She twice ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the lower house of parliament and was instrumental in a failed 1983 campaign to legalize abortion.

But she developed a reputation for honesty during this time, Walsh says.

"It was unusual for somebody in politics to have pursued those views," he says, "but I think that because she didn't attempt at any time to bow to popular pressure, the people respected her integrity."

In 1990, leaders of the small Labor party convinced Robinson to take their party's nomination. No politician from an opposition party had defeated a candidate from the ruling party, Fianna Fail, since 1945.

Robinson started her campaign six months before the election, unusual in a country where elections are usually dispensed with in three weeks.

Thanks to her tireless campaigning, a scandal which discredited the Fianna Fail candidate, Ireland's electoral system of proportional representation and a fundamental change in the Irish electorate, Robinson prevailed in the November election.

Presidency

After her victory, the Irish Press heralded her election as a signal of "change in Irish society and a shift away from traditional attitudes and allegiances," evidence of a generational and ideological shift within Ireland.

Trina Y. Vargo, president of the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, says that "Ireland had, with its young population, changed so much that Mary Robinson could be elected president."

But Robinson, acutely aware of the limitations placed on the presidency by the Irish constitution, had to work around the restrictions of what was largely considered a ceremonial and symbolic office.

The Irish constitution requires that the president not take political positions. All of his or her public statements must be approved by the parliament, and the president cannot leave the country without the government's permission.

Traditionally, the presidency had been "almost a retirement home" for prominent politicians basking in the twilight of their careers, says Walsh.

But Robinson revolutionized the office.

Unlike her sedentary predecessors, she traveled throughout Ireland, at times fulfilling between 25 and 30 official engagements per week, exploiting the symbolic power of the office to its fullest extent.

She visited Ellis Island to commemorate the 500,000 Irish who passed through its gates and became the first Irish president to attend ecumenical services at St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin.