Eamon de Valera was born in Manhattan, New York, on 14th October 1882. His mother Kate Coll was a native of Bruree. She had emigrated from Bruree to America two years previous to his birth. Eamon’s father died when he was only two years old. His mother decided that her son would be safer at home in Ireland. She sent him to be reared by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, who lived in a labourer’s cottage at Knockmore.
A young Eamon or Eddy as he liked to be known as attended the local national school in Bruree village. He served as an altar boy for none other than Fr. Eugene Sheehy. Fr. Eugene was highly influential toward’s a young Eamon. It was he that would instil Eamon’s passion for politics’, the fight for freedom, etc. Eamon continued his education in the Christian Brother’s School in Charleville, Co. Cork. He walked the seven miles to school and back every day. At the tender age of 16, he won a scholarship, with the assistance of Fr. Eugene Sheehy to Blackrock College in Dublin. He studied hard and went on to become a professor of mathematics. He lectured part-time at Maynooth College and various other Dublin colleges. At school and later he was a keen rugby player.
In 1908, he joined the Gaelic League, the beginning of his life-long devotion to Irish. One of his teachers was a young woman called Sinead Flanagan. She was also a teacher. Their passion for our native Gaelic tongue, brought them close together & they fell in love. They were married in January 1910. De Valera joined the Irish Volunteers at their first meeting in 1913. He took part in the landing of guns from the Asgard in July 1914. He commanded the Boland’s Mills garrison during the 1916 rising. After the surrender he was sentenced to death, but later it was reduced.
They decided to sentence him to life imprisonment. In prison, de Valera began to show his leadership qualities. He was released from prison in June 1917. After his release he called to family in Bruree, along with a comrade of his Countess Markievicz. He was on his way to contest a seat in the elections in Co. Clare. He was elected as a Sinn Fein deputy for East Clare. At the Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis in October 1917, de Valera was elected President of the party. At the end of the same month he was elected President of the Irish Volunteers. When the British Government proposed to extend conscription to Ireland in early 1918, Eamon led the successful opposition to this proposal. On 17 May 1918, DeValera was arrested and deported for internment to England, where he was to remain up to February 1919.
During his jail term, he was elected in again for East Clare in the general election. On 21 January 1919, the assembled deputies met at the Mansion House in Dublin. The Government for the Irish Republic was formally established on this day. He was arrested again this time because of his part the “German Plot” against the British. He was jailed in Lincoln prison. He escaped from Lincoln prison on 3 February 1919. How you ask? Using his connections within the chapel, he managed to steal candles from the altar and while mass was being served from the alter, DeValera “borrowed” the master-key of the chaplain. He made an impression of it in the candle wax. The mould was then packaged in paper and tossed over the wall of the prison, so a duplicate could be made.
The key was duplicated and smuggled in to the prison concealed in a cake. The escape began on the evening of February 4, 1919. With members of Sinn Fein having cut through the wire, a group of Irish girls were sent to flirt with the prison guards to ensure their backs were turned. The guards were suitably busy now, so Eamon was able to walk to the back door of the prison, and leave. At that he returned briefly to Ireland, during which time was elected as President of the Dail.
In June of 1919, he travelled to the U.S.A. to seek financial and political support for an independent Ireland. He returned to Ireland in December 1920 to take his place as the President of Ireland. From the very start the Dail had to face a number of serious problems, the lack of experience of the new government. The War of Independence was raging at this time with the regular British forces being assisted by the “Black and Tans”. The “Black and Tans” were ex-army men, brought into Ireland to assist the British in the War of Independence. A truce was eventually declared on 11 July. Negotiations were opened with the English Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and his government leading up to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December in 1921. The Treaty was accepted in the Dail on 7 January 1922 with 64 in favour and 57 against. As an opponent of the Treaty, Eamon gave his resignation to the Dáil. Arthur Griffith was elected President in the place of him.
During the Civil War of 1922-1923 between the pro-Treaty Provisional Government under Michael Collins and its opponents, which Eamon supported, the anti-Treaty Republicans. An ‘Emergency Government’ was formed by the Republicans with Eamon as president. In May 1923 the Republicans called a cease fire and the resistance ended. De Valera was arrested on 15 August 1923, under the Public Safety Act. He was just about to make a speech in Ennis, when the arrest occured and he was imprisoned yet again until July 1924. Despite the fact he was in prison, Clare elected him top of the poll in the general election on 27 August 1923. He continued to represent Clare for the rest of his active political career.
As part of the Anglo-Irish Treaty which ended the War of Independence all members of the Oireachtas were obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain. Towards the end of 1925, Eamon and the I.R.A. found that they were on opposite sides on this issue and Sinn Fein was split in two. De Valera had made remarks which suggested that if the oath were removed, he would sit in Dail Eireann. In March 1926, he resigned as President of Sinn Fein over this issue and decided to launch a new party. In May 1926 at a meeting in Dublin, de Valera founded a new political party called Fianna Fail. In November 1926, Fianna Fail held its first Ard-Fheis and Eamon was elected President of the new organisation. In the general election of June 1927, his party won 44 seats and Cumann na nGaedhael won 47 seats which was a huge loss for them. When de Valera and his fellow Fianna Fail deputies arrived at Leinster House, they were refused permission to take their seats unless they first took the oath. They then retired and Cumann na nGaedhael formed the government.
Fianna Fail continued to campaign for the removal of the Oath. In order to spread their ideas, the Fianna Fail party founded a daily newspaper called the Irish Press, in September 1931. Fianna Fail, supported by the Labour Party, formed a Government in 1932.they overcame their objections to the Oath by simply signing a book containing the oath, which they did declare an “Empty Formula”. In office, the party finally removed the oath by legislation in 1933.
On 1st September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began the Second World War. On 2nd September in Dail Eireann, de Valera declared that the 26 counties would remain neutral. This policy was generally accepted. The war years became commonly known as “The Emergency”. Each person was given a special ration-book due to the shortages of everyday items. The post-war years brought continued economic problems with rising prices, emigration and growing unemployment. This did not make Eamon and his government very popular.
A shock general election was called by DeValera in 1948. Fianna Fail gained only 68 seats out of 147 and the other parties came together to form a coalition government.
In June 1959, he was elected President of Ireland. During which time he received honorary degrees from universities both in Ireland and abroad. Eamon was re-elected President for a second term in 1966. After 14 years as president he retired from office in June 1973. Eamon de Valera died on 29th August 1975 at 92 years of age. He is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.