Newly declassified documents have revealed White House concerns over a potential photo of Bill Clinton shaking hands with Gerry Adams during his landmark visit to Belfast in 1995.
The papers, released annually by the National Archives in Dublin, detail extensive diplomatic efforts between Irish and American officials to meticulously plan the Clintons’ trip to the island of Ireland.
Among the discussions were considerations on whether the presidential couple should stay overnight in Northern Ireland. In addition, a genealogy expert’s research, commissioned as part of the preparations, dismissed suggestions of Mr Clinton’s Co Fermanagh ancestry as “fantasy,” although it acknowledged possible roots elsewhere in Ulster.
The Clintons’ itinerary saw them visit Northern Ireland before traveling to Dublin, with a reception scheduled for November 30 at Whitla Hall, Queen’s University in Belfast.
Bill Clinton shakes hands with the public at Shankhill Road during his visit in 1995 (Adam Butler/PA)
A letter from the Irish joint secretary of the Anglo-Irish Secretariat, David Donoghue, sent to Sean O hUiginn in the Anglo-Irish Division, said that “the Americans” originally wanted to hold the reception and “limit” it to 120 people.
He said that the British side “insisted” that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, should host it, which was agreed, and the guest list was extended to 300 people.
“The apparent intention is to enable the president to meet a wider range of people in Northern Ireland” he wrote on 28 November 1995.
“The real purpose, of course, is to de-emphasize the political nature of the occasion and to create a wider ‘community’ event which, the British reckon, will make it easier for unionists to attend alongside Sinn Fein.”
Mr Donoghue said the representatives form “pods” at the reception – “a UUP pod, an Alliance pod etc” – determined on a “pro rata basis in light of respective electoral strengths”.
“In other words, each will form a distinct group of people to whom the president will be introduced in turn (along the lines of Buckingham Palace receptions).”
He also said that Peter Bell, from the Northern Ireland Office, had indicated “the Americans prefer to avoid a photo of a handshake between the president and Adams”.
Bill Clinton gave a speech in Dublin during the trip (John Giles/PA)
He also said that while one-on-one meetings were planned with John Hume in Derry and David Trimble on a car trip after the reception in Queens, there was a “general reluctance of the United States” to meet one-on-one with Adams, Ian Paisley, or John Alderdice.
“The general assumption, however, is that the president will set aside relevant individuals for separate private conversations on the sidelines of the reception.”
The two men held hands for the first time in March of that year at the White House, as part of the events held to mark St. Patrick’s Day – but after photographers had left the room.
Mr. Clinton was reportedly pressured at the time by then British Prime Minister John Major not to give Mr. Adams a warm hug during the meal, according to the New York Times.
On the morning of November 30, before the reception in Belfast that evening, Mr Clinton met Mr Adams in the Falls Road in Belfast.
As he left his car he stopped to shake Mr Adams’ hand – a moment captured by an official White House photographer.
Mr. Clinton would later say about the handshake that it was a “big deal” and at the time he felt that “the pavement was going to open”.
Plans for Clinton’s visit to Dublin, from 1 to 2 December 1995, show that a US embassy official estimated there was a “50/50” chance that the visit would go ahead.
An Irish genealogy expert also said claims that Clinton had Cassidy ancestors, who were from Co Fermanagh, were “largely based on fantasy” – but the White House still wanted aspects of Cassidy to be added to the visit.
Mr. Clinton was said to have Irish ancestry through his mother, Virginia Cassidy.
Genealogist Sean Murphy, from Bray, Co Wicklow, undertook the task of tracing Bill Clinton’s Irish ancestry following “dissemination in the media of claims concerning the president’s Irish ancestry which proved to be baseless, but were not allowed to be contradicted by any authoritative source”.
He told the office of the taoiseach that the first trace of the maternal ancestors of the president of this line is “probably” Zachariah Cassidy, born in about 1750-60 in South Carolina, and his son Levi.
“The Cassidy ‘clan’ claim that the first ancestor was Luke or Lucas Cassidy of Roslea, Co Fermanagh, seems to be based largely on fantasy,” he wrote on 16 October.
“The biblical names Zechariah and Levi suggest Protestant, and probably Presbyterian or Dissenter, as opposed to Catholic origin, and it is reasonable to speculate that the Cassidys were most likely to have emigrated to America from Ulster county.”
In notes of a meeting with the US embassy held three days later, Irish officials said a planned stop in Lismore, Co Fermanagh, was on hold, but the White House was “still interested in using the Cassidy connection in a low-key way”.
They said that this could mean “‘casually’ passing by a Cassidy building”.
Mr Clinton would continue to visit Cassidy’s Bar in Dublin for an hour during the 1995 trip.
This article is based on documents contained in the file labeled 2025/115/827 at the National Archives of Ireland.