“HISTORY TODAY” is a British magazine which each month asks someone it deems
a leading historian why their research matters, what history has taught them and what
we should be reading.
Its December Issue arrived today where it puts Lucy Noakes “ON THE SPOT.”
Lucy holds the Rab Butler Chair in Modern History at the University of Essex, and is
President Elect of the Royal Historical Society.
I am not an academic, but as an amateur student of history believe that Lucy expresses
herself simultaneously ex Cathedra et per Anum.
This is hardly surprising because lies about De Valera have been spread by scoundrels
for over a century. A century in which he has proved himself a consistently rational and
ethical figure. There is no record of him attacking the character of his opponents. He
attacked policies for being morally wrong or for being unwse or imprudent. He defended,
to the humbug C.P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian, the shooting dead of nocturnal
murderers who slipped out of Dublin Castle, or other addresses under cover of curfew
to kill unarmed republicans in their homes. De Valera was at the time the leader of the
first state in history established by popular vote in 1918, and further confirmed in local elections in 1920 and another General Election in 1921.
I have dealt with part of De Valera’s legacy in BLOGS
such as De Valera “Irelands Hated Hero ” Really? on January 22nd 2,020
and “I met a Traveller from a Distant Land” on February 13th 2,020
and “BBC at 100” on January 3rd 2,022
I hope to write a more thorough appreciation of Dev. For much of my life he
seemed as taken for granted as the Mountains of Mourne.
The older I get (I’ll be 83 next month) the more I admire him.
And Confound the Begrudgers!
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