Editing Douglas Hyde (section)

===Nomination===
{{main|1938 Irish presidential election}}
In April 1938, by now retired from academia, Hyde was plucked from retirement by [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]] and again appointed to [[Seanad Éireann]]. Again his tenure proved short, even shorter than before; however, this time it was because Hyde was chosen, after inter-party negotiations—following an initial suggestion by [[Fine Gael]]—to be the first President of Ireland, to which office he was elected unopposed. He was selected for a number of reasons:

*Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, and the Leader of the Opposition, [[W. T. Cosgrave]], admired him.
*Both wanted a President with universal prestige to lend credibility to the new office, especially since the new 1937 Constitution [[Irish head of state from 1922 to 1949|made it unclear]] whether the President or the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|British monarch]] was the official head of state.
*Both wanted to purge the humiliation that had occurred when Hyde lost his Senate seat in 1925.
*Both wanted a President who would prove there was no danger that the holder of the office would become an authoritarian dictator, a widespread fear when the new constitution was being discussed in 1937.
*Both wanted to pay tribute to Hyde's role in promoting the Irish language.
*Both wanted to choose a non-Catholic to disprove the assertion that the State was a "[[confessional state]]", although on 11 May 1937 [[Seán MacEntee]], the Fianna Fáil Minister of Finance, had described the 1937 Constitution in [[Dáil Éireann]] as "the Constitution of a Catholic State".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1937-05-11/29|title=Bunreacht na hEireann (Dréacht)—Dara Céim. – Dáil Éireann (8th Dáil) – Tuesday, 11 May 1937 – Houses of the Oireachtas|first=Houses of the|last=Oireachtas|date=11 May 1937|website=www.oireachtas.ie|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517064207/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1937-05-11/29/|url-status=live}}</ref>