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James Crowley, who was a veteran of the Irish War of Independence, was unanimously elected Taoiseach. In 1920 James Crowley had been captured and handcuffed by eight English soldiers, but he escaped. As reported in the Cork Examiner in 1970: "Coming to the main road junction well-know to Mr. Crowley, he broke ranks, knocked his eight-man escort to the ground with a shoulder heave, broke his handicuffs and cleared a five-foot gate after getting a blow of a rifle butt on the head and made good his escape. Mr. Crowley is credited as being the only Irishman ever whilst handicuffed securely by British captors to make good his escape in their presence by breaking handicuffs."