“We have to create a world in which there are no unknown, hostile aliens at the other end of any missiles, and that is going to take a tremendous amount of sheer hard work. The only force which can break down those barriers is the force of love, the force of truth, soul-force...” - Betty Williams

Betty Williams was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on May 22, 1942. She was baptized a Roman Catholic, despite the fact that 3 of her 4 grandparents were not Catholic (two were Protestant and one was Jewish). When Betty was only 13 years old, her mother suffered a massive stroke. Betty dropped out of school to take on the role of caring for her mother and raising her younger sister.

Like many families in Northern Ireland, Betty’s family was touched by violence. Her Protestant grandfather, a riveter in a Belfast shipyard, was thrown down the hold of a ship that was under construction simply because his son was marrying a Catholic woman. Her cousin Daniel, a pre-med student, was killed at the age of 18, when Protestant extremists shot him as he stood at the front door of his house, returning from his part-time job at the pub. They machine-gunned the shape of a cross into his back. Another cousin was killed when a booby-trapped car abandoned by members of the IRA exploded as he was driving past it. In Betty’s words, “So, the Protestants killed one of my cousins, and the Catholics killed the other.”

She joined the Irish Republican Army in 1972, but “didn't remain a member long.” After witnessing a British soldier shot in front of her in 1973, she knelt and prayed beside him. She was criticized by Catholic neighbors for showing sympathy for “the enemy.”

On August 10, 1976, a runaway car driven by an IRA member, Danny Lennon, who had been fatally shot while fleeing from British soldiers crashed into a family of four who were out for a walk. All three children, Joanne, John, and Andrew, were killed. Their mother, Anne Maguire, was critically injured (and committed suicide in 1980, saying that she could not go on). Betty Williams had been driving home from visiting her mother, heard the crash, and was the first to arrive on the scene.

After witnessing this senseless killing, Betty immediately began to circulate petitions against the violence and, in less than forty-eight hours, had over 6,000 signatures. When Mairead Corrigan, the children's aunt, heard what Betty Williams had done, she invited her to the children's funeral. On August 13, 1976, the day of the Maguire children's funeral, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan met with journalist Ciaran McKeown, who joined the two women in co-founding the Peace People, an organization dedicated to nonviolence in Northern Ireland and throughout the world.

Betty and Mairead organized a peace march to the graves of the children, which was attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women. The peaceful march was disrupted by members of the Irish Republican Army, who accused them of being influenced by the British. The following week, 35,000 people marched with Williams and Corrigan to show their support for ending the violence in their country.

In recognition of their extraordinary action to end the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, and for their dedication to building a foundation for a peaceful future, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

In her acceptance speech, Betty said, “That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most closely involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car. A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was already evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10, 1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, and create the possibility of a real peace movement... As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labor spurned." She also said that, “The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded for what one has done, but hopefully what one will do.”

True to those words, since receiving the Nobel Prize, she has traveled the world, working tirelessly with fellow Nobel Laureates throughout the world where peace, and especially the safety and well-being of children, is at risk. Betty currently serves as the president of World Centers of Compassion for Children, whose mission is to provide a strong political voice for children in areas afflicted by war, hunger, social, economic or political upheaval, and to respond to their material and emotional needs by creating safe and nurturing environments. The WCCC has recently announced that the first center will be created in southern Italy.

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