The son of the head of the Irish Free State government, Liam Cosgrave (born 1920) became foreign minister and later prime minister (1973-1977).

Liam Cosgrave was born in Dublin on April 30, 1920, the son of William T. and Louise (Flanagan) Cosgrave. He attended the Christian Brothers' School and St. Vincent's College in Dublin. Studying law at the King's Inn, he was called to the bar in 1943 and became a senior counsel in 1958.

Cosgrave's father was the leader of the government of the newly independent Ireland (Irish Free State) from 1922 to 1932. They laid the foundation of Irish democracy in the aftermath of the bloody civil war with the British. William Cosgrave's government had to first wage a civil war against hardline nationalists unhappy with the terms of the independence and then restore constitutional normalcy after years of insurrection and civil war.

In 1932 Eamon De Valera, the leader of the defeated forces...