Patrick John "Paddy" Hillery (2 May 1923 - 2 March 1979) was an Irish Labour politician who served as the President of Ireland from 1976 until his assassination in Belfast in 1979, making him the third President in seventeen years to be assassinated, and the second to be killed in Belfast. Hillery, a left-aligned politician, was killed by conservative Protestants in a car bombing and his murder sparked the 1979 Belfast Crisis, which nearly brought Ireland to civil war. He was succeeded by his Vice President, Jack Lynch, who ended the crisis and amended the Constitution of Ireland in 1982 to make it more agreeable to all grievanced parties.