Seán Cronin

For other people named Sean Cronin, see Sean Cronin (disambiguation).

Seán Cronin (29 August 1922 – 9 March 2011) was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.[1]

Cronin was born in Dublin but spent his childhood years in Ballinskelligs, in the County Kerry Gaeltacht.[2]

During the Second World War, Cronin was an officer in the Southern Command. He later emigrated to New York City, where he found work as a journalist. In America, he became involved with Clan na Gael and later joined the Irish Republican Army.[2]

In 1955 he returned from the United States and began work as a subeditor in the Evening Press.[2]

He was soon put in charge of training in the IRA. He outlined his ideas in a booklet, Notes on Guerrilla Warfare. He became the chief strategist for Operation Harvest, a campaign which saw the carrying out a range of military operations from direct attacks on security installations to disruptive actions against infrastructure. He was arrested and imprisoned several times over the course of this campaign (1956–1962).[1]

On two occasions, from 1957 to 1958 and then 1959 to 1960, Cronin was IRA chief of staff. He also served as editor of the Sinn Féin United Irishman newspaper.[2]

Jailed for his activities, he left the IRA in 1962 after his release from prison.[2]

He later became a journalist for The Irish Times, becoming that paper's first Washington, DC correspondent.[2]

He was the author of a dozen books and pamphlets, including a biography of republican Frank Ryan, Washington's Irish Policy 1916-1986: Independence, Partition, Neutrality, an authoritative account of Irish-US relations; Our Own Red Blood about the 1916 Easter Rising; and a number of works on guerrilla strategy, including an early Sinn Féin pamphlet Resistance under the pseudonym of J. McGarrity.[2]

After several years of illness, Cronin died in Washington on 9 March 2011. He is survived by his second wife, Reva Rubenstein Cronin.[2]

Bibliography

Reprinted by C.F.N. in 1983.

Continuum, 1981.

References

  1. 1 2 Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party, pp. 12-13, ISBN 1-84488-120-2
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Patrick Smyth, "Veteran republican and first 'Irish Times' Washington correspondent dies aged 91", Irish Times, 10 March 2011.
Media offices
Preceded by
?
Editor of the United Irishman
?1958
Succeeded by
Seán Ó Brádaigh
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.