Stonehill Stories Episode 5

Preview

0:00 - Claire Cronin: You know, I decided to run for office at age 52, so that was kind of a risk. I said, anyone who’s put their name on a ballot knows how scary it can actually be, but with the idea that you want to serve your community. Public service was always something that was more or less drilled into us when I was growing up.

Introduction

0:19 - Liam Dacko: Hello and welcome to Stonehill Stories, the official podcast of Stonehill College! I’m your host, Liam Dacko, Class of 2016. For this episode, I was delighted to chat with Claire (McLaughlin) Cronin, Class of 1982. After making history as the first woman to serve as Majority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the former Brockton resident was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. During our interview, she offers insight into her career and shares advice for Stonehill’s future diplomats.

Interview

0:52 - Liam Dacko: It’s a real treat for me to get to speak to you today, just given my own connections to Ireland. I actually just returned from Ballygar, County Galway, where I was visiting my grandmother. It was the first time I had been back in 18 years, and, you know, I’m wondering, what’s your experience been like so far? Have you enjoyed moving to the Emerald Isle? 

1:13 - Claire Cronin: I have. I have to say it’s probably been one of the great experiences of my lifetime. I never had an opportunity to serve my country before, so the opportunity to do so in such a wonderful country with such great people. I hate to say the cliche, it’s a dream come true, but you couldn’t ask for a better job, let’s put it that way. 

1:35 - Liam Dacko: That’s wonderful. Now, to move back in time a little bit, I’m wondering, you know, how did your Stonehill journey begin? 

1:42 - Claire Cronin: Well, I grew up right next door in the city of Brockton, so Stonehill was certainly very familiar to me. So, when I was looking at colleges that I thought I might want to attend, one of the things that attracted me to Stonehill was their political science department and the courses there, so it was certainly very convenient. I was a commuter at Stonehill, and there were a lot of reasons it was the right spot for me, and it’s a decision that I’ve never regretted in my life and always been really happy that I went to Stonehill. I still have my Stonehill friends, and I still maintain the political science department there is as good, if not better, than anywhere you can go. When I worked in the Statehouse, Fr. John used to joke I was the W.B. Mason of the Statehouse because I hired so many Stonehill grads. I always sought out Stonehill interns. The majority of my staff, after they interned with me, ended up getting jobs in my office. It was always great to just continue the Stonehill relationship as well. 

2:47 - Liam Dacko: So, I’m guessing that helping shepherd the next generation is really important to you. Were there people here at Stonehill during your time here that had a particularly profound impact on you that you can recall? 

3:00 - Claire Cronin: I had some really great professors at Stonehill. I think back to Dr. Jim Kenneally. I took a lot of history of political science courses. I said it’s also funny for me to look back and think I remember I took an Irish politics course with Professor Finnegan, who I think recently passed away. But who would have thought back when I was in a Stonehill classroom learning about the various Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that I would someday find myself here in this role? That was never something I anticipated back then. 

3:33 - Liam Dacko: After graduating from Stonehill, you went into law. You earned a J.D. from Suffolk University, I believe. And then you opened a practice in Brockton. Why did you decide on this career path? Why was it sort of the right path for you? 

3:47 - Claire Cronin: Well, I think, you know, there’s probably…people have their general interests when they’re growing up. I was always vastly interested in politics, actually since the time I was a little girl. My uncle had been the mayor of Brockton and also served in the state legislature and the House of Representatives. So, politics was something I grew up with, but something I just really love. So, the idea of a campaign was always really interesting to me and something I participated in even from being a young child. I think my mother would throw us into the station wagon and we’d be doing a leaflet drop when I was eight or 10 years old. So, I grew up in politics. Also, there’s a very close correlation with the law. My father was a lawyer. He probably inspired a great interest in the law for me. So, the two combined were pretty much in sync all along.

4:38 - Liam Dacko: As you mentioned, you had served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. What accomplishments from that time are you most proud of? 

4:47 - Claire Cronin: Well, I probably have both big and small. You know, I decided to run for office at age 52, so that was kind of a risk. I said, anyone who’s put their name on a ballot knows how scary it can actually be, but with the idea that you want to serve your community.  Public service was always something that was more or less drilled into us when I was growing up. So, at that time, my state representative, who is Geri Creedon, decided to retire and it was an open seat. The district consists of the city of Brockton, where I grew up, and the town of Easton, where I both went to college and where my husband and I raised our family. So, I felt I was well suited to represent the district and understood the needs of the district. Certainly, there were more challenges that I would take on within the city of Brockton, specifically around school funding. 

