NEWS & VIEWS
NEWS & VIEWS Eamon de Valera Back in the late 1940s, when I was a student at Trin-ity College, Dublin, I used to camp on the steps of the National Library when the Dail, the Irish Parliament, was...
...This is no less true today, when a mini-civil war exists between North and South over the Partition of the country...
...The phone rang, and though only a foot from his elbow, de Valera had trouble locat-ing it...
...29 he was established as the symbol of modern Ireland...
...An example offered is the resum6 of a Navy aviator who flew missions in South-east Asia.The aviator's bomb-ing activities are described this way: ". . . located profit-able areas for the concentra-tion of resources...
...It was the nature of the man, but also the na-ture of Ireland...
...The phone conversation shifted to rugby, and de Val-era chatted animatedly about the Blackrock rugby team's showing in Rome shortly be-fore...
...Earl-ier, Ireland had indiscreetly announced that its prime in-terest in the Council was to secure an end to Partition through the Council's machin-ery, an objective that struck Council members negatively...
...But he survived them and their criti-cism, and long before his death on Aug...
...uttered...
...He died at 92...
...Ireland's policy, he said, would be to proceed prudently and slowly, and to avoid the mistakes connected with Ireland's association with the Council of Europe...
...De Valera spoke about Partition during our meeting, holding that the solution to a divided Ireland resided with the UN...
...JOHN DEEDY...
...and in a dec-ade's time it was back to guns and bombs in Ireland, with much of the world continuing to look the other way -to Southeast Asia, the Mid-dle East, the Third World...
...the UN's sails were trimmed...
...Vetspeah Some retiring military per-sonnel, says the Washington Post, are receiving a Depart-ment of Defense brochure ex-plaining how to draw up a re'sume' for job-hunting...
...He was a good friend of mine," said the witness of L.B.J., "so I want this taken in the spirit rendered...
...misspoke" for ly-ing...
...Remembered A recent witness before the Senate Budget Committee had the temerity to recall Lyodon Johnson's favorite quote about reasoning together (Isaiah, 1-18), then, lo and behold, to add the rest of the passage: "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow...
...of Nixspeak (almost everything R.M.N...
...Keenness for rugby, an English sport, was perhaps de Valera's sole departure from a strict Irish nationalism and it was a departure nowhere near so frivolous as some might think, given the fervor of the Gaelic Athletic Asso-ciation and its politicizing of Irish sports...
...The UN approach would be more sophisticated and, de Valera expected, more suc-cessful...
...If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land...
...The call was from a priest at Blackrock College, whom de Valera thanked for the Masses offered on his 75th birthday, two days be-fore...
...He did, of course...
...Even then de Valera was virtually blind, a handicap he sought carefully to conceal...
...NEWS & VIEWS Eamon de Valera Back in the late 1940s, when I was a student at Trin-ity College, Dublin, I used to camp on the steps of the National Library when the Dail, the Irish Parliament, was in session to watch a personal hero come and go...
...Thus, little information re-sulted from my interview, and nothing cosmic by way of historical development on de Valera's UN expectation...
...Ireland doesn't make big news...
...for the mouth of the Lord has spoken...
...He would ar-rive and leave in a chauffeur-driven car, seated bolt upright in the rear seat, his head seemingly pressed against the roof...
...He was Eamon de Valera, then between the first and second of his three reigns as Ireland's prime minister, but of course still active in Dail politics as leader of the Fian-na Fail party...
...Partition never made it to the UN floor, at least not in a serious way...
...1984, as they say, is nine yean off, and gaining...
...They remain strong-of a man extremely reserved, modest in his tastes (his of-fice was sparse and without adornments), proud and de-vout...
...As epitaph, maybe...
...From behind the iron-spike fence that separated the National Library from the Dail grounds one glimpsed the profile of a man who in his lifetime had become as legendary as Brian Boru...
...In interviews, as in public addresses, de Valera often managed to convey more in the way of impressions than he ever did informa-tion...
...It conveyed the idea, de Val-era remarked, that Ireland doesn't care about the rest of Europe-all it is con-cerned about is itself...
...Its geographical positioning on the fringes of Europe has for-ever condemned it, it seems, to the fringes of international importance...
...In 1957,1 was back in Ire-land-passing through, actu-ally-and as a professional journalist managed to secure an interview with de Valera, once again Ireland's prime minister...
...But the impressions were multiple and memorable...
...he lives for Irish history...
...but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword...
...Nothing notable came out of that meeting...
...This, remember, was back in the days when exalted hopes could be invested in the UN...
...One is reminded of CIA-speak ("termination without prejudice" for murder...
...In leaving de Valera's of-fice, I spoke what seems now like ingratiating flattery, but what was simple fact for one of my background...
...He looked to neither side...
...For de Valera and Ireland, as for the rest of the world, it was only a momentary phase...
...of Ziespeak ("inoperative" for incorrect...
...Where I come from, Eamon de Valera is practically beatified," said I. "Don't forget, every candi-date for beatification has his devil's advocate," de Valera responded, "and I have a great share of them...
...though they are red like crimson, they shall be-come like wool...
...It sometimes seems Ireland could sink into the sea to-morrow and only travel agents would wring their hands mightily...
...de-stabilization" for the over-throw of a government...
...L.B.J...
Vol. 102 • September 1975 • No. 14
