Follow John Hume’s lead to preserve Good Friday Agreement, says former Clinton aide

The call came from Nancy Soderberg, a key player in President Bill Clinton’s White House administration in the 1990s and now an American foreign policy strategist.

She was speaking at an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between John Hume and Senator Ted Kennedy.

The 1972 get-together in Germany was to have a profound impact on efforts to secure peace in NI.

Thursday’s event was organised by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, the John & Pat Hume Foundation, and the Consulate General of Ireland in Boston.

Nancy Soderberg spoke of the “bond between two great figures of peace” who, she said, “loved being together”.

She added: “Simply put, John Hume’s principles of the rights of people and not territory laid the foundation for the Good Friday Agreement. The bond John Hume and Ted Kennedy forged enabled them to move Prime Ministers, Presidents, and political leaders to forge peace.

“Leaders today would be well advised to put those principles forward once again to preserve the Good Friday Agreement.”

Also speaking at the event was Congressman Joe Kennedy III - a grandson of U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy - who said: “I wish to express my deep gratitude to John Hume for his tireless work for peace. Ted was delighted to nominate John Hume for the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to justice and peace.”

Dr Sean Farren, chair of the Hume Foundation, said that in the early 1970s, when Senator Ted Kennedy decided to seek advice from someone at the heart of the NI Troubles, “the person he met was John Hume”.

“And it wasn’t a one-off briefing... it was a discussion and conversation that evolved into a friendship between the two of them,” he added.

Ambassador Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States, told the event that John Hume had demonstrated “indomitable patience, perseverance and persistence”.

The Derry man, he said, had “turned the clock forward in the peace process” and helped create an agreement that “showed the character of Northern Ireland.”

The event was also attended by John and Pat Hume’s eldest son, Aidan.