American Officials and Politicians

United States President Ronald Reagan

"We deeply regret Mr. Sands' death. We hope that the hunger strike by three other inmates at the Maze Prison will not end in similar tragic fashion. The President [Ronald Reagan] has expressed his deep concern about the tragic situation in Northern Ireland, the increasing violence in recent days, and the hunger strike."
     U.S. State Department spokesman
     Chicago Tribune, 5 May 1981, 1-14

"The fact is that Margaret Thatcher - who had the power to keep him alive, to let him wear his own clothes and to receive a letter a day in prison- permitted this man to die...She has destroyed any claim she may have to moral leadership by that outrageous act."
     Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
     Washington Post, 6 May 1981, A-36

"We must not yield to terrorism, but we also must not yield to intransigence that can only fan the flames of greater terrorism...I urge the British government...to end its posture of inflexibility and to implement reasonable reforms capable of achieving a humanitarian settlement of the other hunger strikes so that the tragedy of Bobby Sands in not repeated."
     Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass)
     Washington Post, 6 May 1981, A-36

"We hear so much confusion about the situation in Northern Ireland. [British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher is quoted as saying Bobby Sands didn't give others a chance to choose their own way to die. But Sands was never accused of killing anyone. He was convicted of possession of a gun, convicted without a jury under a system of law condemned by Amnesty International."
     Massachusetts Senate President William M. Bulger
     Boston Globe, 10 May 1981, 14

"I deeply regret that the British government has let Bobby Sands bring his hunger strike to its bitter conclusion. The present lack of any political initiative by the British government is a recipe for disaster that is heightening the appeal of extremists on both sides."
     New York Governor Hugh Carey
     Irish Echo, 16 May 1981, 3

AIA Dig. ID 0011PL02

"Sen. Edward M. Kennedy yesterday introduced a resolution in the Senate calling on President Ronald Reagan to 'express to the prime minister of Great Britain the concern of the American people for an immediate end to the hunger strike and a lasting settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland.'"
     "Kennedy urges 'flexibility'"
      Boston Globe, 11 June 1981, 28

"The death today of the sixth Irish hunger striker, Martin Hurson, deeply concerns me. It very likely could have been avoided if the British government had been willing to pursue negotiations with the hunger-strikers in a reasonable and sincere fashion."
     Thomas P. O'Neill, Speaker of the House of
     Representatives
     Boston Globe, 14 July 1981, 3

"I again appeal to President Reagan to use his influence with Mrs. Thatcher to try and convince her to abandon her government's policy of intransigence. Already, ten men have died and the longer the strike continues, the harder it will be to achieve a final solution."
     Representative Mario Biaggi
     Irish Echo, 29 August 1981, 1