Childers, Erskine H(amilton) (1905-1974)

Irish Fianna Fáil politician, president 1973-74. He sought the reunification of Ireland, but condemned the campaign of violence by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to achieve that end. He was a strong advocate of Ireland's membership of the European Community (EC; now the European Union).

Although, after entering Irish politics in 1938, he held a number of ministerial posts and was elected deputy leader of the Fianna Fáil party in 1969, he was always in the shadow of his famous father, Robert Erskine Childers, a leading figure in the struggle for Irish independence.

Childers was born in London and studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge. He moved to Ireland in 1932, when he became advertising manager of the Irish Press, the paper newly founded by the de Valera family, and was secretary of the Federation of Irish Manufacturers 1936-44. He entered politics as much out of duty as vocation. An idealist, he hoped to make the presidency a vehicle for moderate, intellectual debate, which would counter the extremism of people less patient in their search for a solution to the North-South divide.