by Penn Rhodeen
NSC (National Security Council), 138, 172
O
O’Brien, Conan, 145
O’Cleireacain, Carol, 50
O’Cleireacain, Seamus, 50
O’Clery, Conor, 132, 133, 138, 167, 176, 232
O’Connell, Daniel, 33
O’Dowd, Niall, 37, 145, 213, 233. see also unofficial peacemakers’ trips to Northern Ireland
Gerry Adams’s meeting with, 67
and end of IRA ceasefire, 195
and Ray Flynn’s canceled trip, 65–67
and Christopher Hyland, 44–45
Christopher Hyland’s meeting with, 58, 59
and IRA ceasefire, 150
and Irish American support for Bill Clinton, 52, 53
at Kashmir Road meeting, 182–184
Bruce Morrison’s meeting with, 21–27
and US involvement in Northern Ireland policy, 22–25
and US visa for Gerry Adams, 125, 130, 137–138
O’Dwyer, Paul, 145
O’Hara, Gerry (Gearóid O hEára), 1–9, 226
O’Leary, Brenda, 229
Omagh bombing, 227–230
O’Neill, Bill, 15, 16, 19
O’Neill, Nikki, 19
O’Neill, Terrence, 30
O’Neill, Tip, 91
Orange Order, 32
O’Rourke, Kelvin, 229
P
Paisley, Ian, 76, 98, 118, 181, 186, 217–218, 231, 240, 245
team and friendship with Martin McGuinness, 240, 245
Parades Commission, 238
parallel decommissioning, 190–192, 196
Parks, Rosa, 172
Parnell, Charles Stewart, 34
Patten, Christopher, 238
peace envoy, 59
Bill Clinton’s campaign promise of, 48–51, 54, 172
lack of, 222
Albert Reynolds’s opposition to, 62–64
in unofficial peacemakers’ trip, 75, 88–90, 106–107
peace talks among British-approved parties (1996), 204–206
Peace Train, 77
peace walls, 82
Pearse, Padraig, 35
“permanent” ceasefire, 158–160, 171
Perot, Ross, 46, 53, 56
Pinochet, Augusto, 3
Plantation of Ulster, 31
political change, economic and, 90, 91, 115, 132–133
Potato Famine, 33–34
Powell, Johnathan, 61, 134–135, 220, 236
Prebensen, Dennis, 3, 4, 8
Presidential Medal of Freedom, 232
Proclamation of the Irish Republic, 35
Protestants, 31
Q
Qaddafi, Muammar el-, 153
Quayle, Dan, 43
R
Reagan Democrats, 12, 27, 44, 47
Real IRA, 227
Red Hand Commando, 95
Redpath, Jackie, 93–95, 122
referendum campaign, Good Friday Agreement, 223–225
religion, in warfare between British and Irish, 30–31
Reno, Janet, 138
republicans
after Canary Wharf attack, 197–198
on all-party talks, 210–211
in Belfast, 82–83
beliefs of, 29
on Bill Clinton’s Northern Ireland visit, 180–181
Republic of Ireland, 36
“revolutionary patience,” of Sinn Féin, 198–199
Reynolds, Albert, 39, 108, 119, 145
on Gerry Adams’s visa, 132
and American peace envoy, 62–64
on Joseph Cahill’s visa, 153–154
on decommissioning precondition, 202–203
and Downing Street Declaration, 130
and John Major, 62, 72, 166, 167, 245
resignation of, 174
unofficial peacemakers’ meeting with, 72–73, 151
Rising Sun Halloween shooting, 122
Robinson, Mary, 43, 72, 93, 103
Robinson, Peter, 183, 243
Rodell, Susannah, 134
Rowland, John, 16, 17
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)
and Gerry Adams’s influence on IRA, 203, 204
and Good Friday Agreement, 226
Bruce Morrison and Gerry O’Hara’s stop by, 1–9
in the Troubles, 30
and unofficial American peacemakers’ trip, 69, 82
Roybal, Ed, 12–14
RUC. see Royal Ulster Constabulary
S
Salvadoran refugees, 12
Sandinistas, 104
Sands, Bobby, 37
Saville Commission, 240–241
Schwab, George, 140–142
SDLP. see Social Democratic and Labour Party
self-determination, 224–225
Shankill Road bombing, 121–125, 180–181
Shaw, George Bernard, 33
Simpson, Alan, 12–14
Sinn Féin
Gerry Adams’s influence on, 226
at all-party talks, 210
and British Irish Association meeting, 111
decommissioning preconditions for, 161–162
and Downing Street Declaration, 147
in elections, 200–201
“exploratory talks” of British and, 176
and Ray Flynn’s canceled trip to
Northern Ireland, 65–67
founding of, 35–36
and Friends of Ireland, 7
and Good Friday Agreement, 218
and IRA ceasefires, 150, 197, 207–208
and John Major, 159, 168–169, 203
in Bruce Morrison’s analysis of Northern Ireland, 45
on Omagh bombing, 228
and peace talks among British-approved parties, 204
power of, 197–199
preconditions for, 195–196
protocol of, for RUC stops, 3
revolutionary patience of, 198–199
and SDLP, 133
as terrorist organization, 1–2, 105
unofficial peacemakers’ meeting with, 71–72, 76, 80, 87, 92, 93, 102–106, 149
US access for, 172–174
Smith, Jean Kennedy, 73–74, 112–115, 132, 153–154
Smith, John, 164
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 4–5, 133, 200, 201, 205
Soderberg, Nancy, 59, 145
and Gerry Adams’s visa, 126–129, 135–137, 139
on British response to IRA ceasefire, 167
on Joseph Cahill’s visa, 154
in Clinton presidential campaign, 51–53
and Bill Clinton’s Northern Ireland visit, 175, 176
on Chris Hyland’s outreach efforts, 58
and IRA ceasefire, 144, 149, 195
on preconditions for all-party talks, 173
“South California IRA” bomb threats, 137–138
special envoy to Northern Ireland, xiv
Spence, Gusty, 97–101, 169
Spring, Dick, 151, 174
St. Andrews Agreement, 240
St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock ceremony (1996), 199–200
State Department, 56, 117, 134, 135, 136–137
Steinberg, James, 209–210
Stephanopoulos, George, 135, 136
Stern Gang, 140–141
Sterrett, David, 180
Stormont Estate, 86
Strand Two, 216–217
Sullivan Principles, 49
surrender, 159, 168–169
T
Taoiseach, 36
Taylor, John, 76–77, 220
terrorists, 45, 105, 152, 159
Thatcher, Margaret, 37, 38, 166, 167
Toad’s Place, 15–16
Trimble, David, 76, 89, 176, 186–187, 191, 216–219, 230–231
the Troubles, 2, 29–39
Belfast during, 83
interest in peaceful resolution of, 38–39
start of, 29–30
violence during, 30, 37–38, 83
and warfare between Irish and British, 30–37
Tson
gas, Paul, 26
twin-track approach to all-party talks, 175–178
U
Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), 95
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), 42, 76–79, 84, 88–90, 120, 220
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), 34, 95–101
unconditional ceasefire, 168
unionists
in Belfast, 82–83
beliefs of, 29
decommissioning preconditions of, 162–163
power of, 163–164, 165
and ratification of Good Friday Agreement, 224–225
unofficial peacemakers’ meetings with, 92–101
view of British by, 43
Union Jack controversy, 241–242
United Kingdom, 32–33, 175–188. see also Great Britain
United Nations, 174
United States. see also new American Northern Ireland policy; US visas
access of Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams to, 172–174
Great Britain’s relationship with, xiii, 24–25, 136–137, 179
involvement in Northern Ireland policy, 22–25
political process in Great Britain vs., 212
support for IRA ceasefire from, 150
views of all-party talks in, 210–211
United States Chamber of Commerce, 12
unlimited ceasefire, 151–155, 157–158
unofficial American peacemakers’ trips to Northern Ireland, 69–110
to break stalemate after IRA ceasefire, 171
Clinton administration’s policy following, 106–107
conditions in Belfast during, 81–83
Dublin meetings preceding, 71–72
Chuck Feeney and William J. Flynn on, 70–71
focus/purpose of, 75–76, 80–81
John Hume’s meeting with, 90–92
Sir Patrick Mayhew’s meeting with, 86–88
media coverage of, 84–88, 92–93
Bruce Morrison as spokesman for, 74
Bruce Morrison’s confidence about, 79–80
prior to 1994 IRA ceasefire, 148–153
Sinn Féin’s meeting with, 102–106
unionist and loyalist meetings with, 92–101
UUP meeting with, 76–79, 88–90
US visas
for Gerry Adams, 48–50, 52, 54–55, 59, 64, 73, 75, 116–117, 121–145
for Joe Cahill, 153–154
Morrison, xiv, 23, 44, 48
UUP. see Ulster Unionist Party
UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), 34, 95–101
V
Vinton, Gerry, 95, 97–101
violence, 30, 37–38, 83, 104–106
visas. see US visas
W
warfare, Irish and British, 30–37
Washington 3, 173, 174, 178
weapons decommissioning
Irish government on, 174, 178
Mitchell report on, 189–192
as precondition for all-party talks, 161–163, 171, 173–174, 176–178, 195–196, 202–203
Weicker, Lowell, 16–17
White House St. Patrick’s Day parties, 145–147, 173
William III, 32
Williams, Betty, 38
Wilson, Jim, 76, 78–79, 88–89
Wolfe Tone, Theobald, 32
Woodward, Joanne, 146
World War I, 34
Y
Yeats, William Butler, 119
AUTHOR’S NOTE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The story of the Irish Peace Process is ultimately a story of heroes— very human heroes chasing peace after thirty years of the Troubles and 800 years of conflict, much of it violent, between the British and the Irish. Many of those heroes appear in the pages of Peace-runner, but some do not because their stories didn’t intersect with Bruce Morrison’s in a way that brought them into this book. These come immediately to mind: Father Alec Reid, a tireless go-between who connected the republicans who wanted politics instead of war with the wider world and whose witnessing of the IRA decommissioning process greatly enhanced its credibility; the Rev. Harold Good, a Methodist who also witnessed and attested to the IRA decommissioning; and the Rev. Roy Magee, a Presbyterian who worked hard to help bring about the loyalist ceasefire. Hillary Clinton’s work to encourage and empower women in Northern Ireland to make their own voices heard and take an even more active role in their land’s future, especially in the months and years following Good Friday, was very important and helpful and deserves acknowledgment outside the overheated world of presidential campaigns.
The story of the peace process is also the story of politics practiced with bravery and determination to make things better. If this book seems like a valentine to the practice of politics, that’s because it is. In societies more or less democratic, there are basically two ways to end wars: by one side defeating the other militarily, or through politics. Diplomats, academics, religious leaders, NGOs, and media can help, but they can’t do the political deal. Northern Ireland, in the words of the great Inez McCormack, ultimately chose dialogue and deal, and they, and the world, are better off for it.
Peacerunner had its earliest glimmerings in 2010 when Tim McMillin confronted me at a Gettysburg College reunion: “You said you were going to write the Great American Novel.”
The absurdity struck me immediately: “What? Are you sure that’s what I said? I don’t have any idea how to do that.”
But I was lucky: Tim’s challenge got the wheels turning. I knew it wasn’t going to be a novel, Great American or otherwise, but before the year was out, I was confident that the story in this book was worth telling.
I started interviewing Bruce Morrison and others and put together an outline and a first chapter. I reached out to David Kuhn and soon enough had a fine New York agent and, with the help of David and his associates Grant Ginder and Becky Sweren, a well-done proposal. Whether sending out the proposal on the eve of Hurricane Sandy had anything to do with it, I don’t know, but we got dozens of rejections. Becky Sweren never said die, and by the summer of 2013, we had a nice publishing deal with BenBella. Publisher Glenn Yeffeth, who likes to think of himself as the swift mammal ready to grab what the dinosaurs drop, has been wise and wonderful throughout. Friends in the field tell me that the BenBella model is the future of book publishing.
