Domestic Political Career
Hillery, though not himself political, agreed under pressure from Clare's senior Fianna Fáil TD, party leader and former Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, to become his running mate at the 1951 general election. The election resulted in a return to power for Fianna Fáil and Hillery was successful on his first attempt to get elected. He remained on the backbenches for almost a decade, before finally becoming a minister following de Valera's retirement as Taoiseach in 1959.
The new Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, began the process of retiring de Valera's ministers, many of whom had first become ministers in the de Valera cabinet of 1932. Under Lemass, party elders such as James Ryan, Seán MacEntee and Paddy Smith retired and a new generation of politicians were introduced to government such as Brian Lenihan, Donogh O'Malley, Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney. Key among this new breed of politician was Hillery who became Minister for Education in 1959, succeeding Jack Lynch in that post.
Read more about this topic: Patrick Hillery
Famous quotes containing the words domestic, political and/or career:
“Anyone who wishes to combine domestic responsibilities and paid employment with the least stress and most enjoyment might start by pondering this paradox: the first step to better functioning is to stop blaming herself for not functioning well enough.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)
“The general review of the past tends to satisfy me with my political life. No man, I suppose, ever came up to his ideal. The first half [of] my political life was first to resist the increase of slavery and secondly to destroy it.... The second half of my political life has been to rebuild, and to get rid of the despotic and corrupting tendencies and the animosities of the war, and other legacies of slavery.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“They want to play at being mothers. So let them. Expressing tenderness in their own way will not prevent girls from enjoying a successful career in the future; indeed, the ability to nurture is as valuable a skill in the workplace as the ability to lead.”
—Anne Roiphe (20th century)