5:39 - Claire Cronin: One of the big accomplishments that we did achieve during my time there was the Student Opportunity Act, which, you know, really assisted on school funding across the Commonwealth, but particularly in my home community of Brockton. As chair of the Judiciary Committee, I did have the opportunity to write the Criminal Justice Reform Bill and the Police Reform Bill, which I think for years to come will have a great, significant, positive impact in the Commonwealth years forward. That was an experience that lasted over 18 months for me and the Judiciary Committee. We were reforming all of our criminal justice laws from the very first time a child might intersect with the criminal justice system, which would be as a juvenile, right up until the time a person might either leave prison because of compassionate medical release or leave prison and re-enter their community. So, it was a vast undertaking. We hadn’t reformed the laws in well over 50 years. 

6:42 - Claire Cronin: The bill itself was 120 pages long. You know, they always say the devil is in the details, but we touched everything. Bail fees, fines, parole, juvenile law, mandatory drug sentences, the list goes on and on. So, when you are in a body of 160 people, there are a vast amount of differences and people are very, you know, wedded to their positions. And at that time, I did something that had not been done before in the State House. I put out a general invitation and I had individual meetings with every single member of the House. And through those individual meetings, in addition with the hearings on the bills and the public hearings, plus all of the vast amount of reading and, you know, research, the number of bills that are included in the final bill, I was able to really gauge how the members of the legislature felt about the various aspects of the bill. And what it allowed us to do is pass a comprehensive bipartisan bill. So, at the time, the vote, I still remember, it was 144 to 9, which meant that every single Democrat in the House of Representatives voted for the bill, as did 26 out of 35 Republicans. That’s how I believe politics should work. 

8:00 - Claire Cronin: So those would be considered, you know, big accomplishments. But then there are some smaller bills that you work on that, you know, you have big bills and little bills. And one I always cite that was one of my more favorite bills. It might not sound like a lot, but I filed a bill that would require every town hall in Massachusetts to have a designated veterans’ parking spot. For this, this was twofold for me. One, it thanked the veterans for their service when they went to their town hall to do business. But I also thought it was a good reminder to everyone else that went to town hall about how we should honor and assist our veterans as they’re needed. So, it was kind of twofold. So that’s not a major piece of legislation, but I’m happy to know that when a veteran pulls into their town hall, there is a spot for them. 

8:49 - Liam Dacko: Now, amid your work in the House, you worked on the Biden campaign in Massachusetts leading up to the 2020 election. Then in May 2021, President Biden selected you as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland. What was your initial reaction upon being named to this role? 

9:05 - Claire Cronin: Yeah, I did quite a bit of work on the campaign, and I was an early supporter of the president. As you will know, he won Massachusetts, which was a very big thing at that time, because one of the candidates was our own Senator Elizabeth Warren. So, it was a big deal that he did so well in Massachusetts, knowing he was running against a favorite home state senator. When I did get the call from the president, you know, I have to say I was initially surprised. This wasn’t a job I was actually lobbying for or looking for. Then from that point on, it became a whirlwind. My name got leaked to the press, and the next minute you’re in a whole, just a different world than I had been used to, a Senate confirmation process, background checks. You train at the State Department, Foreign Studies Institute there, and it was just crazy. I mean, all of a sudden, you’re just really thrown into the deep end, and it was quite exciting. It was also slightly bittersweet, because I so loved my job at the State House. I had just been made the majority leader there, which I was really enjoying my role as majority leader and my colleagues. So, to kind of go through that process and then pick up and go to a new home across the sea, it was certainly a transition, but a positive one, overwhelmingly. 

10:27 - Liam Dacko: Now, I know you have Irish ancestry, but what was your relationship to Ireland prior to being named to this role? Had you spent much time in the country? 

10:36 - Claire Cronin: Not as much as I would have liked to. I had certainly traveled to Ireland. My brother’s wife is from Dublin, so I do have a little bit of family over here. And of course, I do have very strong Irish ancestry. My grandfather came from Donegal, the Inishowen Peninsula, and in my mother’s family, I had four sets of great-grandparents, two from Galway, one from Cork, and one from County Clare. So, I definitely had the Irish roots, a love of Irish history. That was something I had always been somewhat interested in, and even more so now, having been here. So, it was a good fit for me.

11:12 - Liam Dacko: In accepting this ambassadorship, what did you hope to achieve? And reflecting on your time thus far, where are you in terms of progress on those goals? 

11:22 - Claire Cronin: I think we’ve done well, and I’ve done that with the support of a fabulous embassy team. The embassy is divided into, we have what are called American direct hires, who are career foreign service State Department employees. And then of course, we have the wonderful locally employed staff at the embassy who have the institutional knowledge of both the embassy and all its interactions, as well as the country as well. So pretty much you kind of put things into buckets. You are looking to protect the safety and security of Americans who are here in Ireland. You look to increase the people-to-people ties, increase our trade and investment is always important, and then to work with Ireland on goals that we share. So, we have some things that you would call in the State Department, they use them as words like deliverables, things that you’ve delivered. I can say in 2022, when I arrived here, Ireland was the ninth largest foreign direct investor in the United States, which is a remarkable thing when you think that this is a country of 5 million people. Coming from Brockton, the City of Champions, I’ll use my boxing terms and say Ireland punches above its weight, which is quite true, a country of 5 million people, fewer people than in the state of Massachusetts. But as recently in June 2023, Ireland went from the ninth largest foreign direct investor in the United States to the seventh. And I think that’s a remarkable statistic about the two-way trade and investment relationship between our countries. 

