Eamon De Valera

During the first half of the twentieth century, Eamon de Valera was one of the most famous men in the world. By 1932 he was not only the Prime Minister of Ireland, but had also been elected as President of the Council of the League of Nations. But Eamon had been famous long before that.

In 1916 Eamon was the commander of the Irish forces at Boland's Mill during the Easter Rising when the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army tried to overthrow British rule in Ireland. Eamon was captured and was one of the 90-odd prisoners sentenced to execution by firing squad. However, before it was his turn, international outcry put enough pressure on the British that they decided Eamon wasn't worth the trouble. So Eamon was imprisoned at Dartmoor and then in 1917, he and the rest of the prisoners were released as part of a general amnesty. Then with amazing ingratitude (and at least in the mind of the English), Eamon became the troublesome leader of the reinvigorated Irish Volunteers - now taking the name of the Irish Republican Army - still trying to break free of England.

It didn't take long for Eamon to be imprisoned again. The exact charges vary a bit depending on your particular source material, but they were something like planning another 1916 style revolt which included harboring German collaborators (Britain was still at war with Germany in the War to End all Wars). This time Eamon was sent to Lincoln Gaol in England. But in a carefully laid plan that very nearly went awry, he escaped and snuck over to America where he was received by massive and enthusiastic pro-Irish crowds. He also appeared in the new fangled mass media high technology - the newsreel - where he was touted as the "President of the Irish Republic". The exposure quickly catapulted Eamon to true international fame, and by the time his 18 month trip was over he had raised $5 million to help finance the fight against England.

But back in Ireland it took more than two years of armed conflict, roadside ambushes, assassinations, and just not nice things before David Lloyd George wrote to Eamon and ask if they could sit down and discuss the matter. Eamon showed up in England and was not happy when he found out that England's plan was to give Ireland no more than dominion status and that it had already been decided by Britain - and for all practical purposes set in stone - that six counties in the north of Ireland were to stay part of England. In the end, this was no more than the old "home rule without Ulster" that England had been willing to grant to Johnny Redmond in 1912.

Eamon, though, wanted a fully independent republic encompassing all 32 counties of the island. But now he found himself trapped between the rough surface of the Blarney Stone and the hard water of the Boyne. There had been such a big build-up that "peace was at hand", he couldn't just go back home and tell the lads to start fighting again. So Eamon agreed to discussions which required a bit of diplomatic slight of hand to be labeled as "without preconditions".

Whether it was because he knew the deck was heavily stacked against him or for some other reason, Eamon stayed at home rather than personally sitting down at the table. Instead, he sent Arthur Griffith - the easy-going head of the old Sinn Fein political party - as the head of the delegation along with Michael Collins who had organized the active fighting against the British. But when the treaty that emerged, alas, did indeed grant Ireland only dominion status, and yes, kept the six counties in Northern Ireland as part of England, and worse still, required all Irishmen to swear an oath of allegiance to the English crown, Eamon went into spittle flinging diatribes how Michael and Arthur had caved in to the English.

Naturally Arthur and Michael were equally miffed. If Eamon thought he could have done better, why did he stay home sitting on his emerald green thóin? They, at least, had done the hard work and fashioned a treaty that, if not giving Ireland full independence, was a stepping stone to that end. After all, the English had agreed to pull their troops out of the lower twenty-six counties, and the police were to be replaced with Irishmen. But the major accomplishment was Ireland would have its own parliament - the lower house Dáil Éireann and the upper house, the Seanad Éireann - and they could run their own affairs as they saw fit.

To Eamon's chagrin, it became clear that the majority of Irish people supported Arthur and Michael, and the treaty was approved by the Dail. After the vote, Eamon and his supporters walked out amidst shouted insults and invective which they returned with élan. One of most devastating epithets hurled at Eamon and the others - supposedly shouted by Michael - was "Americans!"

Point of fact, George de Valera (actually written as Valero on his birth certificate) was born in New York City on October 14, 1882 to a young Irish immigrant, Catherine Coll, and a Spanish father, Vivion Juan (or Juan Vivion) de Valera. George's father was a mystery to us and a mystery to him. Juan's (possible) origin has been given variously as Spain, Cuba, and the American Southwest. There is also a nagging doubt whether Catherine and Juan were actually married as there is no record of any kind that they were. The official story is that shortly after his son was born, Juan left New York due to ill health and died - which is certainly true at some point - but he may simply have walked out.

