On the 23rd of June 1919 Éamon de Valera strode into the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, taking up residence there for the next 18 months. While open warfare would break out in Ireland between Republican and Crown forces de Valera and his entourage would try to secure recognition of the Irish Republic and undertake a massive fund raising campaign, heavily supported by the Irish-American community.
It would be an injustice to all involved to address de Valera’s entire stay in just one episode so you can expect a few covering the major events of his trip. Episode 1 deals with his arrival in New York, his first meeting with John Devoy and Daniel Cohalan and the foundations of the split between them. The episode looks at the start of the bond drive and stops before the suppression of Dáil Éireann, so you can expect the next episode in September!
References:
Dave Hannigan - “De Valera in America”
Ronan Fanning - “Éamon de Valera: A Will to Power”
David McCullagh - “De Valera: Rise”
David Fitzpatrick - “Harry Boland’s Irish Revolution”
Eileen McGough - “Diarmuid Lynch: A Forgotten Irish Patriot”
Social Media:
Twitter: / theirishnation
Facebook: / theirishnationlives
Instagram: / theirishnationlives
Soundcloud: / theirishnationlives
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
Main Sources:
Military Archives - www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie
Century Ireland - www.rte.ie/centuryireland
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”
Photos:
Military Archives
NLI Flickr account
Wiki Commons