John Hearne

John Joseph Hearne (1893 to 1969) was an Irish barrister, academic and diplomat who was referred to as Ireland's Thomas Jefferson for his role in drafting the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, and he was the first Ambassador of Ireland to the United States. The youngest son of Alderman Richard Hearne, a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party who twice served as Mayor of Waterford, he trained for the priesthood at Maynooth, decided against it in 1916 and qualified as a barrister at the King's Inns. In 1937, as a legal expert in the Department of External Affairs, he was called on by Éamon de Valera to help write the new constitution, and with Maurice Moynihan he drew up its first draft. In 1939 he was appointed High Commissioner to Canada.