Address by Dr. Marjorie MowlamNew York CityMay 17, 2001

NCAFP PreseNtAtioN

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WilliAm J. FlyNN

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dr. mArJorie moWlAm, m.P.

Our Purposes

The National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) was founded in 1974 by Professor Hans J. Morgenthau, among others, to serve as a nonprofit, independent foreign policy organization, think tank, and educational forum. Among our members are experts from the worlds of diplomacy and academia and leaders from business and the professions.

The National Committee is concerned with the advancement of American national interests in the intricate political and economic spheres of the global arena.

These concerns include1. preserving and strengthening open-society countries,2. improving U.S. relations with the developing world,3. advancing human rights,4. curbing the proliferation of nuclear and other nonconventional weapons,5. extending arms control agreements, and6. promoting an open and global world economy.

A major and distinguishing activity of the NCAFP is the presentation of firm and reasoned positions on specific issues. When, after study and discussion, we reach a consensus on an aspect of foreign policy that affects American national interests, the NCAFP makes that judgment known to the administration, Congress, the media, and the general public. Our willingness to take a public stand—independent of partisan, ethnic, and regional special interests—makes the National Committee on American Foreign Policy different from other nonprofit organizations in the field of foreign affairs.

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Program

Presentation of the William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award to the Right Honorable Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, M.P.,

for her extraordinary efforts toward conflict resolution in Northern Ireland

WelcomeBill Moyers, Master of Ceremonies

TributesGeorge Pataki, Governor of the State of New York

Thomas J. Moran, Member of the NCAFP’s Executive Committee, Dinner Cochairman, and

President and CEO of Mutual of America

Jean Kennedy Smith, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland

Hugh Carey, Former Governor of the State of New York

Significance of the AwardGeorge D. Schwab, Cofounder and

President of the NCAFP

IntroductionWilliam J. Flynn, Chairman of the NCAFP, Dinner Cochairman, and Chairman of Mutual of America

Award PresentationWilliam J. Flynn and George D. Schwab

AddressThe Right Honorable

Dr. Marjorie Mowlam, M.P.

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BILL MOYERS:

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to the best place to be in New York tonight. My name is Bill Moyers, and I have the best assignment in New York tonight. The National Committee on American Foreign Policy is justly known for assembling notable achievers in politics, academia, statecraft, and business—men and women who, in their professional and personal lives, signify engagement with the world. Tonight is no exception, and tonight I get to introduce them. I confess I have always wanted to be somebody. I guess I should have been more specific because I wound up as a journalist, and as a journalist, I can never forget the story of the day Einstein arrived in heaven.

St. Peter greeted him and took him around to meet his four roommates who would be sharing their celestial apartment with Einstein for the rest of eternity. The first roommate said to him, “Oh, Dr. Einstein, what an honor it is to spend eternity with you. Let me treasure you, sir. I have an IQ of 190.” Einstein smiled and shook his hand and said, “That’s wonderful, wonderful. Tonight at dinner you and I will talk about the electrodynamic equivalencies of MC2 pertaining to the molecular dimensions of interstellar particles.”

The second man came forward and said, “You cannot know what this means, Dr. Einstein, to have you for a roommate, and I want you to know I have an IQ of 170.” “Wonderful,” said Einstein. “Tomorrow night at dinner you and I shall explore the thermokinetic theories of induction affecting the photo velocity tendencies of ionic magnetics.”

The third man put out his hand and said, “Sir, I’m profoundly honored to meet you. However, my IQ is only 140.” “Well,” Einstein said, “you and I will spend many

evenings talking about American politics.”

Whereupon the fourth man very timidly offered his hand and said in a hesitant voice, “This is the greatest honor of my life, Professor Einstein. But you should know I only have an IQ of 120.” “Don’t worry,” said Einstein, “you and I will find many things to talk about, but first tell me, how long were you in journalism?” Well, I’ve been in journalism for 30 years now, and this evening is a highlight for me.

A long train of accomplished people have been honored by this committee. Linowitz, Duke, Kissinger, Kirkpatrick, Shultz, Rockefeller, Baker, Thatcher, Pickering, Hussein, Kennan, Vance, Volcker, Holbrooke, Flynn, and Mitchell, and tonight the list grows longer. So let’s get on with it.

Our very first special guest made his own unique contribution to American foreign policy on June 24, 1945. That’s the day he was born on a farm north of here near Peekskill. When the news reached Tokyo, the Japanese surrendered, and World War II came to an end. How’s that for timing! George Pataki’s timing has been exquisite ever since. I can’t tell you what it means to meet a tall Republican. I’m very serious about this. When I grew up in Texas, all the Republicans were short. Democrats in Texas were this tall, and Republicans were this short. Both of them. You think I’m kidding, but John Silber, who’s here tonight, will tell you when I was a kid in Texas, he was a kid, and we only had two Republicans in the whole state, and if one of them stood on the other’s shoulders, Democrats still looked down on them. Not any more. In those days every statewide office in Texas was held by a Democrat. Today every statewide office in Texas is held by a Republican.

But none is as tall or as smart as George Pataki. How do I know he’s so smart? Well, George Pataki grew up on the Hudson River. With the help of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, my longtime corporate partner in my work for PBS, I’m just about to complete

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a two-year project on a four-part series on the history and environment of the Hudson River. Among the many legends I heard about when I set out to tell this story was how when young George Pataki came home to Peekskill after Yale and Columbia, he had the choice of swimming across the Hudson or going into politics. And he chose politics because it was a lot cleaner than swimming across the Hudson. Let me tell you, America’s first river (and that’s the title of our series because it was America’s first river) is cleaner today than it’s been in a long time in no small part because George Pataki has worked to make it so.

After serving 10 years in the state legislature and as the youngest mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, George Pataki was elected governor of New York in 1994, and four years later, he was reelected by the largest landslide for a Republican governor, tall or short, in New York history.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 53rd governor of the State of New York, George Pataki.

