John Hume

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John Hume (born 18 January 1937) is a Northern Irish politician, and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble of the UUP. He was the second leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, a position he held from 1979 until 2001. He has served as an MEP and a Member of Parliament for the Foyle (constituency), as well as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the modern political history of Northern Ireland and one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process there. He is also a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Martin Luther King Award.

Contents 1 Beginnings 2 Political career 3 Reputation 4 Retirement 5 Awards 6 Further reading 7 Quotes 8 External links 9 References

[edit] Beginnings

Hume was born in the predominantly Irish nationalist city of Derry, and educated at St. Columb's College and at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, the leading Catholic seminary in Ireland and a recognised college of the National University of Ireland, where he intended to study for the priesthood. He did not complete these studies, but did obtain a M.A degree from the college, and then returned home to his native city and became a teacher. He was a founding member of the Credit Union movement in the city. Hume became a leading figure in the civil rights movement in the late 1960s, having been prominent in the unsuccessful fight to have Northern Ireland's second university established in Derry in the mid-sixties.

[edit] Political career

Hume became an independent member of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1969 at the height of the civil rights campaign. He served as Minister of Commerce in the short-lived power-sharing government in 1974. He was elected to the Westminster Parliament in 1983.

In October 1971 he joined four Westminster MPs in a 48-hour hunger strike to protest at the internment without trial of hundreds of suspected Irish republicans. A founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), he succeeded Gerry Fitt as its leader in 1979. He has also served as one of Northern Ireland's three Member of the European Parliaments and has served on the faculty of Boston College, from which he received an honorary degree in 1995.

Hume was directly involved in 'secret talks' with the British government and Sinn Féin, in effort to bring Sinn Féin to the discussion table openly. The talks are speculated to have led directly to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. Unfortunately, due mostly to the way in which this was implemented (with no public consent), the vast majority of unionists rejected it and staged a massive and peaceful public rally in Belfast City Centre to demonstrate their distaste. Many republicans and nationalists rejected it also, as they had seen it as not going far enough. Hume hadn't stopped there though, and continued dialogue with both the government and Sinn Féin. The "Hume-Adams process" eventually delivered the 1994 IRA ceasefire which ultimately provided the relatively peaceful backdrop against which the Good Friday agreement was brokered.

[edit] Reputation

Hume is credited with being the thinker behind many of the recent political developments in Northern Ireland, from Sunningdale power-sharing to the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Belfast Agreement. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 alongside the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, David Trimble.

On his retirement from the leadership of the SDLP in 2001 he was praised across the political divide, even by his longtime opponent, fellow MP and MEP, the Rev. Ian Paisley, although, ironically, Conor Cruise O'Brien, the iconoclastic Irish writer and former politician was a scathing critic of Hume, for what O'Brien perceived as Hume's anti-Protestant bias, but this is definitely a minority viewpoint.

[edit] Retirement

On 4 February 2004, Hume announced his complete retirement from politics, and shepherded Mark Durkan as the SDLP leader and successor. He did not contest the 2004 European election (which was won by Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Féin) or the 2005 general election, which Mark Durkan successfully held for the SDLP.

Hume and his wife, Pat, continue to be active in promoting European integration, issues around global poverty and the Credit Union movement. In furtherance of his goals, he continues to speak publicly, including a visit to Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 2005, or the first Summer University of Democracy of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 10-14 July 2006).

[edit] Awards

• Nobel Prize for Peace (co-recipient), 1998.
• Honorary LL.D., Boston College, 1995. One of the 44 honorary doctorates Hume has been awarded.
• Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society 2004
• Freedom of the City of Cork, 2004.^[1]

[edit] Further reading

• John Hume, 'Personal views, politics, peace and reconciliation in Ireland,' Town House, Dublin, 1996.
• John Hume, ‘Derry beyond the walls: social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry,' Ulster Historical foundation, Belfast, 2002.
• Barry White, 'John Hume: a statesman of the troubles,' Blackstaff, Belfast, 1984
• George Drower, 'John Hume: man of peace,' Gollancz, London, 1995.
• Paul Routledge, 'John Hume: a biography,' Harper-Collins, London, 1997
• Gerard Murray, 'John Hume and the SDLP: impact and survival in Northern Ireland,' Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1998.

[edit] Quotes

• "Over the years, the barriers of the past--the distrust and prejudices of the past--will be eroded, and a new society will evolve, a new Ireland based on agreement and respect for difference."
• "I thought that I had a duty to help those that weren't as lucky as me."

[edit] External links

• His Nobel Lecture http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1998/hume-lecture.html

[edit] References

1. ^ Details available here.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by constituency created	Member of Parliament for Foyle 1983–2005	Succeeded by Mark Durkan
Political offices
Preceded by Gerry Fitt	Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party 1979-2001	Succeeded by Mark Durkan

Persondata
NAME	John Hume
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Northern Irish politician
DATE OF BIRTH	18 January 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Derry, Northern Ireland
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH