Eamon De Valera, Fianna Fáil Leader, Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Is Born in Brooklyn, NY

Éamon de Valera, nationalist leader, founder of Fianna Fáil, Taoiseach, and later President of Ireland, is born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 14, 1882, to an Irish mother, Catherine Coll, and a Spanish father, Juan Vivion de Valera.

De Valera would go on to become one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish history, playing a leading role in the 1916 Easter Rising, the struggle for independence, and the drafting of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish Constitution. His American birth granted him a unique perspective and international connections, which he often leveraged during Ireland’s path to sovereignty.

He served multiple terms as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and later as President of Ireland (1959–1973), shaping Irish political life for more than five decades.