the United Kingdom. Neither was particularly appealing and either would have led to an upsurge in subversive activity. An alliance with Germany risked certain invasion from the United Kingdom, and even without that threat was never contemplated by de Valera. An alliance with the United Kingdom risked internal political instability. De Valera's policy of neutrality probably enabled him to maintain a political unity with the opposition. That might not have been achievable had de Valera wanted to side openly with the Allies, which would have provoked the IRA. De Valera interned hundreds of IRA men during the war and had no hesitation in executing IRA prisoners to set an example. He feared that IRA actions might provoke the British into crossing the border.

Some historians might argue^[16] that Irish neutrality was the best tactic for the Allies too. It was believed that Ireland, because of its small army and exposed coast would have been a weak link for the Allies, and would have stretched Allied armies too thinly, while making Ireland more of a Nazi invasion target. In contrast, as a neutral state, a Nazi invasion risked infuriating Irish America and so possibly increasing pressure from the powerful Irish lobby for the United States to join the war. De Valera's calculation appeared to be that in the earliest days of the war, neutrality could offer more protection from a German invasion than joining the Allies. And in turn, the absence of an attack on Ireland would help the United Kingdom, because it would mean that they would be fighting on one flank (its east coast) rather than facing a Nazi pincer attack, from west (through Ireland) and east.

In 2005 documents were released from the Public Record Office regarding contacts between de Valera and a British MI5 officer in 1942 over the Irish Free State joining the Allies, which was rejected by de Valera. Details of the meetings were not disclosed but it is believed an offer was made over the status of Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland has yet to apologise for De Valera's response to Hitler's death, which though seen by many as a scandal, is in fact in line with their current policy of neutrality. When asked, Republic of Ireland President Mary McAleese declined to say that it was time for an apology^[17] Sir John Maffey, the then British Representative, commented that de Valera's actions were "unwise but mathematically consistent".^[18]

[edit] De Valera and Churchill clash on radio

In his Victory in Europe Day radio broadcast, British Prime Minister and old de Valera adversary Winston Churchill launched a strong attack on the Irish government's policy of neutrality and De Valera in particular, while being careful to distinguish that from any criticism of the Irish people as a whole or of individual Irishmen - a nuance that may well have failed to be communicated.

The sense of envelopment, which might at any moment turn to strangulation, lay heavy upon us. We had only the northwestern approach between Ulster and Scotland through which to bring in the means of life and to send out the forces of war. Owing to the action of Mr. de Valera, so much at variance with the temper and instinct of thousands of southern Irishmen, who hastened to the battlefront to prove their ancient valor, the approaches which the southern Irish ports and airfields could so easily have guarded were closed by the hostile aircraft and U-boats.

Churchill was here contrasting De Valera with tens of thousands of volunteers from Eire who chose to fight for the Allied forces despite Eire's neutrality.^[19]

This was indeed a deadly moment in our life, and if it had not been for the loyalty and friendship of Northern Ireland we should have been forced to come to close quarters with Mr. de Valera or perish forever from the earth. However, with a restraint and poise to which, I say, history will find few parallels, we never laid a violent hand upon them, which at times would have been quite easy and quite natural, and left the de Valera Government to frolic with the German and later with the Japanese representatives to their heart's content.

When I think of these days I think also of other episodes and personalities. I do not forget Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde, V.C., D.S.O., Lance-Corporal Keneally, V.C., Captain Fegen, V.C., and other Irish heroes that I could easily recite, and all bitterness by Britain for the Irish race dies in my heart. I can only pray that in years which I shall not see, the shame will be forgotten and the glories will endure, and that the peoples of the British Isles and of the British Commonwealth of Nations will walk together in mutual comprehension and forgiveness.

De Valera's reply, also in a radio broadcast, won widespread respect and praise in Ireland from even his bitterest opponents. However, there was strong opposition in some sections of opinion in combatant countries. De Valera told Radio Éireann listeners:

It is indeed fortunate that Britain's necessity did not reach the point when Mr. Churchill would have [invaded Ireland]. All credit to him that he successfully resisted the temptation which, I have not doubt, many times assailed him in his difficulties and to which I freely admit many leaders might have easily succumbed. It is indeed hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards.

By resisting his temptation in this instance, Mr. Churchill, instead of adding another horrid chapter to the already bloodstained record of the relations between England and this country, has advanced the cause of international morality an important step-one of the most important, indeed, that can be taken on the road to the establishment of any sure basis for peace. . .

Mr. Churchill is proud of Britain's stand alone, after France had fallen and before America entered the War.

Could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression; that endured spoliations, famines, massacres in endless succession; that was clubbed many times into insensibility, but that each time on returning [to] consciousness took up the fight anew; a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?

