Gerard "Gerry" Adams (born 6 October 1948) was leader of Sinn Fein from 13 November 1983 to 10 February 2018, succeeding Rory O'Brady and preceding Mary Lou McDonald. Adams was an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process during the late 1980s and 1990s, and his tenure as Sinn Fein leader saw the The Troubles come to an end with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Adams has been accused of being a member of the IRA Army Council during the era, with the government of Ireland calling for him to be honest about his past.
Biography[]
Irish republican activist[]
Adams in a BBC interview, 2001
Gerald Adams was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 6 October 1948, coming from a staunchly Irish republican family. Adams joined NICRA in 1967 and became involved with rioting before joining the Irish republican movement. Adams was imprisoned on HMS Maidstone alongside Joe McDonnell in 1972, and he was said to have been a Provisional IRA leader, perhaps even a member of the IRA Army Council. In 1983, he was elected President of Sinn Fein, and he was elected to the House of Commons, the first Sinn Fein MP since the 1950s.
Leader of Sinn Fein[]
Adams inviting people to join Sinn Fein after the 2017 NIA elections
Adams revitalized the party, which became a major opposition party in both Ireland and Northern Ireland as a result of the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Adams attempted to negotiate with Social Democratic and Labor Party leader John Hume to find common ground during The Troubles, but Hume refused to join in Sinn Fein's violent struggle, while Sinn Fein refused to cease its armed campaign against Ulster unionists and the United Kingdom. On 14 March 1984, he was wounded in an Ulster Defense Association assassination attempt. In 1988, he again survived an assassination attempt when Michael Stone tried to shoot him with a sniper rifle in the Milltown Cemetery attack. From 1988 to 1994, he was prohibited from speaking on British radio, and he was also banned from entering the United States until President Bill Clinton lifted the ban.
In 1998, Adams managed to meet with the British government and sign the Good Friday Agreement, which led to the Sinn Fein and Democratic Unionist Party sharing power in the reconvened Northern Ireland Assembly. In 2005, he ensured that the IRA ended its armed campaign, and Sinn Fein focused on democratic politics in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, becoming the third-largest party in Ireland and the second-largest in Northern Ireland by 2017. In 2018, he finally retired from politics, and Mary Lou McDonald succeeded him as Sinn Fein leader.