Trina Vargo

Last updated

Trina Y. Vargo is the founder and President of the US-Ireland Alliance, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating Americans about Ireland and strengthening the relationship on the basis of education, culture and business. [1] Vargo created the organization in 1998. [2] In that capacity, she created the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program, recognized as one of the most prestigious scholarships for study abroad for young Americans. [3] She also created an annual event in Hollywood, the Oscar Wilde Awards, that celebrates the contributions of the Irish in film and entertainment. [4] [5]

From 1987 through April 1998, Vargo served as a Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) in Washington D.C. During her years with Senator Kennedy, she worked directly with political leaders in Northern Ireland, the Clinton Administration, and the Irish Government, serving as a key behind-the-scenes player in the Northern Ireland peace process. [6] [7] She was instrumental in negotiating a visa for Gerry Adams to visit the United States in 1994. [8] That visit led to the historic IRA cease-fire declaration in August 1994. [9] [10]

In 1993, Vargo assisted Ambassador Madeleine Albright in preparation for her Senate confirmation hearings for the Cabinet post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She also helped prepare Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, for her June 1993 confirmation Senate hearing. She briefed several subsequent US Ambassadors to Ireland, Democrats and Republicans. In a personal capacity, from 1988, Vargo has advised U.S. presidential campaign teams on Irish issues, she served as the Obama campaign’s adviser on Irish issues. [11]

While working with Senator Kennedy, in addition to Irish issues, Vargo was involved in many foreign policy matters, including imposing sanctions in 1995 on Libya in the aftermath of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103; [12] efforts to bring free elections to Guyana in 1992, the first in decades; helping Refuseniks (Soviet Jews) from the former Soviet Union to emigrate in the late 1980s and early 1990s; and changing the way the Department of State analyzed and characterized the meaning of other countries’ votes in the United Nations. [13] Vargo remained involved in the Pan Am 103 bombing issue after leaving Kennedy’s employ, writing an op-ed opposing Scotland’s decision to release Abdel Basset al-Megrahi in the Irish Times in 2009 [14] , and the Huffington Post in 2015 [15] . Vargo is a regular contributor to the press. [16]

Vargo graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in political science and history. As the recipient of a Rotary International Fellowship, she attended McGill University in Montreal, where she obtained an M.A. degree in political science. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Kennedy</span> American author and diplomat (born 1957)

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an American author, attorney, and diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to Australia since 2022. Kennedy previously served in the Obama administration as the United States ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017. She is a member of the Kennedy family as well as the only surviving child of US president John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby</span> Scottish judge

Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, is a Scottish judge who has been a Senator of the College of Justice since June 2012. He was Lord Advocate for Scotland from 24 February 2000 until his resignation on 4 October 2006. On 11 April 2006, Downing Street announced that Colin Boyd would take a seat as a crossbench life peer; however, he took the Labour whip after resigning as Lord Advocate. He was formally introduced in the House of Lords on 3 July 2006. On the day SNP leader Alex Salmond was elected First Minister of Scotland, it was reported that Boyd was quitting the Scottish Bar to become a part-time consultant with public law solicitors, Dundas & Wilson. He told the Glasgow Herald, "This is a first. I don't think a Lord Advocate has ever done this—left the Bar and become a solicitor."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdelbaset al-Megrahi</span> Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing (1952–2012)

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi was a Libyan who was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, Libya, and an alleged Libyan intelligence officer. On 31 January 2001, Megrahi was convicted, by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, was found not guilty and was acquitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Rice</span> American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official (born 1964)

Susan Elizabeth Rice is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official. A member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 22nd Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council from 2021 to 2023, as the 27th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013, and as the 23rd U.S. National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Reggie Kennedy</span> American diplomat (born 1954)

Victoria Anne Kennedy is an American diplomat, attorney, and activist who has served as the United States Ambassador to Austria since 2022. She is the widow and the second wife of longtime U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Power</span> American academic, author and diplomat (born 1970)

Samantha Jane Power is an American journalist, diplomat, and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. Power is a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories</span> Speculation on the 1988 bombing

Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories suggest a number of possible explanations for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Some of the theories preceded the official investigation by Scottish police and the FBI; others arose from different interpretation of evidence presented at Libyan agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's 2000–2001 trial; yet others have been developed independently by individuals and organisations outside the official investigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission</span>

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

Herbert Swire, known better as Jim Swire, is an English doctor best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which his daughter Flora was killed. Swire lobbied toward a solution for the difficulties in bringing suspects in the original bombing to trial, and later advocated the retrial and release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the originally convicted suspect in the case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Lew</span> American attorney (born 1955)

Jacob Joseph Lew is an American attorney and diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to Israel. He was the seventy-sixth United States secretary of the treasury from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the twenty-fifth White House chief of staff from 2012 to 2013 and as director of the Office of Management and Budget in both the Clinton administration and Obama administration.

