MacBride, Seán (1904-1988), an Irish diplomat, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 for working to guarantee human rights through international law. He received the Lenin International Prize for Peace in 1977.
MacBride was born in Paris on Jan. 26, 1904. He was educated there and at Mount St. Benedict, Gorey, in County Wexford, Ireland. He was actively involved in the establishment of the Irish Free State during the 1920’s. He won early distinction as a lawyer and in 1946 founded Clann na Poblachta (the Republican Party). Sitting in Dail Eireann—that is, the Irish House of Representatives—from 1948 to 1957, he held office as minister for external affairs from 1948 to 1951. He was a delegate to the Council of Europe in 1954 and acted as consultant to the Ghana government during the formation of the Organization of African Unity. In 1972, he joined the International Peace Bureau in Geneva.
MacBride became assistant secretary general of the United Nations (UN) and the UN’s commissioner for Namibia in 1973. He died on Jan. 15, 1988.
