Frank Aiken

Frank Aiken (February 13, 1898 - May 18, 1983) was a senior Irish politician. He was a founding-member of Fianna Fáil and was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1923 and at each subsequent election until 1973. Aiken served as Minister for Defence (1932-1939), Minister for Co-Ordination of Defensive Measures (1943-1945), Minister for Finance (1945-1948) and Minister for External Affairs (1951-1954 & 1957-1969). He also served as Minister for Finance and Minister for Lands & Fisheries. Aiken served as Tánaiste of Ireland from 1965 until 1969.

Widely praised Minister for External Affairs

Aiken was Minister for Finance for three years following the war and was involved in economic post?war development, in the industrial, agricultural, educational and other spheres. However, it was his two periods as Minister for External Affairs that Aiken fulfilled his enormous political potential. As Foreign Minister he adopted where possible an independent stance for Ireland at the United Nations and other international forums such as the Council of Europe. Despite a great deal of opposition, both at home and abroad, he stubbornly asserted the right of smaller UN member countries to discuss the representation of communist China at the General Assembly. Unable to bring the issue of the partition of Ireland to the UN (because of Britain's veto on the Security Council), Aiken ensured that Ireland vigorously defended the rights of small nations such as Tibet and Hungary, nations whose problems he felt Ireland could identify with and had a moral obligation to help. Aiken also supported the right of countries such as Algeria to self-determination and spoke out against apartheid in South Africa. Under Ireland?s policy of promoting the primacy of international law and reducing global tension at the height of the Cold War, Aiken promoted the idea of areas of law, which he believed would free the most tense regions around the world from the threat of nuclear war. He also introduced the so-called 'Aiken Plan' to the United Nations in an effort to combine disarmament and peace in the Middle East. He received the honour of being the first minister to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 in Moscow.

Related Topics:
Foreign Minister - Ireland - United Nations - Council of Europe - China - Britain - Security Council - Tibet - Hungary - Algeria - Apartheid - South Africa - Cold War - Disarmament - Middle East - Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - 1968 - Moscow

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Aiken's impact as Minister for External Affairs was such that he is sometimes seen as the father of Irish foreign policy. His performance was praised in particular by a later Minister for Foreign Affairs, Fine Gael's Garret FitzGerald, himself a later acclaimed holder of the office.

Related Topics:
Fine Gael - Garret FitzGerald

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