GOVERNOR GEORGE PATAKI:

Thank you very much, Bill Moyers, for that introduction, I think. I’ll have to think about whether or not it was actually complimentary. I take it as a compliment because even though the politican’s IQ wasn’t that high, one of them actually made it to heaven. So, Bill, thank you for those encouraging comments. Let me just say it’s an honor to be here tonight, and let me first thank everybody involved with the National Committee on

American Foreign Policy for what you have done for decades in helping develop thoughts and ideas and in helping to make sure they get implemented.

I think one of the most important things this group

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ever did was to create its Initiative for Peace Award and name it after someone who has worked so hard for the cause of peace throughout his life. It’s an honor to be here with Bill Flynn as the William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award is given out. So, Bill, thank you. And thank you too to all the dignities here tonight: Governor Carey, one of my great predecessors who did a great job; Governor, it’s always wonderful to be in your presence; Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith; Ambassador, it’s always terrific to see you; it’s nice to have you back in America for a while; Tom Moran and Bill Plunkett and Bill Moyers and Consul General Barry Robinson. Barry, I’ve just heard you’ve been nominated for Belgium. We’re going to miss you. Thank you for what you have done while you have been here in New York. We’re proud of that.

To the award winner tonight, I just want to say a few words. Sunday I was at Gaelic Park. It was a wonderful afternoon. It was a curling match between County Down and the New York All Stars. And it was a historic event because it was the first time that a championship curling match in the All-Ireland Competition was being held outside of Ireland—in America, in the State of New York. It was exciting, and it was fun, and it was historic. But the concept of historic vanishes when you think of what was done by the honoree tonight. When you think of the difficulties (for not just decades but generations) that tore apart the people of Ireland—difficulties that not just prevented sporting events from being held but calamities that took people’s lives and prevented them from having confidence in the future. What our honoree accomplished was the act of bringing together people with very different views and very different histories. And in doing so, she worked very hard to bring into being and to gain broad acceptance for the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, one of the most extraordinary accomplishments for peace that this world has ever seen.

I happened to have the good fortune to meet the secretary of state for Northern Ireland when she came to New York early in that process and sensed that she

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was different: a different type of secretary of state, a different type of politician, one who brought compassion and passion and understanding to her view of that job. If anyone could have made agreement possible, it’s not surprising that Mo Mowam did. So I’m honored tonight to be with all of you and honored to help in awarding the William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award to Dr. Marjorie Mo Mowlam. Dr. Mowlam, congratulations. God bless you and thank you for all that you have done.

BILL MOYERS:

Thank you very much, Governor Pataki. As I was thinking of the many wonderful things I could say about the next man I’m to introduce, I remembered the story of the deacon in the church in my hometown in East Texas who bought himself a female parakeet only to discover that her vocabulary would have put a sailor to shame. I mean this bird’s language was so salty it would make Howard Stern blush. Well, her owner was a deacon, and he worried that on the minister’s weekly visits to his house, the minister would be insulted.

The deacon called a friend of his who had two very well-mannered and deeply devout male birds. One of the birds spent all day reciting the Lord’s Prayer while the other held a rosary in its claws and repeated Hail Marys. “Would it be okay if I brought my parakeet over for a few days?” the man asked his buddy. “Maybe she’ll pick up some good habits from your birds.” The friend agreed, and so the fellow took his female parakeet over and put her in the cage next to that of the two very devout male birds. Suddenly the first male parakeet stopped praying and turned to the other and said, “You can knock it off now; we just got what we were praying for.”

Well, with Tom Moran and Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, I got what I was praying for. A journalist could not ask for more principled believers in the First Amendment—first under Bill Flynn and now under Tom Moran, Mutual of America has been my corporate underwriter on PBS for 10 years. Before

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Mutual, I had lost at least three corporate sponsors who were happy only as long as I didn’t make anyone else unhappy. Losing underwriting will keep the yellow light of caution flickering in a journalist’s unconscious, I can tell you that. I found myself sometimes not even thinking about doing controversial subjects because potential underwriters would say, “Not a chance.” Then Mutual of America came along, and the yellow light flickers no more. They made possible some of Public Television’s and Channel 13’s most acclaimed programs. Tom Moran has been a part of this remarkable company for more than 25 years. As it grew from a small retirement association to one of the most highly rated life insurance companies in America with assets of 11 billion dollars and counting, seven years ago he became the first president to be appointed from within the company. Mutual’s extraordinary headquarters at 320 Park Avenue rose under his leadership. And his fingerprints can be found all over the worthiest causes in this city and beyond. The prime minister of Ireland summed it up when he said that Tom Moran’s selfless actions have improved the lives of thousands.

Ladies and gentlemen, a native New Yorker and a citizen of the world, Thomas J. Moran.

THOMAS J. MORAN:

Governor Pataki, you mentioned you weren’t sure about your introduction. I think from my introduction I have

learned that I should keep praying. Bill, thank you very much. I’ve had the privilege, thanks to Bill Flynn and Mutual of America and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, of watching the peace process from the front row, and it’s been exciting. There have been many lessons that I’ve learned over the years from Bill. In particular, I’ve learned that we each have the potential to make a difference. And

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the only thing that matters and the only challenge to our making a difference is if we care enough and if we are willing to try.

