Eamon De Valera Comes to Sacramento

Eamon De Valera Comes to Sacramento
July 18th, 1919.

It may have been the most important date in Sacramento Irish History, when a tall, slender, boyish man of 37 years stepped off the Overland Express and into an adoring crowd at the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot. The President of the fledgling Irish Republic, Eamon De Valera, was in town to make a speech and to connect with the Irish and Irish Americans of the capital city. A large convoy of Irish policemen escorted him by motor car to the City Plaza where dignitaries and thousands of well-wishers waited.

What made this visit so special was that Mr. De Valera was a wanted man by the British Government. Ireland was still under the yoke of British rule and the Irish election of 1918 that elected De Valera to that first Dail Eireann (Irish Congress) was not recognized by the British Crown. Just six months earlier, he was busted out of an English jail by the great Michael Collins, and was stowed away on an Irish ship bound for New York. Once in America, he was feted as the symbol of Irish Independence, raising money for the new government, and speaking to hundreds of thousands, including a memorable appearance at Fenway Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ljyohXLv0

The boisterous crowd in Sacramento was, by all accounts, hushed in silence as he laid out the case for Irish Independence. When finished, De Valera took his seat, and an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, E.C. Hart beckoned the crowd to give “Three cheers for Ireland and De Valera!”, and once again Sacramento erupted in cheers for the former mathematics professor turned freedom fighter turned politician. Dev confided to a Sacramento Bee editor that he couldn’t see why the British didn’t trust the Irish to run their own affairs when in fact they seemed to be running America.

After his speech, there was a brief reception at the Travelers Hotel where he met with city leaders, including the president of the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Dan Carmichael and Bishop Thomas Grace.

He stayed about three hours before getting back on a train bound for San Francisco where a hundred thousand awaited him. The next day, he would dedicate a statue to the great Irish patriot Robert Emmet in Golden Gate Park. It is still there today.

History has not been kind to Mr. De Valera. To this day, he is lauded as a saint by some and a traitor to others. His long shadow of political influence lasted for over a half a century. It makes for fascinating reading.

But in those exciting days before the treaty, the IRA’s split, and the civil war, he was Ireland personified. And he was in Sacramento.

My grandmother was there with her father.