12:57 - Liam Dacko: What’s your favorite memory from your time in Ireland thus far? 

13:01 - Claire Cronin: Best memory. If I were to say overall the people I’ve met here, I’m going to leave here a little sad because I’ve met some wonderful people. As ambassador, I would say the two highlights were certainly President Biden’s trip to Ireland in April of 2023 was really quite extraordinary. He was here for four days, and I had never been part of a presidential visit, found myself on Air Force One, not something I had ever really anticipated would happen to me in my life. So that was an incredible visit and that’s something I’ll always cherish. And the second thing is since my time here in Ireland, I’ve had the wonderful, great opportunity to get to know Senator George Mitchell, who was the special envoy to Northern Ireland and was incredibly instrumental in securing the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Ireland. To this day, it is still a model of conflict resolution. I had always read about George Mitchell. I met him once before, many, many years ago at President Clinton’s inaugural ball, but I didn’t know him. And since the time I’ve been here, he’s visited a couple of times. He’s stayed with our family. And to really get to know George Mitchell, it’s almost hard for me to explain. The only way I can say it is it’s like getting to play baseball with Babe Ruth. He’s so smart, made such a great impact that every time I have the opportunity to spend time with him, I just want to be a sponge and learn from him and his great wisdom. And that’s been extraordinary for me. 

14:36 - Liam Dacko: Since moving to Ireland, you’ve hosted students from the Stonehill community at your residence. What have those experiences been like and what does it mean to you to have them look up to you or maybe want to emulate your career someday? 

14:50 - Claire Cronin: I’ve always enjoyed mentoring young students. I mean, the day I decided I was going to run for office, the first thing I did is I reached out to the Stonehill placement office and I put in an ad in their placement office for student interns. And I remember that very first summer when I was campaigning door to door, I had two kids from Stonehill College and they walked the doors with me all summer long. One of them, after walking doors for a full summer, we became good friends, and I probably mentored him some way. And he and his girlfriend both ended up going to Suffolk Law School. They’re now lawyers. They now have a family of two. So, it’s been nice for me to actually see some of my interns that I tried to mentor along the way advance in their own lives and careers. I’ve always done that with the Stonehill interns when I was at the State House as well. 

15:41 - Claire Cronin: As I said, my chief of staff, three of my legislative aides, all Stonehill grads from the political science department. The first time I got a real taste of what life is like in the State House was when I was a Stonehill student. I worked for my state rep when I was a junior in college in an internship. And then, my senior year in college, I was able to get an internship in Governor King’s office as a Stonehill student. And that’s when I first thought, wow, this is a really great place. People are doing really great things here. The work is important. But never did I think I would come back as an actual representative. I always viewed myself as maybe working in the building for an elected official, never that I would actually be the candidate or the elected official.

16:28 - Liam Dacko: What would you say is the number one piece of advice you have for Stonehill students who are interested in pursuing international politics or law as a career? 

16:37 - Claire Cronin: If you are given an opportunity to work in an internship, and I said that was my path, that was the path of a lot of the people that ended up working with me in the State House. They started out as Stonehill interns and eventually worked their way into a job. So, as with any internship, I always say work harder than everyone else, work smarter than everyone else if you can. And I just think that’s always incredibly valuable in the relationships you make. I always tell people never burn a bridge. You just never know. When I was 62 years old and being vetted to be the ambassador, they were going back and speaking with people I worked with 25 years ago and people I went to college with. So, keep those contacts open and good and never burn a bridge. That’s my best advice.

17:27 - Liam Dacko: Ambassador, before we wrap up, I’d just like to say thank you so much for jumping on this call with me. It’s been wonderful getting to chat with you and getting to know you. And I think the people of Stonehill will really benefit from everything you’ve had to say.

17:43 - Claire Cronin: Well, I love my college campus. I love Stonehill, so hopefully they’ll enjoy it. 

Credits

17:52 - Liam Dacko: Thank you for listening to Stonehill Stories! This podcast is produced by Jill Goddard and Liam Dacko of Stonehill College’s Office of Communications and Media Relations. Intro theme composed by Associate Professor of Music James Bohn. Outro theme composed by Philip Pereira. Graphic design assistance provided by Colin Spencer. To discover more about Stonehill College, visit our website at Stonehill.edu.