Tonight we honor Dr. Marjorie Mo Mowlam. We honor her with the William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award. She is more than worthy of this particular honor. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to count Mo as a friend know just how lucky the peace process has been that she was there as the secretary of state in Northern Ireland at just the right time and just the right place. There are many examples that could be given of her commitment to the peace process and the courage that she always showed in addressing every issue, the easy ones and the most difficult ones, always head on. But for me it was never one of the big events that drew a lot of publicity that excited me about Mo Mowlam. The one event for me (and something that taught me more than anything else) happened on her first day in office. She taught me that sometimes the simplest of things make the biggest difference. On her first day in office as secretary of state, Mo chose not to sit in Stormont Castle. She not only came down from that historic center of power; she actually walked along the Republican Falls Road. She didn’t just walk the Falls Road. For Mo that was not enough. She stopped and talked to people. She didn’t simply talk, she listened. But the real thing that I think changed everything was that Mo took the time as she walked along the road to see what was going on.

She stopped a mother and a child. She picked up the child, and she gave this little boy a tickle and a hug. For me, that was the defining moment of who Mo Mowlam is. At that very moment, she was not the secretary of state, the center of power in Northern Ireland. She was a person who cared about people and their children. She encouraged them to have a voice that she would listen to and that would be listened to by the world. She brought attention to the Falls Road. She brought attention to that small child.

She said there’s an opportunity for real peace because

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real peace can only come when people are cared about. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be Mo’s friend. For that reason tonight is a particular honor, for it has enabled me to be among the guests speaking about giving such a well-deserved recognition to someone who has truly made a difference not because of the power that flows from a title but because of the power that she carries within herself each and every day. So, Mo, from me, congratulations, and, as always, thank you for caring.

BILL MOYERS:

Well said, Tom. I first met this woman 40 years ago when my job in the presidential campaign of 1960 was to keep the lines open between Boston and Austin. Later her brother appointed me deputy director of the Peace Corps—the best job I ever held in my life. Like so many from that era, I’ve been an honorary Kennedy ever since and a great admirer of the woman you’re about tomeet. She is Kennedy to the core but very much herself. Arthur Schlesinger got it right, I think, when he said she may well be the best politician of the entire clan. Small wonder she became such an effective American ambassador to Ireland, revitalizing our presence in Dublin and leaving her name indelibly linked to the peace process there.

I don’t know how she’s kept going through these four decades with such verve, pluck, and prowess. A friend of mine once said of his mother, “Mom knew how to stay in shape. She started walking 5 miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 now, and we have no idea where she is.” Well, against all the tragedy life could throw her way, this indomitable woman kept striding straight ahead, and we know where she is tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jean Kennedy Smith.

JEAN KENNEDY SMITH:

Bill, thank you very much, but I got the impression that everybody thinks they’re looking at a 97-year-old woman.

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Thank you, I’m sure you didn’t mean that. I’m really honored to be here this evening with Governor Pataki and Governor Carey. And I commend them both for their leadership of New York. I commend our great friend, Bill Flynn, for hosting this tribute and for being such a true friend over the years to the peace process in Northern Ireland and to all of Ireland. His leadership on this and so many other issues important to Irish Americans has been indispensable.

I had the great honor and privilege of serving our nation as ambassador to Ireland when the historic Good Friday Agreement setting out the enduring framework to end the tragic violence in Northern Ireland was achieved in 1998. The Good Friday Agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by citizens in both parts of the island of Ireland. Then, as now, it offers the best hope for a peaceful future for Northern Ireland.

Tonight I’m especially proud to join in honoring a person who contributed immensely to the successful negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. Her abiding commitment to equal justice and human rights had a profound impact on the positive outcome of the negotiations. Her extraordinary leadership made her one of the most visionary political leaders of those years. When the history of the peace process is written, Mo Mowlam will have an especially honored place. She is a remarkable leader who has touched and improved the lives of all the people of Ireland. Her timely leadership helped to prove that the way forward in Northern Ireland is through dialogue and negotiation, not bombs and bullets. And for this achievement, the people of all of Ireland and all of America too owe her an immense debt of gratitude. The progress she achieved is a model and lesson to us all on public service at its best.

As we know, there are still miles to go before the victory of lasting peace in Northern Ireland is finally

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won. But because of Mo Mowlam, the goal has become much closer. Thank you, Mo, for all you have done so well for Ireland. I know what President Kennedy would have called you: a profile in courage. Congratulations from all of us and the Kennedy family on this distinguished award!

BILL MOYERS:

Thank you, Madame Ambassador. See if you can come back in three years and do it when you’re 100. Think about it.

This man was a private when World War II began and a colonel when it ended, and his father wasn’t even a general. We met when he was newly come to Congress. And Sergeant Shriver and I called on every member of Congress—every member of the House and the Senate, 535 people—Sarge and I called on them door by door, one at a time, to pass the legislation establishing John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps.

Four years later this former freshman congressman had become a formidable figure in the House, and, as President Johnson’s young policy assistant, I worked with him to fashion the historic Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which, for the first time, recognized that children of parochial schools were part of the public weal.

I watched with awe in 1974 as he became the first governor—the first Democratic governor to be elected in New York State in 16 years. Four years later he was reelected. I watched in awe as his leadership saved the city from bankruptcy. As long as I live, I will never forget the first time Judith and I saw him do the soft shoe while singing “New York, New York.” But, John Silber, I have failed so far to do it to “The Eyes of Texas.” However, nothing becomes this man as the raising of 14 children who in turn have made him a grandfather 15 times over. When the Good Lord said, “Be fruitful and multiply,” Hugh and Helen Carey were the first to take him literally.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Hugh Carey.– 10 –

HUGH CAREY:

Thank you very much, Bill Moyers. That’s an introduction I do not deserve. I’ll quickly acquit myself of some of the things you said I did. (This arm is twisted; this arm is twisted.) It took me about 20 years to get them back in shape. Of course, you didn’t mention how you lobbied me for the Highway Beautification bill and the Wheat Tax

bill, which will live in infamy. But I’m here tonight to talk as a former legislator to pay homage to a great legislator. Before I do, let me pay my deep respects to his excellency, Governor George Pataki. When he was in the midst of a very difficult campaign to achieve his first term, someone from CBS asked him, “What kind of a governor would you want to be?” His answer was offhand and, I think, derelict on his part, but he said, “I’d want to be a governor like Hugh Carey was a

governor.” Of course, he won my support at that point.

Now with my 14 children, 12 living, and 15 grandchildren, he can say to me, “How do you want to be remembered?” I want to be remembered as the kind of governor that George Pataki is today.

And I’m here tonight to point out that this Initiative for Peace Award should become one of the most coveted awards we have in our society primarily because of its origin and its inspiration, William Flynn—a name identified—forever, in my estimate—with peace in Ireland. To be awarded the honor shows that the recipient has the quality and the dauntless determinationthat are needed to complete this process. And that’s what Mo Mowlam has. She’s exhibited it.

The road to peace is never easy. It’s filled with pitfalls. I undertook that road in my second term in Congress,

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feeling that I owed something to my ancestors who came to this country and gave me a chance. So unwittingly thinking that I’d achieved acclaim in my own district, I went to Ireland. I went to the Falls Road. I met John Hume for the first time. I met many other patriots. I went back to Congress, and I gave what I thought was a truthful and realistic account of the difficulty, of how grave it was, how severe it was, how menacing it was. And as happens, and as I know Dr. Mowlam knows usually happens—the opposition always takes a different view—they disputed and discounted my account. So one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle took the trip over. He decided to follow the same route I had. He went to the Shankhill Road and the Falls Road. He inquired of a person at an intersection: “How are things here? I’m a congressman from the United States.” The Irishman looked him over and said, “Well, what do you want to know?” “What about all this trouble?” “Ah, no trouble at all. You Yankees make up stories about us. We get along fine. There’s no trouble here at all, at all.” “Do you have a job?” “A job, yeah.” “Do you have bread?” “Oh, I have bread, sure.” “And meat?” “I have meat, and a family, yeah. Everything’s all right.” “Well, what’s all this talk then about?” He said, “Well, you Yanks want to do that to amuse yourselves, but we’re doing all right. Much better than you are, I might say.” The congressman says, “Oh, tell me, if there’s no problem and no hostility and no trouble of any kind, what’s this Carey talking about?” He adds, “Don’t believe it anyway; he’s from Brooklyn.” And he finally says, “Well, let me ask you, sir, what kind of a job do you have?” The man says, “I’m a tail gunner on a bakery truck.”

The most difficult job that a congressman had during those years, if I may say so, was to raise the awareness and understanding of how difficult it was for the people of Ireland. So much of that was helped by Jean Kennedy Smith. As the American ambassador, she brought that story home to us. So much was done by people like John Hume over the years and Gerry Lynch, who’s here now, and the great peace ox of the Irish Republic, Jack Lynch, and many others, including Brian Lenahan and

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Lynch, and many others, including Brian Lenahan and our president and the women of Ireland. So much has come about, but the problem we face is it’s so close, so wonderful, it’s so deserved by the Irish people, North and South, that we have to finish the job. And that’s what I see we’re honoring tonight. Until Mo Mowlam appeared on the scene, how many trips were made by Bill and Tom and others, trying to bring the parties together, trying to reach some common understanding of the need for all of Ireland to be united, of convincing the United Kingdom that there were desperate needs in Ulster and other parts of Ireland as well. How difficult that was. And then Mo Mowlam came to this post as secretary of state. And she came well qualified. If you look at her record, she has been in dispute resolution in her own party and in Parliament for all these years: 14 years. Same amount of time that I served in Congress. So it hasn’t been an easy road for a passionate activist. That’s why she was needed.

So much progress was made, as Jean Kennedy Smith especially knows. Gerry Adams’s visit here, the organization of a great conference here sponsored by Mutual of America and the National Committee on American Foreign Policy to give visibility and a voice to all sides. I don’t know how he did it, but Bill Flynn, the inspiration for this award, the man for whom it’s named, managed to talk to all sides and keep them in communication until Mo Mowlam arrived. During those years I was assisted by and worked closely with some great Americans. But we didn’t achieve what Mo has done. We didn’t achieve what Bill’s done, but we tried. They had a name for us. They called us the Four Horsemen. I don’t think that was a term of endearment, by the way. No one ever told us what part of the anatomy of the horse we were supposed to resemble.

My good friend Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts is one. Senator Moynihan is another. The late Tip O’Neill and I were the third and the fourth. And over the course of those years, we worked very hard to bring about nonviolence and to bring the parties together. But it took the president (Bill Clinton) who appointed Jean Kennedy Smith to come to the fore and use our

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own good offices in the United States to foster public awareness of the debate and to raise it to a level where something could be done. In those tense times, inspiration and dauntless determination were needed. That was given by the person we are honoring here tonight. I’ve read about what she’s done, and I see that her main devotion—her main commitment, her total unreserved fealty and fidelity—belong to children, especially handicapped children. And she’s a radical in this, for radicals are needed where children are concerned. And now, Dr. Mowlam, that you’re going forward from this point to dispute resolution, I daresay we could use your services very widely in this community. The governor could use you with the New York State Legislature. (Some differences are irreconcilable, I found out. But you could be useful. You could even tell us where to put Yankee Stadium; we have a dispute there. You might even tell us who should live in Gracie Mansion. So there’s lots of work ahead.)

But when you commit yourself to every phase of dispute resolution, I would like to nominate you for the vacancy that exists in the Four Horsemen. Because when Tip went, he left us with a tremendous void to fill. Tip was a great protagonist for Northern Ireland. So, Mo, if you would consider it, you might be the only one of the Four Horsemen who could ride side saddle. But if I know you, you’d do all the jumps and gallop out way ahead of us. That’s why you deserve this great award tonight. God bless you in carrying on your great work.

