It would be hard to find a more incorrect summing up of the situation in Northern Ireland, just months before the peace process began to bear fruit. Yet it is not surprising that, even at the highest levels of the US government, there was considerable cynicism about any prospects for movement in Northern Ireland. On the surface, in 1993, attitudes in Northern Ireland appeared as frozen as ever. But underneath the surface, a subtle warming process had begun.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism were epoch-making events, not just for the world's superpowers, but also for citizens of smaller countries where long-term conflicts raged. It is no coincidence that great strides were made in major trouble-spots after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In South Africa, the Middle East and Northern Ireland the end of the Cold War signalled an opportunity to advance long-dormant peace plans. In Northern Ireland, in particular, one of the most important changes was that the United States was suddenly able to view the conflict in a different light. In over 200 years there had been very few major international issues that the British and the Americans disagreed on. As long as the Cold War continued, Britain's vital role as the major strategic partner of the US in Europe meant that the Northern Ireland issue would also be considered by Washington an internal affair for the British to deal with. The end of the Cold War, however, allowed a new flexibility in the relationship. Amid signs of changing times in Northern Ireland, the opportunity at last presented itself to Irish-Americans of helping to create a major new initiative on Ireland that a US president could take part in. The ‘special relationship’ of 200 years was at last going to be challenged.

Irish-America: The Disillusioned Decades

At the beginning of the 1990s Irish-America was uniquely positioned to help create a new dynamic.