Éamon de Valera on a formal coalition agreement, something de Valera was unwilling to concede. However, while Fianna Fáil was six seats short of a majority, it was still by far the largest party in the Dáil, with 37 more TDs than the next largest party and rival, Fine Gael (the successor to Cumann na nGaedheal). Conventional wisdom held that de Valera would remain Taoiseach with the support of independent deputies. However, this was brought undone when the other parties realised that if they banded together, they would have one seat fewer than Fianna Fáil, and would be able to form a government
Éamon de Valera 84, until 2013 a world record for the oldest elected head of state. At his retirement in 1973 at the age of 90, he was the oldest head of state in the world. As President of Ireland, de Valera received many state visits, including the 1963 visit of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Five months later de Valera attended the state funeral for Kennedy in Washington, D.C. and accompanied a group of 24 Defence Forces cadets who performed a silent drill at his grave site. In June 1964, he returned to Washington, D.C. as the second President of Ireland to