Irish presidential election, 1966

The Irish presidential election of 1966 was the fifth presidential election in Ireland and was held on 1 June 1966. Outgoing president Éamon de Valera, 83 and with a rapidly deteriorating eyesight, reluctantly agreed under pressure from his Fianna Fáil party to seek a second term. Fine Gael decided to run one of its younger TDs, Tom O'Higgins, against him. In an astonishing upset, O'Higgins came within 1% (or 10,000 votes) of defeating de Valera. De Valera left the blame for this near-defeat with his campaign manager Charles Haughey.