White House averse to Clinton-Adams Belfast photograph

Updated / Saturday, 27 Dec 2025 00:01 US President Bill Clinton shares a light-hearted moment with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams during a reception at Queen's University in Belfast in 1995 By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith Harry Manning Evelyn O'Rourke White House officials were reluctant for then US president Bill Clinton to be photographed shaking hands with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams during a key cross-party event in Belfast when he visited in winter 1995. New files released as part of the annual State Papers show that US officials were keen to avoid the situation at the event in honour of the US president at Queen's University Belfast on 30 November - with the handshake instead taking place on the side of the Falls Road during a separate event. Documents included in the annual release of documents from the National Archives in Dublin show the extensive engagements between Irish and US officials to coordinate the Clintons' visit to the island of Ireland. A letter from the Irish joint secretary of the Anglo-Irish Secretariat, David Donoghue, sent to Seán Ó hUiginn at the Anglo-Irish Division, said that "the Americans" originally wanted to hold the reception and "confine" it to 120 people. He said the British side "insisted" that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, should host it, which was agreed, and the guest list was expanded to 300 people. "The ostensible intention is to enable the president to meet a wider range of people in Northern Ireland", he wrote on 28 November 1995. "The real purpose, of course, is to de-emphasise the political nature of the occasion and to create a broader 'community' event which, the British calculate, will make it easier for unionists to attend alongside Sinn Féin." Mr Donoghue said that the representatives would form "pods" at the reception - "a UUP pod, an Alliance pod, etc" determined on a "pro rata basis in light of respective electoral strengths". "In other words, each will form a distinct cluster of people to whom the President will be introduced in turn (on the lines of Buckingham Palace receptions)." He also said that Peter Bell from the Northern Ireland Office had indicated "the Americans would prefer to avoid a handshake photograph between the President and Adams". He also said that while one-on-one meetings had been planned with John Hume in Derry and David Trimble in a car journey after the reception at Queens, there was a "general US reluctance" to meet one-on-one with Adams, Ian Paisley or John Alderdice. "The general assumption, however, is that the president will take relevant individuals aside for separate private conversations on the margins of the reception." President Clinton's Irish heritage 'a fantasy' Meanwhile, related files also show other diplomatic difficulties during the visit, including a view from a genealogist in communication with the Irish government that claims of Mr Clinton's Irish heritage were "a fantasy". Since Mr Clinton's rise to prominence, there have been repeated connections made between his ancestors and Co Fermanagh, mainly...

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