Comment on What you want to say… Open Thread, 29th August, 2012 by Brian Hanley

I don’t think he had a 19th century world view. I might not agree with his world view, but I think he was of his time. Plus he reflected his society as much as he led it. The Catholic bishops wanted far more than he gave them in the Constitution for example. De Valera was able to condemn the Fethard-on-Sea boycott while Labour’s Brendan Corish supported it. He could claim in 1926 that Connolly was the one 1916 leader he admired the most. Fine Gael certainly adopted more right-wing positions on international affairs during the 30s.
None of that explains the Legation visit and I don’t really know why he did it either.