Unable to care for her son, Catherine sent him to Ireland with her older brother, Edward. The youngster was raised in his grandmother's Limerick home and later attended school in Cork. Despite his (registered) birthname, he was called Edward or possibly Ned (as was his uncle). His birth certificate was not amended until he was 18, and he later adopted the Hibernian equivalent of Edward, Eamon (pronounced by American tongues as EA-uh-mun). Although Eamon corresponded with his mother as long as she lived, he only saw her when he had visited America after his escape from jail.

Eamon's circumstances were reasonably comfortable, although not opulent, and he was a good student. He won a scholarship to Blackrock College, a school which is still going strong, and he majored in mathematics. After graduating, he took a job teaching at various schools around the city, particularly at Carysfort Teachers' Training College (now Our Lady of Mercy College). As a young man Eamon cut a dashing figure, and was literally tall, dark, and handsome. This appearance tended to be somewhat neutralized by his thin, high pitched voice which tended toward a nasal timbre, and in later years he acquired a somewhat gawky and birdlike appearance.

Eamon's fellow countrymen - that is, Americans - at least those whose first comprehensive introduction to him was the "authorized" biography by Frank Pakenham, Earl of Longford, and Thomas P. O'Neill - have been shocked! shocked! to learn how in the latter parts of the 20th century, Irish historians increasingly trashed the great man. But that's no big surprise to the people who live in Ireland, and it can honestly be said if Eamon was the most loved man in Ireland, he was also the most hated.

After Eamon and the "Republicans" - no akin to the American version - walked out, they actively and with arms opposed the new (and official) Irish Free State. Continuing to call themselves the Irish Republican Army, they waged a guerilla war which lasted for almost a year. Like all civil wars, the fighting was particularly bloody and left bitterness that lasted for generations. It was literally a neighbor-against-neighbor and brother-against-brother war. Tom Hales, a friend of Michael's during the fight against England, stayed with Eamon and fought against the Free State Army (and Michael). Tom's brother, Sean, remained with the Free State, and in 1922, was killed by an IRA man as he walked out of the building housing the Dáil.

Eamon decried the harsh and at times Draconian measures (like retaliatory executions) the Free State government used against the anti-treaty forces, and the Free State government claimed the other side was every bit as brutal and capricious. But all in all the people supported the Free State and felt if Eamon had supported the treaty in the first place then the violence could have been avoided. The truth, though, is Eamon now had relatively little influence with the people doing the actual fighting, and when he tried to give advice to the real operatives like Liam Lynch they gave him the bush off.

By May 1923, the fighting was for all intents and purposes over. But by then Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith were dead - Arthur succumbing to a massive stroke on August 12, 1922, and Michael shot from ambush ten days later at Beal na mBlath (pronounced bail-na-blah) in County Cork. Their deaths and those of other major anti-treaty leaders (like Liam) left Eamon as the most famous (and prestigious) survivor of the Easter Rebellion and the fight for independence, ironically rejuvenating his standing with the Republicans.

Although Eamon was imprisoned for a further year and a half, the Free State government finally granted amnesty to the Republicans and allowed them to stand for election. But the requirement for swearing an oath to the King of England kept Eamon out of the Dail until 1926. Then swallowing his pride, Eamon signed the book (after first publicly stating he was not swearing allegiance to the King) and led the opposition until 1932 when his party - Fianna Fail (pronounced "fee-ANN-uh foil" and usually translated as "Soldiers of Destinty") - received enough support of form a coalition government. And so Eamon became the President of the Executive Council which at the end of 1937 became the taoiseach (pronounced TEE-shakh) or prime minister.

To the chagrin of his political opponents, once in office Eamon began using the "stepping stone" argument as a way toward full Irish independence - the very argument they advocated in 1922 and Eamon had scorned. In any case, Eamon quickly passed a law abolishing the oath to the Crown, did away with payments of England land annuities, and later - in what sent Winston Churchill into sonorous, stately spittle flinging diatribes - declared Ireland neutral in World War II. Finally in 1949 Eamon abolished any remaining ties of allegiance between Ireland and England and brought in a new Constitution. Ulster, of course, remained and to this day remains a part of the United Kingdom.

The neutrality of Ireland in World War II is worthy of a bit of a pause. Winston, in between his lavish dinners and copious quantities of brandy, sent word through diplomatic channels that if Ireland would join the allies, Northern Ireland would be ceded to the Irish Republic. Eamonn - and he may have been right - questioned that Winston would deliver. Finally following Pearl Harbor, Eamon received a telegram from Winston saying "Now is your chance, now or never" which some think may have been delivered after a particularly bibulous dinner. Eamonn opted to stay neutral even though Winston kept making rumblings that he would, by golly, force Ireland to join the allies. All this did was give Eamonn the opportunity to deliver one of his most reasoned and thoughtful radio addresses about how smaller nations had the right to chart their own course even if they opted not to fall in line behind the countries with the big guns and bigger wallets.

