Ex ufficiale dell’esercito del Southern Command durante la seconda guerra mondiale, Cronin entrò nell’IRA, divenendo direttore delle operazioni, giornalista dell’United Irishman e, per due periodi intorno alla fine degli anni Cinquanta, come Chief of Staff.
E’ stato autore di dozzine di libri e pamphlet, tra cui la biografia del repubblicano Frank Ryan, il libro Washington’s Irish Policy 1916-1986: Independence, Partition, Neutrality, un’importante lavoro sulle relazioni tra Irlanda e Stati Uniti, Our Own Red Blood sulla Rivolta di Pasqua del 1916 e lavori sulla strategia della guerriglia, compreso uno dei primi pamphlet dello Sinn Fein “Resistance” scritto con lo pseudonimo di J McGarrity.
Nato a Dublino nel 1920 ma cresciuto a Ballinskelligs nel Kerry gaelico, si trasferì negli Stati Uniti dopo aver lasciato l’esercito. Divenne membro del gruppo repubblicano Clan na Gael mentre era giornalista a New York.
Quando ritornò a Dublino, lavorò per l’Evening Press.
La sua esperienza militare gli assicurò una rapida carriera nelle file dell’IRA. Lasciò il giornale con il pretesto di un lavoro presso un’agenzia di notizie statunitense. Agì per breve tempo in servizio attivo prima di essere arrestato vicino al confine.
Fu uno stratega chiave per la campagna di confine, Operation Harvest, degli anni Cinquata e passò almeno due brevi periodi in carcere per le sue attività. Dopo l’ultima condanna, nel 1962, fu al centro di una faida interna e lasciò l’organizzazione, ritornando al giornalismo, prima in Irlanda e poi negli Stati Uniti.
Alla fine degli anni Sessanta scriveva regolarmente per pubblicazioni irlandesi. La sua erudizione e la conoscenza enciclopedica delle politiche statunitensi e degli irlandesi d’America fu molto apprezzata dai colleghi e lettori, e la lettura del suo Washington Letter era un obbligo.
Fu meticolosamente preciso come giornalista e contribuì regolarmente agli irishman’s Diaries per l’Irish Times per oltre 20 anni. A Washington si diede anche all’insegnamento della politica.
Ha lasciato la seconda moglie, Reva Rubenstein Cronin.
Tratto da Iais
DEATH OF VETERAN REPUBLICAN SEAN CRONIN
A former Army officer in Southern Command during the second World War, Cronin also joined the IRA, serving as director of operations, editor of the United Irishman and, for two periods at the end of the 1950s, as chief of staff.
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 Easter Rising of 1916; and a number of works on guerrilla strategy, including an early Sinn Féin pamphlet Resistance under the pseudonym of J McGarrity,
Born in Dublin in 1920 but raised in Ballinskelligs in the south Kerry Gaeltacht, he moved to the US after leaving the Army. There he became associated with the republican group Clan na Gael while a journalist in New York.
When he came back to Dublin, he worked as a subeditor in the Evening Press.
His military experience ensured a rapid rise through the ranks of the IRA and he eventually left the paper on the pretext of a job with a US news agency. In fact he was briefly on active service before he was arrested close to the Border.
He was a key strategist for the abortive Border campaign, Operation Harvest, in the late 1950s and spent at least two short terms in jail for his activities. After the last of them, in 1962, he emerged to find himself at the center of internal feuding and left the organisation, returning to journalism first in Ireland and then the US.
By the late 1960s he was writing regularly as a freelance from there for Irish publications. His erudition and encyclopaedic knowledge of US politics and Irish America was much appreciated by colleagues and readers alike, and his Washington Letter was a must-read.
He was meticulously precise as a reporter and contributed news and regular Irishman’s Diaries to the Irish Times for 20 years. In Washington he also taught politics.
He is survived by his second wife, Reva Rubenstein Cronin.