BILL MOYERS:

A final word before our main course. I have had many mentors and models in my life but few heroes. A hero is someone who goes forth into the darkness, into the forest, into the unknown and returns with a boon for society for which others may get credit. Bill Flynn is genuinely one of my heroes. I don’t know many like him who built a great institution that will live and flourish beyond him and who’s done so much for so many without asking for personal adulation in return. My favorite cartoon from

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The New Yorker of the last 30 years shows a new king who calls his courtiers into his palace chamber. He says to them, “I only want three things in the course of my reign. I want wisdom, humility, and media exposure.” Now that’s the mark of our time. But it’s something Bill Flynn has never sought. What he and Tom and their friends have done for the peace process in Ireland is, and I say this as a journalist, a story that will never be told. And that doesn’t matter to Bill Flynn. What matters is the process and the result. So I just want to say that, Bill, you’re what all of us have in common who are here tonight. Strangers in many respects but friends of Flynn.

Enjoy your dinner.

BILL MOYERS:

Ladies and gentlemen: I want to ask you to join me in a hearty round of applause for Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks. What a vibrant, mellow sound! Thank you very much, fellows. This is my last act of the evening, passing the baton to someone who can twirl it with far more panache than I can. And I’m delighted to be able to do that.

We are here this evening because of an idea. The idea is that in foreign affairs, power matters. But so do ideas. And nothing is more important to a nation and to the world order than the idea of power.

What is it, how does it work, how should we use it? Those were questions, believe it or not, that were rarely addressed. Most actions in the early part of this century were the consequence of clashes and intuitions and epiphanies. And few people thought about the idea of power and how it worked in the relations of nations.

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So George Schwab and Hans Morgenthau and several others brought into existence the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, which George rightly says has become a kind of shadow National Security Council. It is concerned with the application of power for the proportionate ends of foreign policy. George is president of the National Committee, founded 27 years ago. He’s a scholar, an activist, a connector, a builder of networks, and a man who makes things happen.

It’s my pleasure to introduce you tonight to George D. Schwab. George.

GEORGE D. SCHWAB:

Thank you, Bill. Of course, what you said is all true. In all modesty, I say that. My task tonight is to discuss briefly the significance of the Initiative for Peace Award. Tonight’s event is especially significant in the history of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Following the two Americans who were honored with the Initiative for Peace Award, namely, Mr. William J. Flynn and Senator George J. Mitchell, the Right Honorable Dr. Marjorie Mo Mowlam is the first non-American to be celebrated for her powerful and effective efforts on behalf of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

When the National Committee established this award in 1997 and presented it to Bill Flynn, the chairman of Mutual of America and of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, it did so for his unswerving belief in the educability of men to live in peace with one another, for his courage in translating his faith into political action, and for his unconventional approach in bringing all the contestants in the conflict in Northern Ireland together in conferences and in on- and off-the-record talks with the National Committee. Bill, because of the legendary way in which you succeeded in bringing Gerry Adams to the United States and for your vision and determination in pursuing the peace process in Northern Ireland for close to 10 years, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy has renamed the

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Initiative for Peace Award the William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award. It gives me great pleasure to be the first to congratulate you, Bill, officially on having this distinguished award bear your distinguished name.

WILLIAM J. FLYNN:

Thank you, George (Mr. President, he prefers to be called). Actually I was quite surprised to learn about this. It seems that practically everybody in town knew about the William J. Flynn name being attached to the Committee’s Initiative for Peace Award, but I didn’t know about it.

It could just as easily have been the George D. Schwab name or Thomas J. Moran’s or William M. Rudolf ’s. But when I think about it, William J. Flynn has a certain ring to it. I’m delighted and honored, and I have the added pleasure of having my family here this evening to share the honor with me. Would you please stand, Mrs. Flynn, my wife, Peg, of 48 years, and my children and family.

It’s my great honor and pleasure tonight to present this National Committee Initiative for Peace Award to this woman who as secretary of state for Northern Ireland succeeded beyond all belief in bringing together these two very divided communities in the North of Ireland to the point that they were able to sit down and sign an agreement, a historic agreement that we now know as the Belfast Agreement. That was in 1998. And for the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the people of Northern Ireland, who were very divided and continue to be divided, agreed to share power with one another and to operate henceforth in a democratic manner. As we pointed out earlier, the people of both the North and the South, in separate referendum, overwhelmingly approved the Belfast Agreement. And this is the woman who was at the helm of the ship in Northern Ireland for the British government and who saw to it that this happened. Just incredible! You know it had to be a very dangerous road she walked. She was roundly abused by those who disagreed with this point or that point. And she took it all, and with straight talk—no double talk, no fudging, no ducking—she earned the trust of people who

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had forgotten how to trust. And that’s the incredible story of Mo Mowlam. Madame Secretary, that is why we honor you here this evening. Would you come forward.

READING THE AWARD INSCRIPTION: “The National Committee on American Foreign Policy presents the William J. Flynn (still sounds good, Mo) Initiative for Peace Award to Dr. Marjorie Mo Mowlam for the unorthodox diplomacy she effectively pursued as secretary of state for Northern Ireland in convincing both sides to accept the Good Friday Agreement. New York, New York, May 17, 2001.”

Congratulations.

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MARJORIE (MO) MOWLAM:

Thank you so much. I’m a bit overwhelmed. People have said such nice things. I almost feel as if I’m at home. It’s fantastic. I am very honored to be here. But I got a bit worried when I looked at the program: seven people; I thought it will be quarter to 11 before I get on, and I always worry about speaking that late on.

It is good to be back in New York. It really does feel as if I have a family here that I feel very much at home with. Thank you for all the support you’ve given in the years when, as you said, Bill, things weren’t always easy. And I am suffering tonight a bit, I have to admit. When I left London, I left all my colleagues campaigning hard in the election but decided that because of all the support I’ve had here, it would be the right thing to come. But they made me pay for it. Thirty-six hours ago, I did a full day of six towns in one day to make up for the day I would have to miss, and I’m going back at seven in the morning to make up for the rest. Sometimes it seems that once you start campaigning, it’s difficult to stop.

