The historical significance of President Kennedy's visit to Ireland in June 1963

Abstract

President John F. Kennedy's visit to Ireland in June 1963 was the first by a serving American President. Using materials from archives in London, Dublin, and Boston, this article re-assesses the motives behind Kennedy's decision to visit Ireland and concludes that it was largely a personal journey. However, the trip was not without wider historical and political significance and was surrounded by controversy. The visit was unpopular in the United States, proved a security nightmare, and provoked much discussion amongst the political leadership in Belfast, Dublin and London over Kennedy's attitude to partition. The visit marked a major development in the history of Irish-American relations as it eased tensions over Ireland's neutrality, marked a shift towards White House activism in Irish affairs, boosted Irish tourism, and fostered increased trading and cultural links between the two countries.

Keywords:

• Kennedy
• Ireland
• Irish-American
• diplomacy
• partition
• presidential visit

Notes

 1. McMahon, Short History of Ireland, 6; Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy, 4.

 2. Cronin, Washington's Irish Policy.

 3. Dallek, John F. Kennedy .

 4. The following described JFK's visit to Ireland as a ‘sentimental journey’: Evening Herald, 19 June 1963; Time Magazine, 7 June 1963, 20; Walter Lippmann, The Irish Times, 4 June 1963; Frank Ward, The Sunday Press, 12 May 1963; Walter Trohan, Chicago Tribune, 1 April 1963. The argument that JFK was courting the Irish-American vote was most clearly articulated by Sterling Slappey of the Los Angeles Times.

 5. Carroll, One of Ourselves.

 6. Transcript, Seán Lemass, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 8 August 1966, (JFKL), 4.

 7. Background notes, Ireland, Department of State, November 1965, Private Papers of Robert T. Murphy, Box 20, Series 2, International Negotiation: Ireland: Talks 1966, JFKL.

 8. See Skelly, Irish Diplomacy at the United Nations; and Murphy, ‘Ireland, the United Nations and Peacekeeping Operations’, 22–45.

 9. In the end Ireland voted against China's application for entry to the UN. See Fitzgerald, ‘Ireland and the US in the Post-war Period’, 191–5.

10. For an examination of the history of Irish–American relations see Finnegan, ‘Irish–American Relations’, 95–110.

11. Letter, Joseph Sweeney to William R. Tyler, 23 April 1963, National Security Files (NSF), Trips and Conferences, Box 241(A), President's Trip Europe, 8/63–7/63 Ireland, JFKL.

12. Dallek, John F. Kennedy , 4.

13. Carroll, One of Ourselves, 141–8.

14. Martin, A Hero for Our Time, 38–9.

15. Fair, ‘The Intellectual JFK’, 121; see also Leaming, Jack Kennedy.

16. Transcript, Oral History interview, Dr Thomas J. Kiernan, 5 August 1966, JFKL.

17. Ibid.

18. Maier, The Kennedys.

19. Ibid., 202.

20. Ibid., 197–201; Dictabelt Item #39, John F. Kennedy Library, President's Office Files, Presidential Recordings Collection, JFKL.

21. Carroll, One of Ourselves, 147.

22. Schlesinger Jr, Robert Kennedy and His Times, 213.

23. New York Times, 20 November 1960; see also Gray et al., ‘Camelot Only Comes But Once?’, 203–22; Manza and Brooks, ‘The Religious Factor in U.S. Presidential Elections, 1960–1992’, 38–81.

24. See Carty, A Catholic in the White House, 156–7.

25. Transcript, Seán Lemass.

26. Converse et al., ‘Stability and Change in 1960’, 269–80.

27. Sigel, ‘Race and Religion as Factors in the Kennedy Victory in Detroit, 1960’, 436–47.

28. Gaudet Erskine, ‘The Polls’, 334–42.

29. Quoted in Carroll, One of Ourselves, 84.

30. Washington correspondent, George Kentera of the Newark Evening News, in Carroll, One of Ourselves, 85.

31. New York Herald Tribune, 19 June 1963.

32. Confidential Telegram, Sir David Ormsby Gore to Foreign Office, ‘Background to President Kennedy's European Trip’, 20 June 1963, PREM 11/4586, TNA.

33. Note of conversation between T.J. Kiernan and Hugh McCann, 5 June 1963, TAOIS/17401/A63, NAI.

34. Confidential Telegram, Sir David Ormsby Gore to Foreign Office, ‘Background to President Kennedy's European Trip’, 20 June 1963, PREM 11/4586, TNA.

35. Letter, T.J. Kiernan, Washington, DC to C.C. Cremin, Dublin, 27 March 1963, TAOIS/17401/A63, NAI.

36. Letter from Thomas Kiernan to H.J. McCann, 1 May 1963, TAOIS S/17432/63 & T.J. Kiernan to H.J. McCann, 14 May 1963, TAOIS S/17432/63, NAI.

37. Note of conversation between T.J. Kiernan and Hugh McCann, 5 June 1963, TAOIS/17401/A63, NAI.

38. Transcript, Thomas J. Kiernan.

39. Transcript, Eamon de Valéra, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 15 September 1966, JFKL.

40. Irish Press, 29 June 1963.

41. For television clips and radio broadcasts of the visits see Radio Telefís Éireann Libraries and Archives, ‘Visit of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to Ireland’, http://www.rte.ie/laweb/ll/ll_t02_main.html (accessed 20 December 2007).

42. Transcript, Seán Lemass, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 8 August 1966, JFKL.

43. Coogan, Ireland in the Twentieth Century, 431.

44. Transcript, Liam Cosgrave, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 5 August 1966, JFKL.

45. Keogh, Twentieth-century Ireland, 250.

46. Evening Herald, 17 April 1963.

47. Visit of Prime Minister Lemass, October 15–16 1963, Scope Paper, NSF, CO118, Ireland, Subjects: Lemass Briefing Book, Part I, 10/15/63–10/16/63, JFKL.

48. Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, 28 April 1950, TAOIS/2001/14/464, NAI.

49. Six Counties: a news sheet, 8 November 1952, TAOIS 2001/14/464, NAI.

50. Ibid.

51. Confidential Note for the Record, 22 April 1963, PREM 11/4386, TNA.

52. Confidential Notes to Mr. Bligh, 22 April 1963, PREM 11/4386, TNA.

53. Letter from the Home Office to P.F. de Zulueta, 24 April 1963, PREM 11/4584, TNA.

54. Top Secret Telegram from Prime Minister Macmillan to Ormsby Gore, 29 April 1963 and Confidential Telegram from Foreign Office to Sir David Ormby Gore, Washington, 30 April 1963, PREM 11/4584, TNA.

55. Confidential Telegram from Sir David Ormsby Gore to Foreign Office, 30 April 1963, PREM 11.4584, TNA.

56. Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, Oral Answers, 21 May 1963, vol. 678, col. 186.

57. James L. Tull to Philip de Zulueta, 5 May 1963, PREM 11/4584; John F. Kennedy to Terence O'Neill, 15 May 1963, NSF, CO118, Ireland, General, 6/63–11/63, TNA.

58. Harry Diamond, Republican Member of Parliament, Telegram, Dublin to Washington, NSF, Trips & Conferences, Box 241(A), President's Trip Europe, 8/63–7/63 Ireland, JFKL.

59. The Times, 14 May 1963.

60. Cable from H.J. McCann to T.J. Kiernan, 13 March 1963, DFA/P252/1, NAI.

61. Cable from T.J. McCann to H.J. McCann, 19 March 1963, S/17401 B/63, NAI.

62. Personal and Secret Letter from Hugh McCann to T.J. Kiernan, 5 June 1963, DFA/P262/1, NAI.

63. Letter from T. Kiernan to H.J. McCann, 17 June 1963, DFA/P262/1, NAI.

64. McCabe, ‘JFK in Ireland’, 38–42.

65. Memo, ‘Discussion between Taoiseach and President Kennedy at American Embassy’, 28 June 1963, S/17401 C63, NAI.

66. Reeves, ‘The Politics of Restitution’, 613–38.

67. Cable, Matthew McCloskey to State Department, 27 September 1963, NSF, CO118, Ireland, Subjects: Lemass Visit October 1963, 2/63–9/63, JFKL.

68. Remarks of the President to a Joint Session of the Dáil, and Seanad, Éireann Leinster House, Dublin, Ireland, White House Press Release, 28 June 1963, JFKL.

69. President Kennedy's taped message of greeting for Radio Éireann, 29 March 1963, President's Office Files, Speech Files, Box 43, JFKL.

70. Remarks of the President, Green Park Race Course, Limerick, 29 June 1963, President's Office Files, Speech Files, Box 43, JFKL.

71. Transcript, Andrew Minihan, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 7 August 1966, JFKL.

72. Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy, 384.

73. Adam Clymer Personal Papers, Series 1, Chapter 15 (part 2) – Ireland and Investigations, By and Of Nixon, 280, JFKL; Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy, 180–3.

74. Clymer Personal Papers, 279–82.

75. Irish Independent, 17 March 1963, 1.

76. Ibid., 1 July 1963, 1.

77. Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 29 June 1963, 1.

78. Transcript, Thomas J. Kiernan.

79. Carroll, One of Ourselves, 181.

80. BBC News Online, ‘Garda Received JFK Death Threats’, 29 December 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6216973.stm.

81. The American Irish Foundation formed in 1963 merged with the Ireland Fund to create the American Ireland Fund in 1987.

82. Cable, McCloskey to Rusk, 9 October 1963, NSF, CO118, Ireland, Subjects: Lemass visit, October 1963, 10/1/63–10/14/63, JFKL.

83. Belfast Telegraph, 10 October 1963.

84. Irish Press, 17 October 1963.

85. Address by Seán F. Lemass, Taoiseach, at Luncheon of National Press Club, Washington, DC, 16 October 1963, TAOIS/17400/C63, NAI.

86. Letter to JFK from Federation of Irish Industries Limited, 4 November 1963, White House Central Subject Files, Box 59, CO125, Ireland, JFKL; Memorandum, Benjamin H. Read to McGeorge Bundy, 5 October 1963, White House Central Subject Files, Box 59, CO125, Ireland, JFKL.

87. Irish Press, 22 October 1963; Carroll, One of Ourselves, 188.

88. Carroll, One of Ourselves, 182–3.

89. Jim Deegan, ‘A Long Term Perspective on the Policy and Performance of Irish Tourism’ (paper presented at Glasgow Caledonian University, 25 January 2006).

90. ‘Economic Relations with the United States’, 2002/8/440, NAI.

91. Transcript, Dr Thomas J. Kiernan.

92. Transcript, Seán Lemass.

93. Transcript, Frank Aiken, interviewed by Joseph E. O'Connor, 15 September 1965, JFKL.

94. The White House informed Prime Minister O'Neill that the president's schedule made it impossible for the two to meet while O'Neill was in Washington, instead arranging for him to meet the Attorney-General Robert Kennedy for lunch. See Cable, George Ball to American Consulate, Belfast, 25 September 1963, NSF, CO118, Ireland, ‘General’, 6/63–11/63, JFKL.

95. Letter to Taoiseach from Reamonn O'Corcorain, 6 May 1963, TAOIS/17401/A63, NAI.

96. Maier, The Kennedys, 440.

97. Coogan, Wherever Green is Worn, 266.