Politics & Power Quote by Eamon de Valera

De Valera frames “American friendship” as more than sentimental solidarity; it’s treated as a material force in the machinery of Irish independence. The line is diplomatic velvet over hard history. By calling the role of the United States “gratefully recognized and acknowledged,” he isn’t merely thanking a benefactor. He’s publicizing a ledger: America helped, Ireland remembers, and that memory carries expectations.

The phrasing does careful geographic and political work. “This part of Ireland” quietly nods to partition without naming it, allowing de Valera to speak from the Free State/Republican perspective while keeping the wound of Northern Ireland present but deniable. “The freedom we enjoy” is equally strategic: it signals achievement while leaving room to argue that the national project remains unfinished. Gratitude becomes a way of staking a claim.

Context matters: de Valera was famously adept at working the Irish-American diaspora and U.S. political opinion, from fundraising to lobbying to shaping the moral narrative of self-determination. During and after the revolutionary period, Irish America was a source of money, legitimacy, and pressure on Washington and London alike. This sentence translates that messy transatlantic network into a clean story of “friendship,” which flatters American self-image while preserving Irish agency: America “helped us,” but “we” won.

The subtext is a reminder to keep showing up. Recognition is praise, but it’s also a gentle instrument of leverage: don’t withdraw your support now that the headline victory has been declared.