But I had the weekend off with my husband. He took me for a surprise visit to a little village in France to get a rest. As we walked down the village high street, I said, “Bonjour, bonjour,” over and over again. He finally said, “Will you bloody well stop that. They can’t vote for you.” Let me just say because people have been asking: I think the election back home is going quite well. As I’ve said, I’ve been on the street, so to speak, for the last week. And there’s no doubt that response on the street is fine. The polls are looking good. I’m confident but not complacent that we’ll win. I think the real key will be turnout, which will affect the final results, particularly among the young.

I’ve also been asked tonight what I’ve done since I left Northern Ireland. The one thing I’m doing at the moment is trying to improve joined-up government, which involves getting people to work across departments. They’ve given us the easy issues like genetically modified food, regulation, truancy, and poverty. I’ve got about eight or

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ten issues that are not easy to deal with. Departments tend to be quite territorial. If you think Northern Ireland’s difficult… That’s what I’m doing now.

I’m also doing drugs for the government. Let me make only one serious point about drugs because I don’t really want to talk about them tonight. I think the problem is much more serious and dangerous than governments—not particular governments, but governments across the world —are acknowledging. The problem is growing faster than any of us expected. I think we’re going to make a real difference in combating drugs only by cutting demand at home and only if we work across, not just join up with, different departments. Everyone—police, families, communities, governments, business—has got to work together to stop it. Otherwise, we’re not really going to make an impact. Similarly, with supply; unless we work internationally, we aren’t going to make progress of the kind that we need to make. We’ve got to start confiscating the assets. We’ve got to start dealing with the laundering of money. Because there are some big problems on that front, I think that unless we work internationally, we’re really not going to get to the bottom of it. I think that’s something that we, as politicians and people who have a voice that’s often heard in government, have to work on together. If not, I don’t think we’re going to get very far in any meaningful sense, and the destruction, not just to individuals but to families and communities as well, will continue to be very serious.

While I’m being serious, may I say thank you very much for the award. It is a tremendous honor to achieve it. (I didn’t realize I was the first non-American.) But having got my degree here and lived here for six years, I could be adopted, couldn’t I. May I, in accepting the award, accept it not just for myself but for everyone else who is involved in the search for peace in Northern Ireland. There are a lot of people who have worked hard to get to where we are now. Last time I was in New York, my security was with me. I still miss them a bit because I multiskilled them. They picked up the dry cleaning and did the shopping. When they took me shopping for a bit of retail therapy, they parked outside the shop and carried

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my basket. And there the car was waiting when I left the shop. It was a dream, but that’s now finished, and I enjoy the freedom of being able to go out for a walk. But it did take me time to adapt to their disappearance. There was the time, for instance, about four weeks ago, when I was standing in a retail shop, a large supermarket in London, and the lift didn’t come, and I realized that nobody had pressed the button.

I’m not usually very good at formal dos. I’m notvery good with the clothes either. I always feel a bit uncomfortable in them, which I think was best illustrated at a formal dinner in Belfast. John Hume came up to me halfway through the evening. He said, “Oh, what a relief; somebody else didn’t know it was formal.” Ah, and I’d got my best trousers on, my best top and a wrap, and I thought, here, I’ve done it. And I’ve been found out by John.

The search for peace in Northern Ireland continues with as much determination and courage and energy as when I was there as secretary of state. Let me give you a few indicators. I’m sure most of you know this, but I think it’s important to get the pluses down so that people can see the progress that has been made. It is slow, like pulling teeth. But when I went through my records recently, I saw that the quality of life has shifted considerably in terms of health service and education. And the day-to-day lives of people have really changed. Not that many of you will go clubbing in Belfast next time you go there, but the club scene has shifted considerably. Young people there are now acting in a way they never dared before.

On a more serious note, the government recently put more money into integrated education, into Irish language schools, and into health, and so the quality of people’s lives is improving. Police reform recommended by the Patten Commission, which everybody here knows is tough to deliver, will be achieved even though progress has been slow. Some indications of the progress they’ve made already in this area include the recruitment campaign

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that they’ve organized on a 50-50 basis. They’ve just closed the new application process in which 8,000 people, including a good mixture from both sides of the divide, applied to join the new police force. That is a very good first sign that progress can be made on a very importantaspect of the Good Friday Agreement. The Office of the Police Ombudsman opened on November 6 of last year.

Another important step was achieved with the appointment of the Oversight Commission. (Many people know its director, Tom Constantine, former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and chief of the New York State Police.) Two holding centers and forty-two military bases have been closed. Troop levels have been reduced to the lowest levels since before 1970.

I won’t go through all the rest, except to mention that the Bloody Sunday inquiry is still going on, and that’s a very important indicator of change. Sometimes we forget that the bottle is half full, as opposed to half empty, when progress is slow. The present secretary of state, John Reid, is working hard to move the process forward. I think he’ll do a good job.

We are facing another difficult moment. On May 8 David Trimble threatened to resign as first minister on July 1 if the IRA’s decommissioning has not begun. I think we need to keep it in perspective until after the elections at the beginning of June.

Elections are a destabilizing period. I’ll be doing my best not to give any headlines after tonight because I think the less everybody says, the better it will be in the run-up to the election. The two governments have set June as the date by which they believe substantial progress will be made to secure the full implementation of the agreement. That remains our objective. Intense activity is now taking place to try to deliver it.

I was secretary of state in Northern Ireland when the agreement was signed. As prime minister, Tony Blair was very committed to the process. He put a lot of time and

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energy into making progress as well.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget that last week and its all-night sessions as we worked up to the Good Friday Agreement. (I have to say my wig was rarely on my head during that week.) It was an incredible period. I believe, as one of the speakers said earlier, that the agreement has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. I believe that its precepts are as strong now as they were three years ago. The people support it, which is absolutely crucial. They understand that the path of peace is the only way forward.

