John Hume in America: From Derry to DC

by Maurice Fitzpatrick

Overview

John Hume, Ireland’s greatest peace-maker, is widely recognised as the architect of the Northern Ireland peace process. In John Hume in America, Maurice Fitzpatrick explores how Hume created this framework for peace through the cultivation of an unprecedented and bountiful relationship with the White House and the US Congress.

John Hume’s political vision and innate sense of diplomacy persuaded key players in US politics to merge their concerns with his own. Ted Kennedy, Tip O’Neill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Hugh Carey – together known as the ‘Four Horsemen’ – were won over to his cause, lending the campaign for equality in Northern Ireland worldwide credibility and putting considerable pressure on the British and Irish governments to strive for peace. Through his work with the ‘Four Horsemen’, Hume engaged every American president from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton.

John Hume in America, a towering achievement, supported by the Hume family, explores the intricate negotiations that made this possible and highlights Hume’s paramount role in leveraging Irish–America. Maurice Fitzpatrick’s seminal work is the missing piece in the jigsaw of Hume’s political life, tracing his philosophy of non-violence during the Civil Rights Movement through to his indispensable work with friends in the US towards the creation of a new political framework in Northern Ireland.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911024989
Publisher:	Irish Academic Press
Publication date:	11/08/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Maurice Fitzpatrick was educated at Trinity College Dublin

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Foreword Senator George J. Mitchell ix

Preface xii

1 The Journey towards Politics, 1964-74 1

2 The American Dimension Unleashed 31

3 The Growth of the Irish Machine in Washington 51

4 Washington: Shifting Policy in London on Ireland, 1977-81 71

5 A Politics of Conscience: Human Rights and Democracy 93

6 From Rejection to Acceptance 113

7 Hume-Adams, 1985-8 143

8 Washington and Europe, 1988-93 155

9 The Political Process and the Peace Process, 1993-8 167

Epilogue: Echoes Down the Years 187

Appendix: John Hume's Nobel Lecture 202

Endnotes 208

Index 216