The George J. Mitchell Scholarships, awarded annually by the US-Ireland Alliance, provides funding for graduate study in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The first class of scholars began their studies in 2000. On average, approximately 350 young Americans apply for the 12 scholarships. In 2020, the US-Ireland Alliance announced that applications for the George J. Mitchell Scholar Class of 2022 increased by 22%, resulting in a record 453 individual applicants for the program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan Am Flight 103</span> Transatlantic flight terrorist bombed in 1988

Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747 registered N739PA. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie, killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melody Barnes</span> American lawyer and political advisor

Melody C. Barnes is an American lawyer and political advisor. Formerly an aide and chief counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barnes later worked at the Center for American Progress, a think tank, before joining Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. After Obama took office as president, Barnes was appointed director of the Domestic Policy Council, serving in that post from January 2009 to January 2012. After leaving the White House, Barnes assumed roles at the Aspen Institute and New York University. Since 2016, she has been at the University of Virginia, where she teaches law and is the co-director of the UVA Democracy Initiative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine M. Russell</span> American government official (born 1961)

Catherine Mary Russell is an American attorney and political adviser who is the current Executive Director of UNICEF. Russell previously served as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, and Chief of Staff to then-Second Lady of the United States Jill Biden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi</span>

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted on 31 January 2001 by a special Scottish Court in the Netherlands for the bomb attack on Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 over Lockerbie. After he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, he was released from prison on compassionate grounds on 20 August 2009, having served 8½ years of a life sentence. His release was authorised by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. The decision attracted significant news coverage, engendering widespread celebration in Libya, a largely hostile reaction in the United States and a more equally divided reaction in Britain.

Helen Engelhardt is an activist, author, poet, storyteller and independent audio artist;

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Kennedy Smith</span> American diplomat (1928–2020)

Jean Ann Kennedy Smith was an Irish-American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine children, and youngest daughter, born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald. Her siblings included President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was also a sister-in-law of Jacqueline Kennedy.

Mark C. Alexander is an American attorney, law professor, educator, and in the last aforementioned capacity the dean of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. He was previously an associate dean for academics and law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, as well as a political activist and campaign specialist.

Ricki Lynn Seidman is an American political adviser, government official, and Democratic Party activist. Seidman is nationally recognized for her involvement in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, and Brett Kavanaugh.

US-Ireland Alliance is a non-partisan and non-profit organization focused on strengthening the ties between the United States, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

References

  1. ↑ "US-Ireland Alliance".
  2. ↑ Vargo, Trina Y. (19 July 1998). "For Irish Americans, Peace Means Change". Washington Post .
  3. ↑ Lee, J.J. & Marion R. Casey (2006). Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States. New York University Press. p. 49. ISBN   0-8147-5208-X.
  4. ↑ Heyman, Marshall (26–27 Feb 2011). "The Other Oscar". Wall Street Journal . pp. A21.
  5. ↑ Barnes, Mike (9 January 2012). "Screenwriter John Logan to be Honored by Irish in Film". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ Mallie, Eamonn and David McKittrick (1996). The Fight for Peace: The Secret Story Behind the Irish Peace Process. Heinemann. p. 284. ISBN   0-7493-2261-6.
  7. ↑ Gartner, John D. (2008). In Search of Bill Clinton A Psychological Biography. St. Martin’s Press. p. 229.
  8. ↑ O'Clery, Conor (1887). Daring Diplomacy. Roberts Rinehart. p. 115.
  9. ↑ Orth, Maureen (2004). The Importance of Being Famous . Henry Holt & Company. pp.  164.
  10. ↑ O'Clery, Conor (2007). The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing . Public Affairs. pp.  190. ISBN   978-1-58648-391-3.
  11. ↑ Stanage, Niall (2008). Redemption Song An Irish Reporter Inside the Obama Campaign. Liberties Press. pp. 175–176.
  12. ↑ Cohen, Susan and Daniel (2001). Pan Am 103 The Bombing, the Betrayals, And A Bereaved Family's Search for Justice. Signet. p. 188.
  13. ↑ Lewis. Paul (25 August 2009). "U.N. Support for U.S. Hits New Low". The New York Times . pp. A10.
  14. ↑ Vargo, Trina (25 August 2009). "There is no justification for releasing Megrahi". The Irish Times .
  15. ↑ Vargo, Trina (29 November 2015). "A Fresh Look at the Bombing of Pan Am 103". Huffington Post .
  16. ↑ Vargo, Trina (3 July 2023). "Mitchell scholarship can make sure ties remain strong between Ireland and the US – but it must be funded". Irish Independent .
  17. ↑ "Trina Vargo - President". US-Ireland Alliance. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.