Equally important, I think, is the understanding on the part of those who are opposed to it. They know they don’t have an alternative way forward, an important realization. What we must do now, after the agreement, is carry out the very difficult task of delivering it. I think in many ways delivery is as tough as reaching the agreement because it’s all very well to sit down and sign a bit of paper after weeks of discussion, but delivering it is very hard—particularly hard for people on both sides—for some who lost loved ones during the troubles and saw the killers of their sons, daughters, wives, and husbands walk free from prison.

It’s been hard too for those who’ve seen institutions that they’ve respected for years change. For everyone, the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement involves compromise of historic proportions. The magnitude of the change needed has resulted in much slower progress than that anticipated in the first blush of euphoria after the agreement was signed. A lot of important matters need to be resolved: policing, decommissioning, and the smooth running of the institutions. The latter, I think, will be a crucial point because it will give a structure for people to begin to function together.

You probably don’t see it on American TV, but occasionally on TV in Britain, we get segments of speeches made by individual ministers of Northern Ireland. Every time I’ve seen Martin McGuinness, who,

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I think, has been a very good education minister, talking like a civil servant, it’s scary.

What I think has had and will continue to have the most important impact is people working together. Such associations make it easier for bridges to be built. I think the present leaders have shown the kind of determination and courage that I didn’t believe some of them were up to. I think they’ve done well to get to where we are now, and I think that we wouldn’t have got anywhere close to where we are now without George Mitchell. His role as a negotiator and as a role model made the Good Friday Agreement happen. We must never forget that. He was absolutely crucial to progress. While we’re acknowledging that, I think there are many other people that we mustn’t forget—many folk who will never be mentioned on occasions like this, many people who almost gave their lives to get to where we are now. We should never forget them—Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, Quakers, and many others—when we’re celebrating the amount of progress that has been made. We must never forget the many people who’ve made a big difference but will never be given an award or never be recognized in any way for what they’ve done. Their incremental bits changed attitudes and made progress.

International support, which gives people confidence, was equally important. It makes people feel that what they are doing is important. Because people from outside the country are engaging with those involved inside the country, the interaction helps build the process. There are a lot of people in this room (you know who you are, and I know who you are) who helped tremendously. I can’t name everybody because we’d be here too long. But I’ll just say George, Bill, and Tom because they did make a difference, and they didn’t just make a difference in terms of what they did. They made a difference in terms of who they are. Once I met George and Bill and Tom and Loretta, I knew that they would be supportive, that they’d be in good spirits, that there would be a plus in talking to them, and that helped tremendously in some of the dark days.

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I’d also like to mention the work of Hillary and Bill because there is no doubt that they and other people in the administration gave a lot of time to make progress. They weren’t what I call fair-weather friends. Some people come whenever there’s a camera and whenever progress is being made. When it got tough, they came and talked, often late at night. They phoned people. They worked hard.

International support—from here, from South Africa, from Canada, from Europe—made quite a difference. Let me give you one example from Europe. There was a commissioner who was in charge of distributing 500 million from Europe. The money was important, but what was, I think, more important in the end, although I can’t prove it, was how she did it. She set up district partnerships in each district in Northern Ireland. On that partnership were representatives of everybody in that community: Sinn Fein, the DUP, the PUP, business, the voluntary sector— everyone who had a voice in the community. Those district partnerships held together through the two cease-fires. People participated in the partnerships because they knew if they took their feet from under the table, they wouldn’t get the money for their communities. That, I think, had an impact on the peace process. It’s difficult to measure, difficult to prove, but I think that in itself, like many other small things, made a diffference.

I think other related factors involved in achieving progress have been the kind of economic support that has been given and the kind of economic progress that has been made. Not many people think about this; they just focus on the peace talks. But it should be recognized that the violence grew in part out of deprivation and that social exclusion made it much worse. It was Reg Empey, I think, who said that the best peace dividend is a job. How many Northern Ireland politicians, particularly people like Seamus Mallon, David Trimble, Reg Empey, and, of course, John Hume, who did so much over the years to make it happen, came here looking for investment? Your generosity was greatly appreciated and, I think, made

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a difference. If people have a job, they are less likely to turn to violence—very simple but quite important. A good indicator of that, I think, is that unemployment is almost 20 percent lower than it was three years ago, before the Good Friday Agreement was signed, and since it was signed, 30 percent lower among the long-term unemployed. Those statistics say a lot to me. They tell me that among people who are getting back to work are the long-term unemployed from socially deprived areas who couldn’t get work in the past, before the agreement was signed. That is a good sign, for it tells me too that progress is being made at a different level. The other good indicator relates to the fact that more people are returning to Northern Ireland than are leaving. Those kinds of indicators, I think, say so much. They’re especially important because they’re about security. People feel secure enough to return home. People feel secure about their prospects of finding jobs. That means that their sense of the future is not just about jobs; it shows that there’s a sense that there’s a future—a promising future. I think one of the problems in the dark days was that people couldn’t see a future. Now with jobs coming back and people returning, there is hope for the future, which is crucial to the success of any political process like the peace talks.

As an aside, I think hope for the future is equally important in politics. I think one of the difficulties that politicians are having now is the absence of a vision of the future. I think it’s a universal problem. We don’t give people, particularly the young, enough hope about the future to make it worthwhile to vote, and that’s why economics is also important.

