Jack Lynch, A Biography: The Life and Times of Irish Taoiseach Jack Lynch (1917–1999)

Biography & Memoir, Political, Historical, Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Jack Lynch, A Biography: The Life and Times of Irish Taoiseach Jack Lynch (1917–1999) by Dermot Keogh, Gill & Macmillan
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Author: Dermot Keogh ISBN: 9780717163762
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Publication: September 4, 2009
Imprint: Gill & Macmillan Language: English
Author: Dermot Keogh
ISBN: 9780717163762
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan
Publication: September 4, 2009
Imprint: Gill & Macmillan
Language: English

Jack Lynch is one of the most important and perhaps most underrated Irish political leaders of the twentieth century. A sportsman who won six All-Ireland medals in a row with Cork, he was also a civil servant and a barrister before being elected to Dáil Éireann in 1948. During his thirty-one years as a parliamentarian, he held the ministries of Education, Industry and Commerce, and Finance before succeeding Seán Lemass as Taoiseach in 1966. Lynch held office during the critical years of the late 1960s and early 1970s when Northern Ireland disintegrated and civil unrest swept through Belfast, Derry and other towns. This precipitated one of the worst crises in the history of the Irish state.

Jack Lynch upheld the parliamentary democratic tradition at great personal and political cost, even to the point of fracturing the unity of his government and his party. If you want to know what happened during those terrible years, read this book.


Jack Lynch, A Biography: Table of Contents

  1. From Shandon to Dáil Éireann
    Poverty and society in the Shandon area
    Daniel and Nora Lynch
    Politics and the Lynch family
    Early childhood, education and signs of sporting promise
    Death of Nora Lynch
    North Monastery and sporting stardom
    Leaving Certificate, 1936: From first job to study of law
    Meeting with Máirín O’Connor
    High honours and the end of a distinguished career

  2. Journeyman Politician: Backbench TD and Parliamentary Secretary, 1948–57
    Backbench TD
    General election and promotion to parliamentary secretary, 1951–4
    Opposition again: The 1954 general election and three years on the back benches

  3. Minister for Education, 1957–94

  4. Minister for Industry and Commerce, 1959–65
    Lynch and the legislative backlog
    Lynch and the industrial unrest of the 1960s
    Tourism and mining
    Attracting industry to Cork
    General election, the road to free trade and membership of the EEC

  5. Minister for Finance, 1965–6
    Closing in on speculators
    Final months in Finance

  6. Neither a ‘Caretaker’ nor a ‘Reluctant’ Taoiseach, 1966–9
    Why Haughey was promoted
    Taca and controlling Fianna Fáil
    Foreign policy, membership of the EEC and Anglo-Irish relations
    Irish foreign policy and Viet Nam
    Visit to Terence O’Neill
    Conflict in Northern Ireland
    The 1969 general election

  7. The Northern ‘Troubles’ and the Irish State
    Hillery’s visit to London, 1 August 1969
    Government meeting as Northern crisis worsens
    Lynch’s television address
    The Government’s follow-up action
    Whitaker called on for advice
    Hillery in London again
    Government meeting of 16 August 1969
    Press and propaganda strategy and Operation ‘Silk Purse’
    Hillery at the United Nations
    The IRA and the Lynch policy of ‘no fraternisation’
    Public diplomacy and Northern Ireland
    Whitaker and the shaping of policy on Northern Ireland
    Regaining the policy initiative
    The Voice of the North
    Military intelligence and Northern Ireland
    Open challenge from Neil Blaney: ‘Fianna Fáil never ruled out the use of force’
    The Fianna Fáil ard-fheis, 1970
    Conspiracy to import arms
    The Dundalk arms shipment
    The murder of Garda Fallon and gun-running
    Captain Kelly and the ‘gun-running’ plan
    ‘We stand on the brink of a great achievement’
    The Arms Trial
    Keeping a dignified silence
    ‘You can have Boland but you cannot have Fianna Fáil’: The 1971 ard-fheis

  8. Ireland and Europe: Negotiating Membership of the EEC

  9. Constitutional Politics and Revolutionary Challenge, 1971–3
    Internment
    Intervention by Máirín Lynch
    Sunday, Bloody Sunday
    The IRA discusses assassinating the Minister for Justice
    Whitaker opens lines of communication with Unionism
    Summer peace overtures end in failure
    Whitaker and the parallel track to the Unionists and the British
    Anglo-Irish relations in the autumn of 1972

  10. Opposition and Return to Power, 1973–9
    Aiken resigns over Haughey nomination
    Victory for the National Coalition
    Lynch, the National Coalition and Sunningdale, 1973
    Life in opposition
    The Littlejohn affair: ‘Stinking to high Heaven’
    Reviving Fianna Fáil
    The road back to power
    Fianna Fáil returns to power

