Archival Collections Related to Northern Ireland

This page summarizes Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Cases and Mandatory Declassification Reviews that are responsive to the topic of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. 

Digitized Collections:

In commemoration fo the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Musem has recently released declassified documents concerning the peace process in Northern Ireland.

See recently released declassified documents

2006-0217-F: Memcons, Telcons, and Correspondence Related to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in National Security Council (NSC) Files: British Labour Party leader Tony Blair was selected to be Prime Minister following the general elections in 1997. Blair and Bill Clinton quickly became close allies and achieving peace in Northern Ireland became one of Blair’s more important concerns. These Memorandum of Conversation (memcons) and Memorandum of Telephone Conversation (telcons) cover a wide variety of topics. The collection also includes materials related to Blair’s visit to the United States, briefing materials, speeches, press releases, and administrative records. Materials that have been declassified from this collection are included in 2013-0472-M and 2013-0804-M listed in the declassified records section below. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair

2006-0459-F: Antony Blinken's NSC Speechwriting Files: This collection consists of Antony Blinken’s files from the National Security Council (NSC), Speechwriting Directorate. Blinken served as the chief foreign policy speechwriter in the NSC Speechwriting Directorate from 1994-1998. His materials contain background material, drafts and “final, as delivered” speeches. The speechwriting topics cover a variety of subjects: foreign trips or head of state visits; United National General Assembly addresses; speeches before domestic and international groups; memorials, commencements or holidays; State of the Union or weekly radio addresses; and editorials, book chapters or magazine articles. As an NSC speechwriter, Blinken produced speeches on major foreign policy actions during the Clinton Administration including Northern Ireland. View all items in the “Antony Blinken” Collection.

2006-0471-F: Ted Widmer's NSC Speechwriting Files: This collection consists of the speechwriting files of Edward (“Ted”) Widmer. Widmer served as Speechwriter (mainly on foreign policy) to President Clinton from 1997-2000. He composed remarks for subjects dealing with such countries as China, Russia, Senegal, Argentina, Northern Ireland, Venezuela, Turkey, Mexico, and Great Britain. The records in this collection include speech drafts, memoranda, reports, papers, handwritten notes, background materials, and schedules. Widmer’s scrawl can be found on napkins, note cards, and the back of other documents; extensive revisions by President Clinton are sprinkled throughout the material. View all all items in the “Ted Widmer Collection

2006-1759-F : Records Concerning the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Peace Process: Having been plagued by generations of civil strife and political unrest, in the 1990’s unionist and republicans in Northern Ireland seemingly became more aware that their goals could never be achieved through violence. It was with this backdrop in place that President Clinton served as a catalyst for the peace process. Records related to this FOIA request are concerned with the role of the Clinton Administration in the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement and the continuing peace process thereafter in Northern Ireland. The records processed in this FOIA request 2006-1759-F consist of cables and emails from the file of the National Security Council (NSC). The bulk of these cables and emails contain press guidance, press releases, foreign media  reaction, and updates from the Department of State regarding developments in the peace process. Materials that have been declassified from this collection are included in 2015-0156-M listed in the declassified records section below. View all items in the "Good Friday Agreement" Collection

2006-1854-S Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in London: This collection consists of records concerning visits by President William J. Clinton to Winfield House. Since 1955, the Winfield House has been the official residence of the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James.  During his presidency, President Clinton visited the residence three times: November 1995 and May 1997 and 1998. 2006-1854-S contains materials from several White House staff offices and individuals, the majority being the National Security Council (NSC) Press Office directorate, from 1995-1997. The collection contains press releases, press pool reports, speeches, trip planning information, daily schedules, public remarks, memos, correspondence, and administrative paperwork. View all items in the Winfield House Collection

2006-1990-FAny and all textual and electronic records from the White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) related to the Irish Peace Process: This collection consists of records related to the Irish Peace Process. The collection contains correspondence from Congress and the public, memoranda, cables, and speeches related to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. The collection also contains emails, which include press guidance, scheduling issues, draft correspondence responses, drafts of the 1998 National Security Strategy Report, and discussions President’s and First Lady’s trips to Ireland and Northern Ireland in 1995 and 1998. View all items in the "Northern Ireland Peace Process" Collection

2009-0572-F : Northern Ireland Peace Process Correspondence: Achieving peace in Northern Ireland could not have been successful without the work of Taoisigh Albert Reynolds, John Bruton, and Bertie Ahern. It also could not have been completed without the participation of Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein. This collection consists of correspondence between the President and those involved in the peace process including: Gerry Adams, Reynolds, Bruton, Ahern, John Hume, David Trimble and others. View all items in the "Northern Ireland Peace Process Correspondence" Collection

2011-0355-FNancy Soderberg’s Records on the Northern Ireland Peace Process: Nancy Soderberg came to the White House with a deep understanding of American foreign policy  having served as an advisor for Senator Edward Kennedy and as the foreign policy advisor for the Clinton/Gore campaign in the 1992 election. Clinton appointed Soderberg Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In this role Soderberg served as President Clinton’s key advisor on Northern Ireland during the first term. This FOIA contains records dealing with the Northern Ireland peace process from the files of Nancy Soderberg, Office of the Staff Director, National Security Council. View all items in the "Nancy Soderberg's Files concerning the Northern Ireland Peace Process" Collection

2016-0402-FEnniskillen, Northern Ireland: Enniskillen is a city in southwestern Northern Ireland; in County Fermanagh. This region was often affected by “The Troubles” and a bombing in 1995 threatened to derail ceasefire negotiations. President Clinton often mentioned in relation to events in Northern Ireland that his family was of Irish descent and traced his mother’s family to County Fermanagh. This collection contains emails, press clippings, correspondence to and from residents in County Fermanagh. It also includes drafts of speeches, speeches, media reports, press guidance, and memos. View all items in the Enniskillen or County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland Collection