Let me finally address what I often get asked, and that is, what lessons are there in Northern Ireland for other conflicts around the world. Let me say, first, I’m pretty sure that the conflict is not over yet. Attitudes don’t change that quickly. You don’t deal with bigotry and prejudice overnight; you don’t deal with it in years; and so I think there’s still a way to go. But I do think that we should acknowledge that progress has been made and

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that the efforts continue. I’m confident that they’ll keep occurring. I think too that it’s dangerous to assume that lessons can be learned and transferred from one conflict to another. All conflicts have their unique aspects. I think the danger involved is the likelihood of misunderstanding the second conflict.

Were I to give you a checklist, here are the things that I think made a difference in Northern Ireland. First, cooperating with other partners, and I don’t mean only the partners in the talks. The fact that the British and the Irish got on, I think, was crucial. Then when America became a bigger player, it was important, I think, that all three of the leaders got on. Because if any of the parties had wanted to divide and rule, they could have done so. Their spirit of cooperation was, I think, an important part of the equation. Equally important, as I’ve said already, was outside support.

The next thing I’d mention is confidence. Confidence is crucial to making progress, but confidence doesn’t come easily. Confidence comes if you can make changes stick and work. Confidence comes when people think something is worth participating in. But if you try to make changes too quickly, if you misjudge them, then the process gets into difficulty. So confidence, which is crucial to making progress, involves a difficult balancing act.

I think taking risks is important. But you need to make a balanced judgment. I think you also need to make the process inclusive because if you leave people out, it won’t work.

Also, you have to take care of the little people. The Women’s Coalition was quite small, but the group made an enormous difference because it didn’t have the investment in the past that other politicians had.

I think you also need to get progress not just in the economy but in other aspects of society so that the quality of people’s lives picks up and they believe it’s worth investing in the process.

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Momemtum is crucial too. You need to get momemtum in the process so that people can see that it’s worth hanging in. You need to be very careful about timing. If you mistime something, you can lose the initiative.

The last one I’d mention is gut instinct. You have to use your gut a lot in negotiations. The only lesson I learned was there’s nothing tangible when you say that. But you never close a door, you never burn your bridges, you keep every option open until you make enough progress to say okay, we’ll take this road. Gut instinct is important.

I think the final lesson I learned is to go with the gut instinct of the people because finally it’s their problem, their decision, their country, their choice. If you keep in touch with the people (and we made a great effort to do so), you get a feel for what’s possible. There’s no point in doing it if the people aren’t going to support and continue it. Politicians make decisions in a void. You’ve got to make sure that the people are brought in too. If you do that, as I think in the end we managed to do, it will make a difference. In approving the Good Friday Agreement in the referendum, the people made it their decision, the people bought into it. I think that’s what’s given strength to the peace process since the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated. Politicians are very wary of breaking progress because it will be on their necks. That, I think, helps make progress. Let me say that I think progress will continue.

There will always be violence at the edges. But I think that the building blocks are in place because the people are behind it. I’m quite confident that it will still happen. But I think people have to remember their history. You must never forget your roots, never forget your history. But you shouldn’t live in it. You have to look forward and not backward and to beginning to trust one another, which is what will make the difference. With trust comes confidence, and the bottom line is confidence, confidence, confidence.

Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for this honor. It is the greatest honor I’ve had, and I’m very

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moved by it. Many thanks to you, and thank you to the Committee for letting me, as a non-American, receive it.

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MORGENTHAU AWARD RECIPIENTSHonorable Angier Biddle Duke David RockefellerHonorable Sol Linowitz Honorable James A. Baker, IIIHonorable Henry A. Kissinger Right Honorable Margaret ThatcherHonorable Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Honorable Thomas R. PickeringHonorable George P. Shultz His Majesty King Hussein

NAtioNAl Committee oNAmeriCAN ForeigN PoliCy, iNC.

FOUNDER – DR. HANS J. MORGENTHAU

KENNAN AWARD RECIPIENTSHonorable George F. Kennan

Honorable Cyrus R. VanceHonorable Paul A. Volcker

Honorable Richard C. Holbrooke

INITIATIVE FOR PEACE AWARD RECIPIENTSWilliam J. Flynn

Honorable George J. Mitchell

THE (Renamed) WILLIAM J. FLYNN INITIATIVE FOR PEACE AWARD RECIPIENTRight Honorable Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, M.P.

OFFICERS 2001Honorable George F. Kennan–Honorary Chairman

William J. Flynn–ChairmanDr. George D. Schwab–President

William M. Rudolf–Executive Vice PresidentDonald S. Rice, Esq.–Senior Vice President

Dr. Eve Epstein–Vice PresidentHonorable Francis L. Kellogg–Treasurer

William Pickens III–Secretary

TRUSTEES*Professor Howard L. Adelson *Sandy Frank *Joan Peters*Kenneth J. Bialkin, Esq. Dr. Susan A. Gitelson *Honorable Maxwell RabbGeneral Wesley K. Clark, USA (Ret.) Judith Hernstadt Mona SchlachterJohn V. Connorton, Jr., Esq. *Honorable Fereydoun Hoveyda Jacob Stein*Professor Michael Curtis *Richard R. Howe, Esq. Grace Kennan Warnecke*Viola Drath *Dr. Patricia S. Huntington Honorable Leon J. WeilAnthony Drexel Duke *Thomas J. Moran Professor Donald S. Zagoria*Executive Committee

BOARD OF ADVISERSDr. Giuseppe Ammendola Professor George E. Gruen Professor Arthur M. Schlesinger, jr.Professor Kenneth J. Arrow Honorable Roger Hilsman Dr. Ronald J. SheppardSaul Bellow Honorable Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Professor S. Fred SingerProfessor Bernard E. Brown Professor F. H. Littell Honorable Nancy SoderbergProfessor Ralph Buultjens Professor Richard Pipes Dr. Arnold SolowayHonorable Harlan Cleveland Dr. Carol Rittner Renate Bohne von BoyensHonorable Seymour M. Finger Professor Henry Rosovsky

NATIONAL COMMITTEE ONAMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, INC.

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