  11. ‘Happy is the man who finds wisdom’: Retirement and Final Years, 1980–99
    Staying out of politics
    Death and funeral
    O’Malley’s graveside oration
    In appreciation of a public life
    Death of Má:irín Lynch

  12. Jack Lynch’s Place in Irish History

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Jack Lynch is one of the most important and perhaps most underrated Irish political leaders of the twentieth century. A sportsman who won six All-Ireland medals in a row with Cork, he was also a civil servant and a barrister before being elected to Dáil Éireann in 1948. During his thirty-one years as a parliamentarian, he held the ministries of Education, Industry and Commerce, and Finance before succeeding Seán Lemass as Taoiseach in 1966. Lynch held office during the critical years of the late 1960s and early 1970s when Northern Ireland disintegrated and civil unrest swept through Belfast, Derry and other towns. This precipitated one of the worst crises in the history of the Irish state.

Jack Lynch upheld the parliamentary democratic tradition at great personal and political cost, even to the point of fracturing the unity of his government and his party. If you want to know what happened during those terrible years, read this book.


Jack Lynch, A Biography: Table of Contents

  1. From Shandon to Dáil Éireann
    Poverty and society in the Shandon area
    Daniel and Nora Lynch
    Politics and the Lynch family
    Early childhood, education and signs of sporting promise
    Death of Nora Lynch
    North Monastery and sporting stardom
    Leaving Certificate, 1936: From first job to study of law
    Meeting with Máirín O’Connor
    High honours and the end of a distinguished career

  2. Journeyman Politician: Backbench TD and Parliamentary Secretary, 1948–57
    Backbench TD
    General election and promotion to parliamentary secretary, 1951–4
    Opposition again: The 1954 general election and three years on the back benches

  3. Minister for Education, 1957–94

  4. Minister for Industry and Commerce, 1959–65
    Lynch and the legislative backlog
    Lynch and the industrial unrest of the 1960s
    Tourism and mining
    Attracting industry to Cork
    General election, the road to free trade and membership of the EEC

  5. Minister for Finance, 1965–6
    Closing in on speculators
    Final months in Finance

  6. Neither a ‘Caretaker’ nor a ‘Reluctant’ Taoiseach, 1966–9
    Why Haughey was promoted
    Taca and controlling Fianna Fáil
    Foreign policy, membership of the EEC and Anglo-Irish relations
    Irish foreign policy and Viet Nam
    Visit to Terence O’Neill
    Conflict in Northern Ireland
    The 1969 general election

  7. The Northern ‘Troubles’ and the Irish State
    Hillery’s visit to London, 1 August 1969
    Government meeting as Northern crisis worsens
    Lynch’s television address
    The Government’s follow-up action
    Whitaker called on for advice
    Hillery in London again
    Government meeting of 16 August 1969
    Press and propaganda strategy and Operation ‘Silk Purse’
    Hillery at the United Nations
    The IRA and the Lynch policy of ‘no fraternisation’
    Public diplomacy and Northern Ireland
    Whitaker and the shaping of policy on Northern Ireland
    Regaining the policy initiative
    The Voice of the North
    Military intelligence and Northern Ireland
    Open challenge from Neil Blaney: ‘Fianna Fáil never ruled out the use of force’
    The Fianna Fáil ard-fheis, 1970
    Conspiracy to import arms
    The Dundalk arms shipment
    The murder of Garda Fallon and gun-running
    Captain Kelly and the ‘gun-running’ plan
    ‘We stand on the brink of a great achievement’
    The Arms Trial
    Keeping a dignified silence
    ‘You can have Boland but you cannot have Fianna Fáil’: The 1971 ard-fheis

  8. Ireland and Europe: Negotiating Membership of the EEC

  9. Constitutional Politics and Revolutionary Challenge, 1971–3
    Internment
    Intervention by Máirín Lynch
    Sunday, Bloody Sunday
    The IRA discusses assassinating the Minister for Justice
    Whitaker opens lines of communication with Unionism
    Summer peace overtures end in failure
    Whitaker and the parallel track to the Unionists and the British
    Anglo-Irish relations in the autumn of 1972

  10. Opposition and Return to Power, 1973–9
    Aiken resigns over Haughey nomination
    Victory for the National Coalition
    Lynch, the National Coalition and Sunningdale, 1973
    Life in opposition
    The Littlejohn affair: ‘Stinking to high Heaven’
    Reviving Fianna Fáil
    The road back to power
    Fianna Fáil returns to power

  11. ‘Happy is the man who finds wisdom’: Retirement and Final Years, 1980–99
    Staying out of politics
    Death and funeral
    O’Malley’s graveside oration
    In appreciation of a public life
    Death of Má:irín Lynch

  12. Jack Lynch’s Place in Irish History

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