Erskine Childers (UN)

Erskine Barton Childers (11 March 1929 – 25 August 1996) was an Irish writer, BBC correspondent and United Nations senior civil servant. He was the eldest son of Erskine Hamilton Childers (Ireland's fourth President) and Ruth Ellen Dow Childers. His grandparents Mary Alden Childers and Robert Erskine Childers and the latter's double first cousin Robert Barton were all Irish nationalists involved heavily with the negotiation of Irish independence; which ultimately led to his grandfather's execution during the Irish Civil War. His great aunt was Gretchen Osgood Warren.

Erskine Childers was born in Dublin to Erskine Hamilton Childers and his first wife Ruth Ellen Dow. He grew up in a multi cultural atmosphere which was to influence his whole life. From an early age, he had an obvious fascination with history and world affairs. He studied at Newtown School, Waterford and much later on at Trinity College, Dublin and Stanford University. At Stanford University he was actively involved with the National Student Association and rose to Vice-President of the organisation by 1949.

By 1960, Childers was in London working for the BBC in both Radio and Television. His broadcasts from the BBC World Service ranged on varying topics from the Suez Crisis and Palestine to the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963. He was one of the first presenters at the start of the BBC TV show The Money Programme in 1966. The Suez Canal and Palestine issues would later form the basis of his writing on the subjects.

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