In these improbable circumstances, the list of those to whom I’m indebted is long. It begins with Bruce Morrison, one of many heroes of the Irish Peace Process and the one I have been privileged to know and work with for more than forty years. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have been enthusiastic about the project since its early days, and I am deeply grateful for their help and support. Niall O’Dowd and Nancy Soderberg were among the first I interviewed (and later peppered with endless follow-ups, random questions, and progress reports), and their generous availability and enthusiasm was a real boost early on. A further note about Niall O’Dowd, another wonderful peacerunner: He harnessed the idea of changing American policy on Northern Ireland to the idea of Bill Clinton for President, and he worked tirelessly to promote both causes. He made great connections on both sides of the Atlantic, and he chose Bruce Morrison to be the political leader and spokesman for the unofficial American peacemakers who journeyed to Northern Ireland in 1993. I don’t know if Niall envisioned the brilliant political strategy—spanning years, never written down, only revealed piecemeal as needed—and the practice of politics at the highest and best level that are Morrison’s Irish story, but he’s the one who made the pick. And the rest is history—and Peacerunner.
Interviews long and short graciously given by Bruce Morrison, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, George Mitchell, Richard Lawlor, Gerry O’Hara, Dennis Prebensen, Bill Flynn, Gerry Adams, Chris McGimpsey, Billy Hutchinson, Jackie Redpath, Gerry Vinton, Inez McCormack, Christopher Hyland, Nancy Morrison, Jonathan Powell, Paul Bew, George Schwab, Mike McCurry, Anne Edwards, and Carol O’Cleireacain have anchored Peacerunner in what really happened and given it the pulse of life.
Historians Joe Lee, director
of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, and Christine Kineally, director of the Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, were wonderful resources for this nonhistorian writing a true story. My own grappling with the job of writing a brief history of 800 years left me in awe, and very appreciative, of what real historians do. Chapter four of this book benefited enormously from their kind and generous help.
Others who helped along the way are a legion: Sheldon Messinger, my law office mate in the beginning stages of this frolic and detour, as lawyers call such things, was a wonderful sounding board and giver of good advice and great encouragement. Our secretary Concetta Ferrucci typed up hours of recorded interviews with great care and good cheer. Betsy Pittman and those working with her at the Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut, repository of Bruce Morrison’s papers, were unfailingly helpful. The staffs at several Connecticut libraries—Yale’s Sterling Memorial and the New Haven, Hamden, and Meriden public libraries—were equally helpful, especially Rebecca Starr at Meriden late on a Saturday afternoon. Whenever I called the Belfast public library or a newspaper in a smaller town, I found good people who really wanted to help me get the picture. The woman at police headquarters in Derry who giggled when I asked if the RUC kept records of encounters like the one at the beginning of the book gave me a special glimpse into those times. Joanne Murphy collected articles from Belfast newspapers that were unavailable in the United States and shipped them to me via Dropbox. When I went to Northern Ireland, Richard McAuley, at the wheel of his marvelously named Citroen Picasso, and his brother Martin gave me an extensive tour of Sinn Féin’s Belfast, and Chris McGimpsey took me through his Belfast in his majestic right-hand-drive Chrysler 300. Chris and Jackie Red-path were especially helpful in helping me make contact with others I wanted to reach.
Daily newspapers and books providing relatively contemporaneous accounts of events leading up to, during, and after the peace process were invaluable. Standouts include Endgame in Ireland and The Fight for Peace by David McKittrick and Eamon Mallie, Making Sense of the Troubles by David McKittrick and David McVea, and Conor O’Clery’s Washington-based while-it-was-happening account of Bill Clinton’s entry into the peace process, called Daring Diplomacy in the United States and The Greening of the White House in Ireland. These men were there and paid careful attention. Their access and observations, backed by their extensive experience and wise and intimate knowledge of Northern Ireland and its history, were invaluable as I began writing the story told in this book. In addition, they encouraged me to make use, in the telling of this story, of what they had seen and the statements they had gathered in their own work. I am especially grateful for Conor’s accounts of events and his wonderful vignettes from Washington and New York, including tales and writings of Mary McGrory. I am equally grateful for quotes David and his co-authors related from Albert Reynolds about why arms decommissioning should not have been a precondition to all-party talks, from Gary McMichael and Alex Maskey about why they were willing to participate in talks that had their mortal enemies at the table, and from Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Reg Empey, and Ken Maginnis about the very last stages of the Good Friday negotiations. I am indebted to these professional eyewitnesses for their splendid work, grateful for their generosity to me, and so impressed by their professional mastery of the crucial events of their times. Plus, they are really good company at a hotel bar or a visit over breakfast. I hope to see each of them again and hear more great stories.