demise of power-sharing drove Hume to seek the support of the most powerful government in the world, and to bring its influence to bear on Northern Irish politics. Simply put, Hume’s analysis, post-Sunningdale, was that the two communities could not do it on their own; the British government had failed to stand by power-sharing in Northern Ireland and gave in to its traditional allies, the Unionists. The Irish government had proved unable to dissuade the British government from abandoning the Joint Agreement. It was now clear to Hume that bringing the support of the US to bear would help to balance the equation enough for a return to constitutionality and the establishment of a lasting power-sharing arrangement based on Anglo-Irish consensus.
Hume’s US strategy
Building firm and sustained relations on Capitol Hill and, eventually, in the White House was without precedent in Irish-American relations. Senator Ted Kennedy was later to remark:
It was rather interesting why the leaders of Ireland had not [engaged America meaningfully on policy matters]. De Valera was certainly alive when my brother visited Ireland but there was no real kind of a play towards involving, interesting, and engaging … I don’t think there’s any question that the dramatic shift and change are really attributed to Hume and the confluence of events that took place at this time.16
In a speech entitled ‘Ireland in the Atlantic Community’, Hume stated: ‘The great tides of Irish emigration began to flow to America in the 19th century … The Irish in America tried without success to interest the Washington administration in the Irish question.’17 Hume fully understood that by focusing on Washington and not on grassroots Irish-American organisations that he was breaking with the precedent of Irish leaders. Partly due to a lack of focus on federal power, but in large part due to vigorous resistance by the British to Irish involvement in political Washington, the Irish in America were contained. As former Irish diplomat Michael Lillis argued:
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