Vintage 6x8 B&W glossy original Irish Press Photo affixed to a matte and signed on the lower portion "To Jimmy Wiggins with best wishes Sean T. O'Kelly President of Ireland" in fountain pen ink. In very good condition. (1882-1966) Seán Thomas O'Kelly was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the second president of Ireland from June 1945 to June 1959. He also served as deputy prime minister of Ireland from 1932 to 1945 (titled as Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1932 to 1937 and as Tánaiste from 1937 to 1945), Minister for Local Government and Public Health from 1932 to 1939, Minister for Finance from 1939 to 1945 and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1919 to 1921. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1945.He went to work almost immediately for Arthur Griffith, at the Gaelic League on the organization's administration papers. He came to Griffith's notice the previous years joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood as a member of the esoteric Bartholomew Teeling Circle from 1901. O'Kelly joined Sinn Féin, then a small dual-monarchist, capitalist party, immediately at its inception in 1905, as one of its founders. He became a joint-honorary secretary of the movement from 1908, remaining in the post until 1925. In 1906, he was elected to Dublin Corporation and retained the seat for the Inns Quay Ward until 1924. One acolyte campaigner was Thomas Kelly, who joined him in pressing the government for improved municipal drainage schemes for Dublin's slums.Like Father Michael O'Flanagan, O'Kelly was chosen to make an Irish language address to Pope Pius X, in 1908. Both men were bilingual party members promoting Irish culture. O'Kelly was one of the establishing members of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. In August 1914, he agitated to suppress the landing of arms at Kilcoole, County Wicklow.O'Kelly was elected a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin College Green, in the 1918 general election. In his role as Secretary, O'Kelly was tasked with preparing the Sinn Féin Executive Council for the Dáil Éireann Constituent Assembly, which had been agreed at the party Ard Fheis in October 1918. Along with other Sinn Féin MPs he refused to take his seat in the UK House of Commons in London. Instead, they set up an Irish Parliament, called Dáil Éireann, in Dublin. O'Kelly served as Ceann Comhairle (chairman) of the First Dáil. O'Kelly published the Democratic Programme, which he had edited. It appealed to a wider mission statement for independence and separatism, which was not sanctioned by the electorate. It was a skeleton document borrowed on the back of Pearse's martyrdom, written in the late leader's style, from the Labour leader Thomas Johnson.O'Kelly's approach to US President Woodrow Wilson to visit Dublin in 1919 on his way to Versailles, France, was roundly rejected. Wilson was already withdrawing from the Self-Determination League, making his critics label O'Kelly as 'pompous.' Despite the US Senate resolution in June, the President would not break his commitment to the Big Four for unanimity. He also served as the Irish Republic's envoy, demanding recognition of the Republic and its admittance to the post-World War I peace treaty negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference. While this request to Clemenceau was sincere, it naively ignored the fact that France and Britain had been allied for the previous four years. O'Kelly was followed to Paris as envoy by the eminently better-qualified George Gavan Duffy, who was from a titled family of barristers and diplomats. In 1920, O'Kelly relocated to Italy, where he met with Pope Benedict XV, briefing the pontiff on the political situation in Ireland. At the same time, O'Kelly met with the future dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, who helped the Irishman and other Sinn Féin emissaries to source weapons for use by the IRA.O'Kelly was the Fianna Fáil candidate for President of Ireland in 1945. He defeated two other candidates. However, he came up just short of a majority on the first count.O'Kelly's most famous faux pas occurred during a state visit to the Vatican City when in a breach of standard protocol, he told the media of Pope Pius XII's personal opinions on communism. The resulting row strained relationships between Pope Pius XII and Joseph Stalin.During his term, he signed the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which established the Republic of Ireland on 18 April 1949 as an independent republic outside the British Commonwealth. As a result, O'Kelly became the first President of Ireland to be internationally recognized as a full head of state. Before 18 April 1949, King George VI was Ireland's head of state as the last King of Ireland.O'Kelly was reelected on 25 June 1952, this time unopposed. During his second term, he visited many nations in Europe and addressed the United States Congress in 1959. He retired at the end of his second term in 1959, to be replaced by his old mentor and former Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera.This lot came from the Jim Wiggins collection we purchased in July 2022. Jim Wiggins accumulated the most unique and valuable autograph collection over a period of 70-plus years. He obtained his collection either in person or by writing to persons of fame and notoriety. Comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from Todd Mueller Authentics.Comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from Todd Mueller Authentics.