Hume, John (1937-2020), a Northern Ireland politician, played a leading role in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990’s. Hume served as the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to 2001. The SDLP is a moderate Irish Nationalist party, founded to unite Northern Ireland with the neighboring Republic of Ireland by peaceful means. In 1998, Hume shared the Nobel Prize for peace with Northern Irish politician David Trimble , leader of the Ulster Unionists. The unionists sought to maintain Northern Ireland’s union with the rest of the United Kingdom.
Hume entered the Northern Ireland parliament in 1969, during civil rights disturbances in which Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland were demanding civil rights equal with those of Protestants. From 1973 to 1976, Hume was a representative in both the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention. In 1974, he served as Northern Ireland’s minister of commerce.
Hume served as a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 2004. He served in the United Kingdom House of Commons (lower house of Parliament) from 1983 to 2005. In 1985, he was one of the people who helped shape the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which for the first time gave the government of the Republic of Ireland limited involvement in the affairs of Northern Ireland.
In 1988, Hume began secret talks with Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin. At the time, Sinn Féin was an extreme nationalist party associated with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a militant group that employed violence to achieve political goals. In 1993, Hume and Adams had further talks, which became publicly known. Hume sought to convince Sinn Féin that the problems in Northern Ireland had less to do with the British presence there than with divisions between the people of Ireland, with the Unionists on one side and the Nationalists on the other. The talks between Hume and Adams coincided with discussions between the United Kingdom and Irish governments, which eventually led to the first IRA cease-fire in 1994. The cease-fire expired in February 1996, but Hume continued to press for a successful conclusion to the peace process.
Hume was a leading figure among those who urged that both Sinn Féin and the Protestant paramilitary forces should be included as parties to any deal. He saw his efforts rewarded in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998. Hume then became a leading campaigner for a “Yes” vote in the referendum to ratify the peace process and the new Northern Ireland Assembly. He served for about a year in the assembly, which began meeting in 1999.
Hume was born on Jan. 18, 1937, in Londonderry and attended school there at St. Columb’s College. He later graduated from St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in the Republic of Ireland and took up a career as a schoolteacher before entering politics. For his part in the Northern Ireland peace process, Hume won the respect and admiration of both Unionists and Nationalists. Hume died on Aug. 2, 2020.
See also Irish Republican Army ; Sinn Féin .
