Hume did not complete his clerical studies but did obtain an M.A. degree in French and history from the college in 1958, and then returned home to his native Derry, where he became a teacher at his Alma mater, St Columb's College. He was a founding member of the Credit Union movement in the city and was chair of the University for Derry Committee in 1965, an unsuccessful fight to have Northern Ireland's second university established in Derry in the mid-1960s.[10]
Hume became the youngest ever President of the Irish League of Credit Unions at age 27. He served in the role from 1964 to 1968. He once said that "all the things I've been doing, it's the thing I'm proudest of because no movement has done more good for the people of Ireland, north and south, than the credit union movement."[11]
Hume became a leading figure in the civil rights movement in the late 1960s along with people such as Hugh Logue.[12] Hume was a prominent figure in the Derry Citizens' Action Committee. The DCAC was set up in the wake of 5 October 1968 march through Derry which had caused much attention to be drawn towards the situation in Northern Ireland. The purpose of the DCAC was to make use of the publicity surrounding recent events to bring to light grievances in Derry that had been suppressed by the Unionist Government for years. The DCAC, unlike Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), was aimed specifically at a local campaign, improving the situation in Derry for everyone, and maintaining a peaceful stance.[13] The committee also had a Stewards Association that was there to prevent any violence at marches or sit-downs.[14]
In October 1971 he joined four Westminster MPs in a 48-hour hunger strike to protest at the internment without trial of hundreds of suspected Irish republicans. State papers that have been released under the 30 year rule that an Irish diplomat eight years later in 1979 believed Hume supported the return of internment.[17]
Hume was directly involved in secret talks with the British government and Sinn Féin, in an effort to bring Sinn Féin to the discussion table openly. The talks are speculated[21] to have led directly to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.[22]
The vast majority of unionists rejected the agreement and staged a massive and peaceful public rally in Belfast City Centre to demonstrate their distaste. Many Republicans and nationalists also rejected it, as they had seen it as not going far enough.[23] Hume, however, continued dialogue with both governments and Sinn Féin. The "Hume–Adams process" eventually delivered the 1994 IRA ceasefire which ultimately provided the relatively peaceful backdrop against which the Good Friday agreement was brokered.[22]
When Trimble became First Minister, it was expected that Hume would take the role of Deputy First Minister, being the leader of the second largest party, the SDLP. Instead, this role was handed to Séamus Mallon, also of the SDLP. Some political journalists cited a bad working relationship between Hume and Trimble, despite the two men collecting the Nobel Prize together.
On his retirement from the SDLP leadership in 2001, Hume was praised across the political divide, even by his long-time opponent, fellow MP and MEP, the Rev. Ian Paisley.[25][failed verification] Hume held the Tip O'Neill Chair in Peace Studies at the University of Ulster, currently funded by The Ireland Funds.[26]
In 1960, Hume married Patricia "Pat" Hone (22 February 1938 – 2 September 2021), a primary school teacher, whom he had first met two years earlier at a dancehall in Muff, County Donegal. The couple had five children - Thérèse, Áine, Aidan, John and Mo - as well as 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.[35]
In 2015, Hume was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, of which he had first displayed symptoms in the late 1990s.[36] Hume died in the early hours of 3 August 2020 at a nursing home in Derry, at the age of 83.[37] On his death, former Labour leader and prime minister Tony Blair said: "John Hume was a political titan; a visionary who refused to believe the future had to be the same as the past."[38] The Dalai Lama said on Twitter: "John Hume's deep conviction in the power of dialogue and negotiations to resolve conflict was unwavering... It was his leadership and his faith in the power of negotiations that enabled the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to be reached. His steady persistence set an example for us all to follow."[39]
Denis Haughey and Sean Farren, 'John Hume: Irish Peacemaker,' Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2015 ISBN978-1846825866
John Hume, 'Personal views, politics, peace and reconciliation in Ireland,' Town House, Dublin, 1996. ISBN978-1570981104
John Hume, ‘Derry beyond the walls: social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry,' Ulster Historical foundation, Belfast, 2002. ISBN978-1903688243
Barry White, 'John Hume: a statesman of the troubles,' Blackstaff, Belfast, 1984 ISBN978-0856403170
George Drower, 'John Hume: peacemaker,' Gollancz, 1995 ISBN978-0575062177
George Drower, 'John Hume: man of peace,' Vista, London, 1996 ISBN978-0575600843
Paul Routledge, 'John Hume: a biography,' Harper-Collins, London, 1997 ISBN978-0006387398
Gerard Murray, 'John Hume and the SDLP: impact and survival in Northern Ireland,' Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1998. ISBN978-0716526445
"Over the years, the barriers of the past—the distrust and prejudices of the past—will be eroded, and a new society will evolve, a new Ireland based on agreement and respect for difference."[55]
"I thought that I had a duty to help those that weren't as lucky as me."[56]
^"In Pictures: John Hume is laid to rest in his hometown of Derry". The Irish Independent. 7 August 2020. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020. Patricia Hume speaks to mourners outside St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry ahead of the funeral of her husband John Hume.
^Seamus Mallon (20 November 2017). "It was John Hume, not Sinn Féin, who steered Northern Ireland to peace". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017. Ireland is not a romantic dream; it is not a flag; it is 4.5 million people divided into two powerful traditions. The solution will be found not on the basis of victory for either, but on the basis of agreement and a partnership between both. The real division of Ireland is not a line drawn on the map but in the minds and hearts of its people. – John Hume
