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1. Eamon de Valera was born in New York City on October 14,1882 of an Irish mother and a Spanish father. When his father died in 1885, he was sent to live with his mother's family in Bruree, County Limerick, Ireland. He received his education at Blackrock College and the National University in Dublin. After his graduation in 1904, he taught mathematics. In 1910 he married Sinead Flanagan and they had five sons and two daughters.

2. In 1913, de Valera joined the Irish Volunteers. In 1916 he was the last commander of the anti-British Easter Rising forces to surrender, making the statement "shoot me if you will, but arrange for my men.” Originally scheduled to be executed, his sentence was later commuted to life in prison. This was probably due both to his American birth and because of public outcry, both in Ireland and Britain, over the executions of 16 other leaders.

3. De Valera was released under an amnesty in 1917 and elected president of two major groups that were opposed to British rule: the political party, Sinn Fein, and the Irish Volunteers military organization. De Valera was rearrested the following year and sent to prison in England. While in prison, he was elected to the British Parliament, but refused to serve. In 1919, he made a dramatic escape from Lincoln prison using a key smuggled to him in a cake. He traveled to the United States as a stowaway. For a year and a half, he publically spoke in favor of the Irish cause, raising six million dollars for Irish independence.

4. In 1921, he returned to Ireland, and attended negotiations in London with British Prime Minister Lloyd George. However, he was not a party to a final agreement signed by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. They had been instructed to submit the draft treaty to the Cabinet in Dublin before signing. He fought against adoption of the treaty because it excluded Northern Ireland and included a oath of loyalty to the British crown.

5. In 1922 the Dail (the Irish Assembly) ratified the treaty. A bloody civil war followed (June, 1922 through May, 1923), during which de Valera's followers were defeated and de Valera was imprisioned for about a year. In 1926 he founded a new political party, Fianna Fail, which became the official opposition in the Dail. To enter the Dail, he and his followers had to take the oath of allegiance he had previously fought against. In the Dail, his party demanded abolition of the oath, removal of the governor general, and an end to land purchase annuities payable to Britain. In 1932 the Fianna Fail won control of the government and de Valera became Taoiseach (similar to a Prime Minister). He withheld payment of the land annuities and abolished the oath of loyalty to the British crown. During the next 5 years, Britain began an economic war against Ireland during which the latter suffered substantial losses. In 1937 Ireland adopted a new constitution, declaring itself a sovereign state, taking the name Eire. A life-long, practicing Roman Catholic, de Valera saw to it that the new constitution reflected Christian moral beliefs.

6. In 1932 de Valera was made head of the Council of the League of Nations and in 1938 he became President of the Assembly of the League. In 1939 Ireland announced it would remain neutral in the World War, although many termed it "neutral on the English side". De Valera was continually reelected until 1948 when the opposition turned him out of power. During the next three years, when de Valera's party was in the minority, the new government took the Republic of Ireland out of the British Commonwealth. De Valera had avoided that step because he had hoped on the eventual reunion of Northern Ireland and Eire.

7. In 1951, when his party was elected to power, he again served as Taoiseach. As usual, his main support came from the small farming class. Although turned out again in 1954, he came back as Taoiseach for the years 1957 through 1959, dealing with the problems of emigration, unemployment, and the lack of industrial production. One long time associate commented about this time, that the most striking feature of de Valera's statesmanship was "you couldn't imagine him doing anything opposed to the Sermon on the Mount."

8. In 1959, hampered by growing blindness, de Valera was forced to retire from the active post of Taoiseach. He ran for the presidency of Ireland, winning a seven-year term. In 1966 he was relected and in 1973, at the age of 91, he completed his second presidential term. Eamon de Valera retired to a nursing home near Dublin and died there on August 29, 1975. He remains the major political figure of modern day Ireland.