Mr. Churchill is justly proud of his nation's perseverance against heavy odds. But we in this island are still prouder of our people's perseverance for freedom through all the centuries. We, of our time, have played our part in the perseverance, and we have pledged ourselves to the dead generations who have preserved intact for us this glorious heritage, that we, too, will strive to be faithful to the end, and pass on this tradition unblemished.

As a speech, it probably counts among de Valera's finest and even his opponents spoke of their pride in his words. But the speech also contained another interesting but often overlooked phrase. Early in the speech, he told listeners,

I know the reply I would have given a quarter of a century ago. But I have deliberately decided that that is not the reply I shall make tonight. I shall strive not to be guilty of adding any fuel to the flames of hatred and passion which, if continued to be fed, promise to burn up whatever is left by the war of decent human feeling in Europe.

Allowances can be made for Mr. Churchill's statement, however unworthy, in the first flush of his victory. No such excuse could be found for me in this quieter atmosphere. There are, however some things which it is my duty to say, some things which it is essential to say. I shall try to say them as dispassionately as I can.

In those sentences he showed a degree of criticism of his own behaviour in the past that was occasionally repeated, particularly towards the end of his life, how a quarter of a century before, during the Treaty debates and the civil war, he had used war-like provocative words and sentences, such as 'wading through the blood of Irishmen', that inflamed tension; indeed, his aside however unworthy was provocative there and then if not to later perceptions, in the circumstances he himself had noted. The Éamon de Valera of 1945, in his sixty-fifth year, was not the hothead of 1921 and would not make precisely the same mistakes. Though overshadowed by other parts of his most famous speech, those lines showed a self-critical side to Éamon de Valera that was rarely expressed publicly.

[edit] Post–war period

After the Emergency the position of Fianna Fáil began to weaken. Sixteen years in power finally took its toll on the electorate and the opposition political parties. In 1948 de Valera was ousted from power by the first Inter-Party Government, with John A. Costello as Taoiseach. De Valera, as leader of the opposition, embarked on a futile world campaign on the partition question. Costello declared a Republic and on 18 April 1949, the Irish Free State left the Commonwealth.

In 1951 he was back in power but without an overall majority. He was Taoiseach again of what many would consider to be his worst government. No new ideas emerged and the same faces that formed his first administration back in 1932 were still in power.

Fianna Fáil was defeated again in the 1954 general election. However, 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. He remained as Taoiseach until 1959, handing over power to Seán Lemass. In July 1957, in response to the Border Campaign (IRA), he ordered the internment without trial of Republican suspects, an action which did much to end the IRA's campaign.

De Valera finished his final term of office in 1973, aged 90, the oldest Head of State in the world at that time. During his sixty-three year career in public life he 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. He received honorary degrees from universities in Ireland and abroad and in 1968 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 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), though he held to the Republican policy of abstentionism and did not take his seat in Stormont. As with many Irish nationalists, he proved unwilling or unable to recognise or accept the predominately British and Non-Irish identity of Northern Ireland's unionists throughout his terms in office, thus alienating them from a united Ireland. He retired from the Presidency in June 1973, having served for fourteen years, the longest period allowed under the Constitution.

De Valera opposed Ireland joining the EEC, arguing that it gave away the sovereignty won by Irish independence.

Éamon de Valera died in Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, County Dublin on 29 August 1975 aged 92. His wife, Sinéad de Valera, four years his senior, had died the previous January, on the eve of their 65th wedding anniversary. He is buried in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery.

[edit] Overview

Ireland's dominant political personality for many decades, he was criticised for ending up as 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.^[20] De Valera is alleged by critics to have kept Ireland under the influence of Catholic conservatism.^[21] His constitution did explicitly recognise the existence and rights of the Jewish community in Ireland in 1937.^[22]

Also, he rejected fundamentalist Catholic 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 that the Irish Free State support Franco during the Spanish Civil War. His role in Irish history is no longer unequivocally seen by today's historians as a positive one, and a recent controversial biography by Tim Pat Coogan alleges that his failures outweigh his achievements, with de Valera's reputation declining as that of his great rival in the 1920s, Michael Collins, is rising.

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. A constitutional referendum to ratify this was comprehensively defeated by the people.

His idealistic outlook as a post revolutionary leader resulted in national stagnation during his terms as Taoiseach and opposition leader.^[23]

Many had reached the despairing conclusion that the lately declared Republic was dying on its feet. Emigration emptied the countryside at an alarming rate, estimated by some at 80,000 a year. A succession of governments - multi-party, single-party and coalition - had tried, and failed, to secure a share in the post-war European boom. They were defeated by the smothering influence of the Catholic Church, the distraction of an IRA campaign on the Border and a stagnant economy. But the truth was beginning to dawn on the revolutionary generation which had dominated politics for almost 40 years. Revolutionaries had established the State; it would take a younger generation and a different vision to fashion its future in post-war Europe.

