Bill Clinton’s NI views led UK officials to brace for ‘turbulence’, papers reveal

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The election of Bill Clinton as US president in 1992 prompted the British government to brace for “turbulence” because of his views on Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said the incoming president’s views on the region were unwelcome and urged the British embassy in Washington to confront him, according to an official document declassified this week.

British officials were especially concerned that the Democrat president-elect had spoken out about killings by the security forces.

The document was among declassified files at the Public Record Office in Belfast. It underscored the depth of British disquiet over Clinton, who had close ties to Irish-Americans and came into office promising a more active US policy on Northern Ireland.

Weeks before his election in November 1992, Clinton had written a letter thanking an Irish-American group for its support and vowing to send an envoy to Northern Ireland to promote peace.

“We believe that the United States must reflect this concern more effectively in its foreign policy,” he said. “We condemn the violence and bloodshed which has scarred Northern Ireland and oppose all attempts to achieve political goals through terror and violence.”

The then governor of Arkansas said London had to do more to tackle job discrimination and disproportionate unemployment in the Catholic community. “We also believe the British government must establish more effective safeguards against the wanton use of lethal force and against further collusion between the security forces and Protestant paramilitary groups,” he said.

The letter alarmed British officials, who were accustomed to a more hands-off approach to the region under the administrations of George H Bush and Ronald Reagan.

In a memo on 4 November – a day after the election – John Chilcot, a senior civil servant in the NIO, said the reference to lethal force was “particularly unwelcome”. He credited “energetic” lobbying by the British embassy with preventing even more outspoken statements, and urged his colleagues in Washington to lobby Clinton again before his inauguration.

“I am sure you are right to anticipate a period of turbulence now Clinton is elected and I wholeheartedly agree that it would be useful to invite the ambassador to map out a possible strategy on the handling of Northern Ireland issues,” Chilcot said.

“There might be a strong case for the ambassador trying to see Clinton as soon as possible so that his views on Northern Ireland are not left to calcify, unchallenged in the run up to his period in office.”

Clinton’s involvement in Northern Ireland affairs irked British officials throughout his presidency. He overrode objections from London and many of his own officials to grant Gerry Adams, the former Sinn F?in leader, a US visa in 1994, a decision credited with helping Adams deliver an IRA ceasefire later that year.