She ruffled feathers, broke rules and brushed aside diplomatic niceties. She was reprimanded by Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher for removing two senior staff members who disagreed with her views. She visited Northern Ireland, a British province and not her turf, and met repeatedly with Gerry Adams, the head of the I.R.A.’s political wing, Sinn Fein, though American policy then forbade it.
While many officials in London and the U.S. State Department believed she was exceeding her authority and regarded Mr. Adams as a terrorist mouthpiece, Ms. Smith helped clear the way for a visa that let him go to the United States to make his case for a cease-fire and British withdrawal from Ulster.
Almost overnight, he became a popular son of Ireland in America. Six months later, on Aug. 31, 1994, a cease-fire was declared. At the behest of Ms. Smith, Senator Kennedy and others, Mr. Clinton met with Mr. Adams at the White House in 1995, granting a measure of respectability to Sinn Fein.
When the cease-fire broke down in 1996 over the continued exclusion of Sinn Fein from the peace talks, Ms. Smith summoned Joe Cahill, the I.R.A. leader, and upbraided him. Sinn Fein was finally admitted to the talks, and the cease-fire was restored in 1997. Negotiations led by former Senator George J. Mitchell produced the Belfast Agreement in April 1998.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/politics/jean-kennedy-smith-dead.html
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