The Irish revolutionary leader and statesman Eamon De Valera (1882-1975) served as prime minister and later president of Ireland (1959-1973).

Eamon De Valera was born in New York City on October 14, 1882. In 1885, after the death of his Spanish father, he was sent to live with his Irish mother's family in Country Limerick. He graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in 1904 and became a mathematics teacher.

De Valera was an ardent supporter of the Irish language revival movement and also became a member of Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers. After the failure of the 1916 insurrection, he became the senior surviving rebel leader when his death sentence was commuted because of his American birth. Released by the British government in 1917, he was acclaimed in Ireland as the leader of the revolutionary independence movement. He became president of the Irish Republic established by the separatists after their victory in...