Éamon de Valera Irish independence. He was arrested, sentenced to death but released for a variety of reasons, including the public response to the British execution of Rising leaders. He returned to Ireland after being jailed in England and became one of the leading political figures of the War of Independence. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, de Valera served as the political leader of Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein until 1926, when he, along with many supporters, left the party to set up Fianna Fáil, a new political party which abandoned the policy of abstentionism from Dáil Éireann. From there, de Valera would
History of Sinn Féin were instructed to join the organisation and a newspaper, "United Irishman", was launched. Paddy McLogan served as President of Sinn Féin. The re-organisation yielded fruit during the Border Campaign which was launched on 12 December 1956. In the Irish general election of 1957 Sinn Féin fielded 19 abstentionist candidates and won four seats and 6.5% of the popular vote. The introduction of internment and the establishment of military tribunals hindered the IRA campaign and it was called off in 1962. In the 1961 General Election the party won no seats and its vote dropped to 3.2%. Tomas MacGiolla was elected