SF blaze trail across US
Since Martin McGuinness arrived in the US 14 days ago the Sinn
Fein presence in America has not let up. At present the party's
two main information officers, Rita O'Hare and Richard McAuley,
are in the US.
Gerry Kelly, one of the party's senior negotiators with the
British, has just returned from a four day trip where he spoke at
the annual Testimonial Dinner of Noraid in New York on Friday 21
November.
During his four day trip Kelly meet senior American and Irish
American political figures and newspaper editors in New York.
``What impressed me,'' said Kelly, ``was the extent of the knowledge
the Americans have of the situation in the North''.
During Martin McGuinness's trip he attended and spoke at the
prestigious American Irish dinner in Boston hosted by the Dunphy
family on Thursday 13 November.
British Direct Ruler Mowlam also attended the dinner, although
she wasn't invited to speak.
McGuinness also met with the editorial board of the Boston Globe
before delivering the John F Kennedy speech to a packed audience
at Harvard University, despite heavy snowstorms.
The Sinn Fein negotiator also delivered speeches at the McCormack
Institute of the University of Massachusetts, where he was warmly
greeted by Tom O'Neill, son of former speaker of the American
Congress.
Among those attending the talk was the British Consul whose ``chin
hit the ground,'' according to one of McGuinness's aides when
William Bolger, a former Senator for Massachusetts, presented
McGuinness with a cheque for the party.
``I'm leading by example,'' claimed Bolger.
A $20 a plate dinner in the Dorchester Hotel had an audience of
450 people and a question and answer session created a good
rapport with the audience.
Sinn Féin's US representative Mairead Keane told An Phoblacht,
``the significant point about this trip is that when Martin
McGuinness attended a function that Marjorie Mowlam attended she
ended up answering points made by McGuinness. Effectively he was
setting the agenda and she was on the defensive.
``Mowlam found that she couldn't come to the States and waffle,
she was on the spot over Bloody Sunday and the marching issue.
Irish Americans and Americans in general are a lot more clued in
than what the British give them credit for. It was a good trip,''
she said.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)