Garret Fitzgerald summarised^[24] his last term as Taoiseach;

Total economic stagnation marked de Valera's last seven years as leader of his party - because all of the chickens of his disastrous commitment to an inward-looking policy of self sufficiency were coming home to roost.

[edit] Governments

The following governments were led by de Valera:

• 6th Executive Council of the Irish Free State
• 7th Executive Council of the Irish Free State
• 8th Executive Council of the Irish Free State
• 1st Government of Ireland
• 2nd Government of Ireland
• 3rd Government of Ireland
• 4th Government of Ireland
• 6th Government of Ireland
• 8th Government of Ireland

[edit] Political career

Preceded by N/A	President of the League of Nations Council 1932	Succeeded by N/A
Preceded by N/A	President of the League of Nations Assembly 1938	Succeeded by Carl Joachim Hambro
Preceded by William J. Walsh	Chancellor of the National University of Ireland 1921–1975	Succeeded by T.K. Whitaker

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Willie Redmond	MP for East Clare 1917–1922	Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by '	MP for Down 1921–1929	Succeeded by '
Preceded by '	MP for South Down 1933–1938	Succeeded by '
Oireachtas
Preceded by Newly created constituency	Teachta Dála for Clare 1922–1959	Succeeded by Seán Ó Ceallaigh
Political offices
Preceded by Cathal Brugha	President of Dáil Éireann 1919–1921	Succeeded by Office replaced by President of the Republic
Preceded by Office of President of Dáil Éireann	President of the Irish Republic 1921–1922	Succeeded by Arthur Griffith
Preceded by Thomas Johnson	Leader of the Opposition 1927–1932	Succeeded by W. T. Cosgrave
Preceded by W. T. Cosgrave	President of the Executive Council 1932–1937	Succeeded by Office abolished and replaced by Taoiseach
Preceded by Office created	Taoiseach 1937–1948	Succeeded by John A. Costello
Preceded by Patrick McGilligan	Minister for External Affairs 1932–1948	Succeeded by Seán MacBride
Preceded by Richard Mulcahy	Leader of the Opposition 1948–1951	Succeeded by John A. Costello
Preceded by John A. Costello	Taoiseach 1951–1954	Succeeded by John A. Costello
Preceded by John A. Costello	Leader of the Opposition 1954–1957	Succeeded by John A. Costello
Preceded by John A. Costello	Taoiseach 1957–1959	Succeeded by Seán Lemass
Preceded by Seán T. O'Kelly	President of Ireland 1959–1973	Succeeded by Erskine H. Childers

Leaders of Fianna Fáil
Éamon de Valera (1926–1959) • Seán Lemass (1959–1966) • Jack Lynch (1966–1979) • Charles Haughey (1979–1992) • Albert Reynolds (1992–1994) • Bertie Ahern (1994–)

Prime Ministers of Ireland Taoisigh na hÉireann
Éamon de Valera • John A. Costello • Seán Lemass • Jack Lynch • Liam Cosgrave • Charles Haughey • Garret FitzGerald • Albert Reynolds • John Bruton • Bertie Ahern
Previous prime ministerial offices under earlier constitutions Príomh Aire (1919–1921) Cathal Brugha • Éamon de Valera President of the Irish Republic (1921–1922) Éamon de Valera • Arthur Griffith Chairman of the Provisional Government (1922) Michael Collins • W. T. Cosgrave President of the Executive Council (1922–1937) W. T. Cosgrave • Éamon de Valera

Presidents of Ireland Uachtaráin na hÉireann
Douglas Hyde • Seán T. O'Kelly • Éamon de Valera • Erskine H. Childers • Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh • Patrick Hillery • Mary Robinson • Mary McAleese

Presidents of the League of Nations

Paul Hymans (1920–21) • Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek (1921–22) • Augustin Edwards (1922–23) • Cosme de la Torriente y Peraza (1923–24) • Giuseppe Motta (1924–25) • Raoul Dandurand (1925–26) • Afonso Costa (1926) • Momčilo Ninčić (1926–27) • Alberto Guani (1927–28) • Herluf Zahle (1928–29) • Jose Gustavo Guerrero (1929–30) • Nicolae Titulescu (1930–32) • Paul Hymans (1932–33) • Charles Theodore Te Water (1933–34) • Richard Johannes Sandler (1934) • Francisco Castillo Najera (1934–35) • Edvard Beneš (1935–36) • Carlos Saavedra Lamas (1936–37) • Tevfik Rustu Aras (1937) • Aga Khan III (1937–38) • Éamon de Valera (1938–39) • Carl Joachim Hambro (1939–40, 1946)

[edit] See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

[edit] References