President Bill Clinton appointed Senator George Mitchell, the former Senate Majority Leader, to the position of Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (1995–2001) in January of 1995. Over the next three years with diligence and patience Mitchell would lead and negotiate the terms of the 1998 Belfast Agreement (The Good Friday Agreement) which ended the Troubles. Mitchell would stay on as the Special Envoy until stepping down from the position in 2001. Many members of the Ad Hoc Committee were deeply engaged in supporting the GFA process between 1995 and 1998 and made a point of staying engaged long after the world’s media had moved on to cover other conflicts around the world.
The GFA stands as one of the great diplomatic achievements of American foreign policy and is a testament to the bipartisan Congressional support which it received and the tenacity and persistence of President Clinton who visited Northern Ireland three times in an effort to encourage the end of the violence. In the years that followed President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton would continue to help the people of Northern Ireland maintain the peace. For his part Senator Mitchell would follow events closely as the peace process slowly matured and provided the foundation for peace and prosperity.
BBC News: ‘If the children don’t see it, how will they know?’
United States Institute of Peace: Building Peace in Northern Ireland
Mitchell Institute: World Stage 25 Years Later – Senator George Mitchell Visits Northern Ireland
The Washington Post: George Mitchell’s Role in Northern Ireland
UK Northern Ireland: Why is Stormont not sitting and what happens next?
AdHocGFA.org 