2017-0759-F: President's 1995 Trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland: This collection consists of records regarding the President and First Lady’s trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland from November 29, 1995 to December 2, 1995. It contains the advance planning materials for the trip, including delegation lists, briefing materials, press materials, and speech drafts. View all digitized documents from this collection on the National Archives Catalog

2017-0615-FRecords relating to the work of the Office of Scheduling and Advance for President Clinton’s trip to Northern Ireland in September 1998: Freedom of Information Act Request 2017-0615-F was for all records related to the work of the Office of Scheduling and Advance in preparing for President Clinton’s trip to Northern Ireland in September of 1998. The Office of Scheduling and Advance is responsible for the organization, planning, and execution of the President's schedules for all his meetings, trips and events. This collection contains annotated speeches that President Clinton gave to the people of Omagh and Armagh, his remarks at the Springvale Educational Village in West Belfast, Northern Ireland and his address to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Waterfront Hall, Belfast. The Staff and Office records contain correspondence, memos, emails, schedules, lists and trip books. The trip books contain presidential schedules, lists of the advance teams, lists of staff and advance team contacts for each location, lists of official delegations for each location, and scenarios for each event. View all digitized records from this collection of the National Archives Catalog

Mandatory Declassification Review Requests:

View all declassified records concerning Northern Ireland

2009-0816-M: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains records related to specific meetings between President Clinton and British Labour leader, later Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Included are records related to meetings on April 12, 1996, May 29, 1997, and February 5, 1998. View Declassified Documents concerning Meetings between President Clinton and Tony Blair

2012-0600-M: Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair: “If we don’t have some move by you and Trimble today or tomorrow, this thing could unravel over the weekend,” said President Clinton to Prime Minister Blair in a telephone conversation on February 11, 2000. While still heavily redacted these memcons and telcons give a fascinating look into the Northern Ireland peace process. This Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) contains conversations (memcons and telcons) between President Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, from 1997 through 2000. Many of the conversations are on Northern Ireland but also include trade, Iraq, Kosovo, and babysitting. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair

2012-0801-M: Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains material on memcons, telcons, and related correspondence concerning British Prime Minister John Major. Materials include 1995 memcons and telcons between the President and Major, as well as briefing documents related to those conversations, which primarily focus on Bosnia and Northern Ireland. Telcons from the President's conversations with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac are also included. This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-0215-F, listed below. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister John Major

2013-0449-M: Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister John Major: A second MDR for materials in 2006-0215-F; this Mandatory Declassification Review request (MDR) contains material on memcons, telcons, and correspondence related to British Prime Minister John Major. Materials include background and briefing materials for meetings and conversations with Prime Minister Major covering topics of mutual interest such as Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams Visa, tariffs, trade and economics, Bosnia, and terrorism. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister John Major

2013-0472-M: Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains material on Tony Blair, specifically on President Clinton's meetings and correspondence with the Prime Minister from 1997 through 2000. This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-0217-F, listed above. Material includes memos, letters, and talking points on a variety of topics, including Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and the European Union Summit. Telcons between President Clinton and various heads of state, including French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, are included. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair

2013-0804-M: Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair: This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-0217-F, listed above. For researchers of Northern Ireland this is beneficial in having talking points and background papers declassified. While this  collection contains materials on NATO enlargement, Bosnia, terrorism, and trade; it also includes memcons with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, French President Jacques Chirac, and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. View Declassified Documents Concerning British Prime Minister Tony Blair

2015-0156-M: Declassified Documents on Northern Ireland: This small release is of formerly classified biographies of several of the major players in the Northern Ireland peace process. It’s an interesting collection of declassified biographies. This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-1759-F, listed above. View Declassified Documents Concerning Northern Ireland

2015-0157-M: Declassified Documents Concerning the Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland Peace Process: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains memoranda, talking points, briefing papers, letters, notes, and cables regarding the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland peace process. Also included are memoranda of conversation (memcons) between President Clinton and Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, and David Trimble, First Minister, Northern Ireland. View Declassified Documents Concerning the Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland Peace Process

2015-0158-M: Declassified Documents on Northern Ireland: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains material on Northern Ireland and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Material includes cables on domestic terrorism in the United Kingdom. This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-1759-F, listed above. View Declassified Documents Concerning Northern Ireland

2015-0159-M: Declassified Documents on Northern Ireland: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains material on the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Materials include emails transmitting a tasking memorandum for the President's meeting with Irish Prime Minister Bruton. This Mandatory Declassification Review contains material on Northern Ireland and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Material includes an intelligence cable regarding a domestic terror attack in the United Kingdom. This MDR was for closed materials from 2006-1759-F, listed above. View Declassified Documents Concerning Northern Ireland

2016-0375-M: Declassified Documents Concerning the Northern Ireland Peace Process: This Mandatory Declassification Review contains memoranda of telephone conversation (telcons) between President Clinton and Irish officials involved in the negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland. Included are telcons with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams, Ulster Unionist Party Leader David Trimble, and Social Democratic and Labour Party Leader John Hume. View Declassified Documents Concerning the Northern Ireland Peace Process

Collections Awaiting Digitization:

2006-0215-F : John Major: This collection consists of records concerning John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997. The records include telcons, memcons, cables, letters and memorandums. The topics covered include Radio/TV Marti, Haitian Radio Support Projects, Balkans Public Diplomacy Group, Peace in the Middle East, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the economy, the G-7 Summit, Northern Ireland Peace Agreement, and the START treaties. There is also information regarding appointments, requests for foreign travel, and delegates for Presidential trips. Please Note: This collection has not yet been scanned nor made available online