Eamon de Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland

804 Pages·2001·51.917 MB·English

by  Tim Pat Coogan

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MON
de VALERA
By the same author
Non-fiction
The IRA
Ireland Since the Rising
On the Blanket
Disillusioned Decades 1966-87
The Irish: A Personal View
Michael Collins
The Troubles: Ireland’s Ordeal 1966-1996
The Irish Civil War (with George Morrison)
Anthology
Ireland and the Arts (editor)
EAMON
de VALERA
THE MAN
WHO WAS
IRELAND
TIM PAT COOGAN
ARNES
BOOKS
NEW YORK
The extract from Lough Derg by Patrick Kavanagh is reproduced by kind permission of
the Goldsmith Press Ltd. © Dr. Peter Kavanagh (New York).
Copyright © 1993 by Tim Pat Coogan
This edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.,
by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the Publisher.
1999 Barnes & Noble Books
ISBN 0-7607-1251-4
Printed and bound in the United States of America
99 00°0021 0 3 MP9 8:7 6514.53.25)
RRD-B
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Vii
Chronology
List of Illustrations
Prologue
The Harsh Reality of a Nursery
Marriage Through the Medium
Taking the Oath
“We'll Go Ahead with Connolly’
Bearding the Bishops
From Lincoln Towards the White House
Priomh Aire Meets Gallowglass
The War from the Waldorf
OC‘OIfN TDhHeyD MPNroAcPeWedN FWHis ely . . .’
10 The ‘Long Hoor’ v. Collins
11 Saorstat v. Phoblacht
12 The ‘Cute Hoor’ Triumphant
13 The Scapegoats Go Forth
14 A Telephone Call Not Taken
15 ‘Every Means in Our Power’
16 Binoculars and Beal na mBlath
17 ‘Publicity Before All’
18 The Warriors of Destiny
19 De Valera’s Decade
20 Pulling a Stroke
21 De Valera Stands Tall
22 The Unique Dictator
23 Making for Ports, Via the Kitchens
24 Blind Courage
25 Gray Amidst the Greenery
26 In the Eye of the Storm
27 Many Shades of Gray
28 Getting de Valera on the Record
29 Harsh Justice
30 De Valera Clings On, and On
31 When Bishops Were Bishops
32 Borne Down by What Bore Him Up
33 The Summing-Up
Notes
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
For Barbara and Mabel
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It was Frank Delaney who came up to me during the hubbub at the
launching of my book on Michael Collins in Kilmainham Jail, where de
Valera was once imprisoned, and suggested that I write this biography. I
rejected the idea immediately; my mind was set on a work about the Irish
diaspora and Irish identity which I had long planned. Apart from anything
else, I was looking forward to the opportunities that the project offered for
travel, away from the confines of Ireland’s antique quarrel with Britain,
her civil war and past dissensions.
However, some time later, while I was working with Roger Bolton on
the making of the drama documentary The Treaty, out of the blue he too
strongly urged me to make de Valera my next project. By then preparatory
research for my diaspora project had confirmed for me the centrality of de
Valera to many of the questions concerning identity, and the reason why,
in this century particularly, there was such a large diaspora. Central too
were the linked factors of both quarrel and civil war. For me and for
Hutchinson it was an idea whose hour had struck.
Gail Rebuck and Neil Belton were entirely ad idem with Frank Delaney
on the project. Throughout both Frank, and later the editorial expertise,
constant cheerful helpfulness and encouragement of Tony Whittome, have
been enormously enabling. Esther Jagger was a serenely efficient High
Priestess of nitty gritty editing.
Others to whom I owe gratitude include those two fine journalists my son
Tom and daughter Jackie, who were supportive and professional in
assisting with research. John O’Mahony, that unusual being, a scholarly
banker, proved himself a true friend in his help with proof-reading.
Appropriately de Valera’s old Alma Mater, Blackrock College, run by the
Holy Ghost Fathers, was a treasure trove of advice and friendship, to say
nothing of archival material and de Valera memorabilia. Fathers Sean
Farragher and Michael O’Carroll, both of whom taught me and were
friendly with de Valera, were of particular assistance.
In America another Holy Ghost priest, Father Mathew Farrelly, also
deserves my gratitude. I must give special thanks to Mary Jordan and
Kevin O’Sullivan of the Washington Post for their unfailingly helpful
responses to my flood of inquiries. I am also deeply in debt to both Bob
and Patsy Lovelock in New York for their assistance with my Roosevelt
researches; in Wyoming, to Thomas Wilsted and John Brower for their
help with David Gray’s papers in the American Heritage Center at
Laramie.
In London I must thank both Hilary Jones and Jane Leonard for their
Vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
help with PRO material. In Dublin there are a great number of people and
institutions to whom I am indebted. Dr Patrick Lynch, Dr T. K. Whitaker,
Maurice Moynihan, Jack Lynch and some who wish to remain anonymous
were enlightening and forthcoming with their comments.
Professor Brendan Kennelly was, characteristically, both generous and
enlightening in donating his moving poetic insight into de Valera in his last
days. Mr Daragh Connolly and his brothers are to be thanked for allowing
me to use the memoirs of their father, Joseph Connolly. A great number of
- people who have gone ahead should also be remembered. Over the years,
for various books and sometimes just for the joy of conversation I have
spoken to many men and women whose conversations helped me in the
production of this book. They are too numerous to mention individually,
but I would like to single out the following: Vivion de Valera, Padraig
O’hAnrachain, David Neligan, Gerry Boland, Sean Lemass, Michael
MacInerney, Leon O’Broin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, Desmond
Williams and Brendan Malin.
I cannot say enough for the kindness and professionalism of the many
archivists with whom I have dealt. The National Library is simply the best
club of Ireland; everyone worth knowing passes through its doors at some
stage. I have reason to be grateful to all the staff with whom I have dealt,
and would like to thank in particular the Director, Dr Pat Donlon, and Mr
Gerry Lynne of the Manuscript Department. At Dublin University, Dr
Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts, and Felicity O’Mahony were
always most helpful. So too in University College, Dublin, were the
Keeper of the Archives, Mr Seamus Helferty, and his staff. Mr David
Sheey, the archivist of the Archdiocesan Records of Dublin, was a font of
knowledge. Nor can I say enough for the diligence and assistance of the
staff at the National Archives, whose new premises at Bishop’s Street were
opened as I was researching this book. My special thanks are due to Ms
Deidre Crowe for making available to me some uncatalogued Department
of Foreign Affairs records.
I should like to thank Mr Brendan MacGiolla Choille and the Franciscan
Fathers for the service they have performed in cataloguing and
progressively making available de Valera’s papers at Killiney. When the
work is completed it will be a monumental contribution to our
understanding of a man and an era. The anonymous benefactor who sent
me the copies of de Valera’s letters during the writing of Michael Collins,
whom I acknowledged gratefully in that work, has earned my renewed,
and increased, gratitude through the use I was able to make of his or her
generosity in this one.
Vili