- He served as the third President of Ireland from June 25, 1959 to June 24, 1973. When he reached the end of his second seven-year term at the age of 90, he was the oldest head of state of any country in the world.
- He served as the second and final President of Executive Council of the Irish Free State from March 9, 1932 to December 29, 1937 and as the first Taoiseach of Ireland from December 29, 1937 to February 18, 1948, from June 13, 1951 to June 2, 1954 and finally from March 20, 1957 to June 23, 1959.
- Half-brother of Rev. Thomas Wheelwright, a Roman Catholic priest in the U.S.A.
- Only child of Irishwoman Kath Coll & Spanish Vivion de Valera.
- Grandfather of Irish Fianna Fáil TDs Eamon Ó Cúiv and Síle de Valera.
- He was born where the Chrysler Building now stands in New York.
- At 92 years old, he was the longest lived head of state in Irish history.
- Provoked enormous controversy in April 1945 by formally offering condolences to the German ambassador in Ireland on the death of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. De Valera maintained afterwards that he had not only been right but wise to do so.
- He was the only leader of the failed 1916 Easter Rising not to be executed. This was only because he was an American citizen.
- Controversially kept Ireland neutral throughout World War II, and offered formal condolences to the German ambassador on Adolf Hitler's suicide.
- His mother was Irish and his father was reportedly a Spanish artist named Juan Vivion de Valera. However no evidence has been found that a man by this name existed. It was widely rumored that de Valera's father was a Portuguese Jew, although he publicly denied this.
- He was a teacher of Mathematics before entering politics.
- Was raised by his grandmother and an aunt and uncle after his father died.
- He was the founder of Fianna Fáil.
- In June 1940 he turned down an offer from Winston Churchill to end partition in exchange for Ireland declaring war on Germany and Italy, largely because he was expecting the Axis Powers to win World War II, and because he felt accepting the offer would cause another civil war in Ireland. De Valera responded to Churchill that he wanted Northern Ireland to be allowed to be neutral in the war.
- He quit smoking in 1917, and in later years often urged others to stop.
- Irish soldiers who had fought for the Allies were punished by his government after World War II.
- He denounced reports of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as "anti-national propaganda".
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