1920 couldn’t have started better for Éamon de Valera. In January he received the freedom of New York, the city he was born in and had left at just 2 years of age following his father’s death. The bond drive finally got started after months of delays and hundreds of thousands of dollars were subscribed in the opening few days. But everything turned sour soon afterwards and set the major groups in the United States on a collision course with each other. De Valera’s lack of understanding of US politics and his refusal to ask for help or share credit became clear in an interview given in February. This gave his enemies a chance to strike against him and almost had him recalled to Ireland. While he survived the tumult he wouldn’t forget those who stood against him and an open split in the movement was just months away.
References:
David McCullagh - “De Valera: Rise”
Dave Hannigan - “De Valera in America”
Eileen McGough - “Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot”
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theirishnation
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIrishNationLives/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirishnationlives/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theirishnationlives
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-irish-nation-lives
Main Sources:
Military Archives - http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie
Century Ireland - https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland
Diarmuid Lynch, Irish Revolutionary - http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/
Atlas of the Irish Revolution
Maurice Walsh - “Bitter Freedom”
Charles Townshend - "The Republic"
Michael Hopkinson - ”The Irish War of Independence”
Diarmuid Ferriter - “A Nation and not a Rabble”
Richard Abbot - “Police Casualties in Ireland 1919 - 1922”
Photos:
Military Archives
NLI Flickr account
Wiki Commons
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