Seán Cronin (1920 – 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 in 1920 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, 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/An tÉireannach Aontaithe 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 his second wife, Reva Rubenstein Cronin.[2]
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ? |
Editor of the United Irishman ?–1958 |
Succeeded by Seán Ó Brádaigh |