Hillary Rodham Clinton will be inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame 2015 and will deliver a keynote speech in New York on March 16, our sister publication Irish America Magazine has announced.
The former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from New York is being honored for her work on the Irish peace process.
"Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the unsung heroes of the success of the Irish peace process,” said Irish America co-founder Niall O'Dowd who is the founder of IrishCentral.
“As First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State she always gave the issue top priority to help ensure it remained at the top of the U.S. foreign policy agenda.
“During that historic first trip to Northern Ireland with Bill Clinton in 1995, which I was privileged to be on, she galvanized women's groups on both sides by meeting with them, shaping their agenda and making sure they always had a friend in the U.S. administration. More than that, she constantly stayed involved, never giving up her focus on bringing an end to Europe’s longest conflict at the time.
“As Senator George Mitchell has stated, “[Hillary] was very much involved in encouraging the emergence of women in the political process in Northern Ireland, which was a significant factor in ultimately getting an agreement.’”
As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ensured Ireland was high on the U.S. foreign policy priority list, and her last trip to Belfast as Secretary of State in 2012 included a strong address to party leaders from all sides where she pledged to continue her work for peace in Ireland in whatever her capacity.
The standing ovation from all sides and from former bitter enemies of each other on that occasion was incredibly moving and instructive as to how important her role was.
For those reasons we are deeply honored to induct Hillary Rodham Clinton into the Hall of Fame where she joins her husband Bill Clinton, who was inducted in 2011, and Vice President Joe Biden who was inducted in 2013, among others.
The other honorees this year include business leader and philanthropist Robert McCann, CEO of UBS Americas; Patrick Quinn, founder of the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, which has raised $100 million for ALS; head chairman of Great Western Mining, Irish American innovator and commentator Emmett O'Connell.
The Irish America Hall of Fame is located in Wexford, Ireland, on the New Ross quayside yards from where John F. Kennedy’s great grandparents, and thousands of others, left for the United States.
Comments