1882-1975. Irish nationalist politician, 
prime minister of the Irish Free 
State/Eire/Republic of Ireland 1932-48, 
1951-54, and 1957-59, and president 
1959-73. Repeatedly imprisoned, he 
participated in the Easter Rising 1916 and
was leader of the nationalist Sinn Fein party
1917-26, when he formed the republican Fianna
Fail party; he directed negotiations with
Britain 1921 but refused to accept the
partition of Ireland until 1937. He was born
in New York, the son of a Spanish father and
an Irish mother, and sent to Ireland as a
child, where he became a teacher of
mathematics. He was sentenced to death for
his part in the Easter Rising, but the
sentence was commuted, and he was released
under an amnesty 1917. In the same year he
was elected member of Parliament for E Clare,
and president of Sinn Fein. He was rearrested
May 1918, but escaped to the USA 1919. He
returned to Ireland 1920 and directed the
struggle against the British government from
a hiding place in Dublin. He authorized the
negotiations of 1921, but refused to accept
the ensuing treaty which divided Ireland into
the Free State and the North. Civil war
followed. De Valera was arrested by the Free
State government 1923, and spent a year in
prison. He formed a new party, Fianna Fail
1926, which secured a majority in 1932. De
Valera became prime minister and foreign
minister of the Free State, and at once
abolished the oath of allegiance and
suspended payment of the annuities due under
the Land Purchase Acts. In 1938 he negotiated
an agreement with Britain, under which all
outstanding points were settled. Throughout
World War II he maintained a strict
neutrality, rejecting an offer by Churchill
1940 to recognize the principle of a united
Ireland in return for Eire's entry into the
war. He resigned after his defeat at the 1948
elections but was again prime minister in the
1950s, and then president of the republic. He
was sentenced to death for his part in the
Easter Rising, but the sentence was commuted,
and he was released under an amnesty 1917. He
directed the negotiations of 1921 but refused
to accept the ensuing treaty that divided
Ireland into the Free State and the North.
Civil war followed. De Valera formed a new
party, Fianna Fail 1926, which secured a
majority in 1932. De Valera became prime
minister and foreign minister of the Free
State. Throughout World War II he maintained
a strict neutrality, rejecting an offer by
Churchill 1940 to recognize the principle of
a united Ireland in return for Eire's entry
into the war. He resigned after his defeat at
the 1948 elections but was again prime
minister in the 1950s and then president of
the republic.