Eamon de Valera in Butte, Montana, 1919
An original-sized (6 feet long X 8 inches high) copy of this photo was presented to the Irish Nation by Fr. Sarsfield O Sullivan and Veronica O Sullivan, at a function in Mukilteo, WA, on July 22, 2003

Detail from the middle of the photo shows "Dev" 3rd from left, front row.

The above photo was taken while Eamon de Valera, then President of the Provisional Irish Republic, was on a fundraising tour of the United States in support of Ireland's fight for independence. Earlier in 1919, he had escaped from London's Lincoln Prison with a key smuggled in to him in a fruit cake! He then shipped out as as a stowaway and came to the United States where he spent a year and a half raising funds for the Irish cause. During the 1919-1920 tour, he raised almost six-million dollars in numerous cities across the US, including in Seattle, Portland and Butte.

Mukilteo resident Seán Sullivan, a Butte native, visited a retired priest friend in Butte, Fr. Sarsfield O Sullivan, and came across the photo hanging in the priest's studio. When they discussed the photo's historic significance and the fact that it may well be the only copy still in existence, Fr. O Sullivan and his sister Veronica, decided to have the photo copied and presented to the Irish nation. Seán made all the arrangements for the photo to be copied and for the visit of Irish Vice-Consul Fiona Hunt to Mukilteo on July 22, 2003, to accept the gift on behalf of the Irish nation. Irish Consul General Dónal Denham now has the photo hanging in the Irish Consulate's office in San Francisco and has also arranged for a copy to be sent to the National Museum in Dublin.