Chris Dodd, silver-haired, handsome, powerful US senator, still recalls the way "my innards tightened" as, walking along the street in Belfast, "all of a sudden some soldiers ran by". This was before the 1994 IRA ceasefire.
Then he remembers the intoxicating experience of being with President Clinton for that memorable visit to Belfast and Derry in December 1995, while the IRA guns and bombs were silent but the happy crowds were not.
Senator Dodd cites as an example of what the renewed IRA ceasefire has meant here in Washington for 28 Northern Ireland university students, Catholic and Protestant, doing stints as "interns" on Capitol Hill as part of Project Children.
The young woman in his own office told him of the "tears of joy" that the news of the ceasefire brought as the students heard about it when attending a Baptist church service in the city.
However, the senator cannot help remembering the fate of the last ceasefire, but he is more hopeful this time. "I don't want to be a Pollyanna, but given that we have a new British government that has at least another five years' lease of life, a new strong Government in the Republic that is committed to this, President Clinton is here another three years and those of us in Congress who care about this - the commitment to the ceasefire - I just have the feeling there's a better crowd around this time that can nurture this along."
The senator was speaking in his office beside the Capitol. At his side is a photograph of President Clinton playing the clarinet. They have a close relationship, although the senator, noted for his liberalism, has disagreed with Mr Clinton on welfare and legal changes.
What was the US role in realising this ceasefire? The senator says it is difficult to "calibrate" this precisely. "The fact that there was a consistent drumbeat, a consistent message" from both the President and the Congress and that there were no "the divisions" that were seen on Capitol Hill in other years on Northern Ireland made a difference.
As the negotiations for a political settlement get going, does he see a role for the US at that stage?
"That largely depends on what the participants there would like us to do. There may be something on the economic front. There may be all sorts of ideas, but I for one would feel far more comfortable to see those suggestions coming from the two communities in the North rather than something we would propose."
Is there any way the US could be a guarantor of an agreement that would emerge from the peace talks?
"No. That is totally the wrong word. Guarantor is not a role Americans would be comfortable with in this situation.
"What most people don't understand about Americans, particularly people who should know better, is that this country is fundamentally an isolationist nation going back to its roots."
Here Senator Dodd refers to his own ancestors, who left Ireland in the 1820s and the 1860s. "They didn't want to leave Ireland. This was not some great desire they had. They thought they had got booted out by economic circumstances and religious and political ones.
"This was a painful journey, but having made it they didn't ever want to get entangled in that stuff again. And that could be spoken of every ethnic group." He finds that even first-generation Irish in his state of Connecticut "want to get away from it".
So a guarantor role for a Northern Ireland peace settlement "would not be received warmly here". Rather the US would see itself as "being someone who's a friend who wants to see Ireland and its two communities find the means by which they can live in peace and tranquillity with each other after centuries-old disputes - whatever we can do to assist that."
As Senator Dodd watched other former political foes come to Washington to seal a peace agreement, such as Rabin, Arafat and King Hussein, he has been struck by how "anachronistic" the political violence is in Northern Ireland.
"This is already the end of the 20th century, we're about to begin the second millennium here and if we can't resolve our differences with means other than violence, this is ludicrous."
Now is also a "perfect point" to abandon political violence. "You are on the cusp of a generational change in the political leadership in Ireland of the Sinn Fein members. Not to resolve now on which path you are going to follow could mean you are facing another two decades until the younger generation comes to the realisation that the older one has now, that they can get good results out of this ceasefire."