Actually, there were advantages to having a neutral neighbor. Irishmen were perfectly free to cross the sea and join the British forces, and many did, including former members of the IRA. At the same time, as a neutral country, Ireland did not permit German forces to cross into its airspace or into the sea under is jurisdiction. This protected the west coast of England, freeing up forces that otherwise would have had to man defensive positions along the coast. Eamonn was also decidedly pro-British in his policies, declaring that the required internment of belligerent soldiers who strayed into Ireland's territory would be limited to soldiers on "operational" missions. Of course, British soldiers who had to land in Ireland or crossed into its waters were likely not on a combat - that is, an "operational" mission - while German soldiers who did probably were. So British soldiers were allowed to go back to England while German soldiers were interred. All-in-all, a neutral Ireland was better for England than Erie as ally.

Eamon remained in active Irish politics until 1959, serving eighteen (albeit non-consecutive) years as head of state. But after retiring, Eamon was immediately elected as President of Ireland - a largely ceremonial position - and despite virtual blindness, stayed in office until 1973. Historians are still sorting out whether Eamon - who lived until 1975 - was a good guy or bad guy, but as apropos for most elected officials the best answer is simply a "Yes." But all his life he remained - at least technically by American law - a citizen of the United States.

Love him or hate him, respect him or scorn him, there is, though, at least one action Eamon - "Dev" to his friends - took which modern politicians might emulate. Eamon did practice what he preached. He not only was a loyal family man - an increasing rarity for public figures it seems - but when it came to advocating austerity, one of his first acts was to reduce his own salary - by more than 30%.

Up the Republic!

References

Eamon de Valera, Frank Pakenham, Earl of Longford and Thomas Patrick O'Neill, Houghton Mifflin (1971). The first full length biography of Eamon, readers will note this book was published in Eamon's lifetime. It can honestly be said this is less an "authorized" biography than an authorized apotheosis where the reader gets the impression that when Eamon first entered the Dail he had ridden a donkey down O'Connell Street strewn with palm branches. At the same time it would be wrong to say - as Irish historians have pointed out - that there are not very good things about this book, and it really does cover Eamon's successes very well. However, his failures are pretty much ignored or at best rationalized away.

De Valera: The Man and the Myths, T. Ryle Dwyer, Poolbeg Press (1992). This is the first book to really deal with Eamon's success and failures and try to rationalize why he was so loftily elevated and so horribly despied. Actually CooperToons ranks this book as one of the best about Eamon.

Eamon De Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland, Tim Pat Coogan, Harper-Collins (1995). Tim Pat (as he is called) is a bit harsher on Eamon that Longford and O'Neill saying that in the end that Eamon did little that was good for Ireland and much that was bad. Some people agree; others do not.

Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon De Valera, Diarmaid Ferriter, Royal Irish Academy (2007). A more favorable view of "Dev", and reviews in the Irish media tend to be positive with certain exceptions. Criticism is that the book always tends to side with Eamon in controversial issues.

Judging Dev is also an RTE radio program that can be accessed on the internet. It is largely a series of interviews and does presuppose a general knowledge of Eamon's place in Irish history.

England's Greatest Spy: Eamon de Valera, John Turi, Stacey International, 2009. This has to be the ultimate in Eamon-was-a-bad guy book and accuses the Man Who Was Ireland of being a traitor and a British spy. The reasoning of the claim is that given all the bad Eamon did for Ireland - or more exactly since everything he did was so bad for Ireland - then he must have been in active cahoots with the British.

The huge consensus from Irish historians - even those who themselves have nothing but bad to say about Eamon - is the thesis of this book is nonsense and that Eamon was not a British spy. One reviewer - very much the Dev Detractor - said the book put him in the strange position of defending Eamon.

There is always a problem with any book of this sort - that is history books where the findings are not due to new documentation (such as discovering a note that says "Quick! Pay Dev an extra 1500 pounds for his recent spying activities against the Irish! - Winston") but are based on psychological analysis and new interpretations of old information. First, it really starts with the belief that Eamon was a spy and then data mines the record for anything that Eamon did as proof of the claim. Contrary arguments can also be used - strangely enough - as arguments of the assertion.

For instance, if you cite Winston's spittle flinging opposition to Eamon as being unlikely if he and Eamon were co-conspirators, then you can argue Winston simply knew Eamon was a spy and was trying to keep Eamon's cover. Even if someone were to uncover an autograph document where Winston wrote "Wouldn't it be funny if sometime in the future someone decides de Valera was a spy since he made such a hash of it?", you could say again Winston was planting false information to keep conspiracy secret. Therefore in terms of scientific reasoning, the thesis is non-falsifiable and cannot be refuted even if it is false.

