III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 54 

Paying tribute to John Hume. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2005 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. DODD, Mr. BIDEN, and Mr. 

LAUTENBERG) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Relations 

FEBRUARY 16, 2005 

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Paying tribute to John Hume. 

Whereas John Hume is one of the greatest advocates of 

peace and non-violence of our time; 

Whereas throughout the long and difficult years of civil strife 

and turmoil, John Hume has dedicated his life to achieving a peaceful, just, and lasting settlement of the conflict 

in Northern Ireland; 

Whereas throughout the turbulent years in Northern Ireland, 

John Hume never lost faith in the belief that violence 

and terrorism are wrong, that a negotiated settlement is 

the only realistic hope for peace, and that ancient antagonisms cannot be settled by bombs and bullets; 
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Whereas John Hume deserves enormous credit for the peace 

process in Northern Ireland, which led to the 1998 Good 

Friday Agreement; 

Whereas John Hume’s enduring vision of reconciliation, 

based on equal respect and recognition for both the 

Protestant and Catholic traditions in Northern Ireland, 

has served as an inspiration to those seeking peaceful 

resolution of conflicts in many other parts of the world; 

Whereas John Hume has worked consistently for the rights 

of the members of his community, beginning with the 

launching of a credit union to provide assistance to the 

minority community to purchase housing; 

Whereas John Hume’s commitment was to effective programs 

and peaceful works, at a time when others in his community increasingly urged or acquiesced to bombs and bullets; 

Whereas John Hume’s ideas and eloquence lit a candle in the 

darkness of the violence in Northern Ireland, kindled an 

increasing sense of hope in the minority community, and 

created new possibilities for understanding between the 

opposing sides of the conflict; 

Whereas John Hume’s community activity and involvement 

led directly to his long and distinguished political career; 

Whereas John Hume brought together a broad coalition of 

leaders who advocated non-violence and together they 

founded the Social Democratic and Labour Party in 

1970, which has been at the forefront of years of significant efforts to achieve peace in Northern Ireland; 

Whereas John Hume was the first to emphasize the necessity 

of establishing an on-going Anglo-Irish framework as the 

cornerstone for institutionalizing the process of reconcili-
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ation to heal the divisions within Northern Ireland, between North and South in Ireland, and between Great 

Britain and Ireland; 

Whereas in 1983, largely as a result of the efforts of John 

Hume, the principal political parties in Ireland and the 

Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland 

established the far-reaching New Ireland Forum; 

Whereas the New Ireland Forum developed alternatives for 

progress and prepared the report that laid the groundwork for an unprecedented new dialogue on Northern Ireland between Britain and Ireland, culminating in November 1985 with the signing of the historic Anglo-Irish 

Agreement by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the 

United Kingdom and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald of Ireland; 

Whereas John Hume conducted talks with Gerry Adams, the 

leader of Sinn Fein, before the Irish Republican Army 

agreed to a cease-fire, showing great courage by taking 

significant personal and political risks to achieve a lasting peace; 

Whereas those talks, together with the December 1993 Joint 

Declaration by the British and Irish Governments, led to 

the August 1994 cease-fire by the Irish Republican Army 

and the October 1994 cease-fire by the Loyalist 

paramilitaries and ultimately to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998; 

Whereas John Hume served as the Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland 

until 1979, and its leader from 1979 to 2001; 

Whereas John Hume’s political career has also included serving as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the 
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European Parliament, and the British House of Commons; 

Whereas in his many visits to the United States, John Hume 

has been a consistent ambassador for peace, urging the 

cause of reconciliation and educating Congress and the 

country about the issues in Northern Ireland; 

Whereas John Hume is well respected in the United States 

and has had an important influence on United States policy and on the American dimension of the Northern Ireland question; 

Whereas John Hume is a courageous leader of exceptional 

achievement and was honored for his leadership in the 

cause of peace in Northern Ireland with the Nobel Peace 

Prize in 1998, along with the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, David Trimble; 

Whereas respect for John Hume was the single most important influence in the development of the Friends of Ireland in the United States Congress and in convincing 

leaders of the Irish-American community throughout the 

United States to oppose political, financial, or other support for the violence in Northern Ireland; and 

Whereas John Hume is retiring this year after a long and 

brilliant career dedicated to the people of Northern Ireland and to the cause of peace: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) pays tribute to John Hume for his lifetime 

3 commitment to promoting reconciliation and achiev4 ing a lasting peace in Northern Ireland; and 

5 (2) calls on all the parties in Northern Ireland 

6 to redouble their effort to restore the trust that is 
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1 necessary to fully implement the Good Friday Agree2 ment and to achieve stable democratic institutions, 

3 peace, and justice in Northern Ireland. 

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