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In the 1930s his work in establishing Ireland as an independent state guaranteed his place in history in Irish, although one tarnished in American eyes by his blind spot toward Nazi Germany. He dominated post-independence Irish politics for forty years.
In the 1930s his work in establishing Ireland as an independent state guaranteed his place in history in Irish, although one tarnished in American eyes by his blind spot toward Nazi Germany. He dominated post-independence Irish politics for forty years.
History focuses more on his failures, comparing him unfavorable to his great rival [[Michael Collins]]. Valera's duplicity and betrayal of the Treaty process, and his rejection of agreed upon democratic procedures led to civil war and nearly destroyed Ireland at birth, Liberals decry his conservative social policies and his close relationship with the Catholic bishops. He was morally certain to the point of arrogance with a keen eye for his own political self-preservation. Yet for all that, he remained a deeply committed republican, consistent in his dream of creating a truly Irish Ireland that the Gaelic revivalists of the early twentieth century would have approved. That he failed in this task remained perhaps his greatest disappointment.
History focuses more on his failures, comparing him unfavorable to his great rival [[Michael Collins]]. Valera's duplicity and betrayal of the Treaty process, and his rejection of agreed upon democratic procedures led to civil war and nearly destroyed Ireland at birth, Liberals decry his conservative social policies and his close relationship with the Catholic bishops. He was morally certain to the point of arrogance with a keen eye for his own political self-preservation. Yet for all that, he remained a deeply committed republican, consistent in his dream of creating a truly Irish Ireland that the Gaelic revivalists of the early twentieth century would have approved. That he failed in this task remained perhaps his greatest disappointment.
In his devout Catholicism, his rejection of material ostentation, his determination to revive the Irish language, and his inability to comprehend Protestant Ulster's fears of Catholic domination, de Valera was representative of his generation in southern Ireland.
== Early Life ==
== Early Life ==