A little less hypothetical example of how the thesis is non-falsifiable is to look at the claim in the book where William E. Wylie, who was the Crown Prosecuting Officer for the 1916 courts martial, says Eamon was never put on trial. W. E.'s statement, then, clearly supports the claim that Eamon was a spy. After all, if a major commander of the Irish forces was not put on trial, then the rationalization is he must have turned traitor and agreed to spy for the British.

But in his memoirs published in the early 1960's, W. E, left his own recollections of a discussion with Sir John Maxwell, the British army commander in Dublin. At that point ninety men had been sentenced to death, and fifteen men had been executed. However, the international outcry had become so intense that Sir John was under fire (no bad joke intended) from Herbert Henry Asquith, the English prime minister, to stop the executions. So Sir John and W. E. looked over the list of people slated to be shot. Well, the next on the list was James Connolly. Sir John said they certainly could not let Connolly off - he was too high up in Irish command. But who is this guy next in line? The guy with the funny name? W. E. said it was a schoolmaster, Edward de Valera, a nobody. Well, we'll go ahead with Connolly, said Sir John, but stop with the schoolmaster.

The obvious question is how would Eamon end up in the list of those condemned - i. e., put on trial - if indeed, he had not been tried? There is an ever stronger case for a trial in that there is a file in the British Home Office Records, HO 144/10309. It is titled "CRIMINAL CASES: VALERA, Edward de, Convicted at Court Martial [emphasis added], Dublin, on 8 May 1916 for armed rebellion and war against H.M. the King and sentenced to death (commuted) 1916-1929".

Unfortunately, the actual record itself is missing, although records of other court martials were later found. But a home office records summary stating Eamon was "convicted at Court Martial, Dublin on 8 May 1916" certainly argues the case that Eamon was convicted at court martial in Dublin on May 8, 1916. (The file is cited in the UK National Archives at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-1909065&CATLN=7&Highlight=&accessmethod=4).

But of course, if you do believe Eamon was a spy, then the obvious response is once again that both W. E.'s story and the HO file are both covers-up to hide the fact that Eamon was indeed a spy. Once more lack of proof becomes proof, and proof to the contrary becomes proof of the assertion.

CooperToons' opinion is that Eamon may very well have been unsuited to be given real military command in 1916 revolt and he may indeed have suffered a nervous breakdown resulting in strange and erratic behavior. His blowing off responsibility on Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith in negotiating with the English very well could have been because he knew a united Ireland was impossible, and he was mostly concerned how he would look to posterity. Also Eamon's taking the "high road" on Irish Independence may have been a major cause of the Irish Civil War. But Eamon was not a British spy.

"Irish Historical Mysteries: Eamon de Valera's Father Vivion Juan de Valera", http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/devalera.html. This website has a discussion on Eamon's father and shows the birth certificate of Eamon.

The birth certificate of "George de Valero [sic]" is on file in New York and a copy can be accessed at http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/features/devalera.shtml. In 1910 - when Eamon was 18 - his mom requested the birth certificate be emended to read "Edward", a request that was approved. It does not appear that Eamon ever requested his US citizenship to be revoked or that it was revoked by the US.

Eamon de Valera: Ireland's Hated Hero, BBC (1999). For a double sided introduction to Eamon this is a good enough place to start, but as always care has to be made to distinguish documented facts from pronouncements of talking heads in thirty second soundbytes. But all in all, a good enough video.

Face-Off: De Valera Vs. Churchill, RTE (2009) Again a video, this time very specific about the battle between Eamon and Winston on the touchy subject of Irish neutrality in World War II. There is also a very good discussion on the equally touchy (and complex) subject of Winston offering Eamon Northern Ireland as part of a deal for Ireland to join the Allies and the (possible) reasons why Eamon turned Winston down.

Hidden History: 1916 - The Man Who Lost Ireland, BBC (2005) A documentary on the 1916 Rising, and based on the newly released courts-martial records, and the memoirs and memos of William Wylie. It focuses on Sir John Maxwell, the British officer who was in charge of the courts-martials and executions. While not totally unsympathetic to Sir John, it shows us he wasn't the best man for the job.

The lack of courts-martial records are due to the extreme brevity. Sir John cited what were called Fields Courts Martials that required only three officers, no defense witnesses or defense counsel. The verdict was confirmed by the senior officer, and there was no appeal.