Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentleman from Pennsylvania, both friends of ours, for their words. On this very important day, St. Patrick's Day, we are acknowledging a very important anniversary. Anybody who knows much about Irish history knows that anniversaries are very important. The acknowledgment of certain events that occurred throughout the sometimes perilous history of this small country of 6 million people, north and south, are reminded of just how grim Bloody Sunday was. I knew those families. I recall when the former Prime Minister of the U.K., David Cameron, acknowledged years after in a public statement, in a speech that he made on the floor of the House of Commons, the then- Prime Minister acknowledged that Bloody Sunday had victimized innocent bystanders. For a long time, the argument had been made that these were paramilitaries on both sides. It was only the test of history that fully acknowledged the truth of what happened on that day. Their civil rights movement in the north was modeled, in some measure, upon the civil rights movement here in America. I knew John Hume very well. He was a great man at a great moment. I have known Gerry Adams and others who participated in these very difficult events. But out of this tumultuous time came something else, and that was the Good Friday Agreement. We are now coming upon the 25th anniversary of that agreement. America is a guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.…”