Presidency of Éamon de Valera

Date: March 9, 1932 • Location: Dublin City, Ireland

Éamon de Valera (pictured), a dominant political figure in 20th-century Ireland, became President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

Éamon de Valera was an Irish statesman. He served as the president of Ireland from 1959 to 1973, and three terms as head of government. He had a leading role in introducing the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, and was a dominant figure in Irish political circles from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, when he served terms as both the head of government and head of state.