"FREEDOM IS MORE THAN A RESOLUTION--HE IS NOT FREE WHO IS FREE ALONE"

JFK ISSUES MESSAGE ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 17, 1962, President John F. Kennedy issued a St. Patrick's Day message to the American people. 

The message stated...

"The observance of St. Patrick's Day is almost as old in America as the Irish themselves,and some say they arrived in the 6th century.

It is a day of dedication....as purely American as it is Irish...recalling for all that ours is a nation founded, sustained &...preserved in the cause of liberty.

None more than the Irish can attest the power of that cause once it has gripped a nation's soul.

It is well to love liberty, for it demands much of those who would live by it. Liberty is not content to share mankind.  John Boyle O'Reilly...understood this as few men have.

'Freedom,' he wrote, 'is more than a resolution--he is not free who is free alone.'

To those who in our time have lost their freedom, or who through the ages have never won it, there is a converse to this message.  No one--in the darkest cell, the remotest prison, under the most unyielding tyranny--is ever entirely lost in bondage while there are yet free men in the world.

As this be our faith, let it also be our pride--& to all who share it, I send the greetings of this day."

John F. Kennedy
President of the United States
March 17, 1962

 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY FROM JFK+50

March 17, 2013

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY FROM JFK+50

Dublin, Ireland (JFK+50) On June 26, 1963 during a luncheon reception in Dublin, President John F. Kennedy was "moved by impulse to stand up & sing," along with Dave Powers, "The Wearing of the Green."

Oh, Paddy dear, an' did ye hear the news that's goin' round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground.
No more St. Patrick's day we'll keep, his color can't be seen,
For there's a cruel law agin' the wearin' of the green.

JFK was as happy in Ireland as the Irish were happy to have him there.  The Dublin Evening Herald wrote, "Mr. Kennedy has returned to Ireland as the living symbol of the Irish triumph over the trials & tribulations of history."

The Irish Independent added, "The great grandson of the famine emigrant who left in misery & sorrow comes to his point of origin honored like a king.  We welcome him for himself & in memory of many generations."

                            JFK in Ireland
                    Gaelic Field, New Ross
                           June 27, 1963
                      JFK Library Photo

The 1st Kennedy to come to America was Patrick Kennedy who left County Wexford & the potato famine behind in 1849.  He sailed on the Washington Irving.  

It was a 1 month 3000 mile journey during which he met his future bride, Bridget Murphy, who was also from County Wexford.

They settled in East Boston's "crowded, teeming slums" where their 4th child & 1st son, JFK's grandfather, Patrick Joseph Kennedy was born in 1858.  

SOURCES

"The Irish in America," edited by Michael Coffey, text by Terry Golway, Hperion, New York, 1997.

"One of Ourselves: John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Ireland," by James Robert Carroll, Images From the Past, Bennington, Vermont, 2003.

                     

JFK+50 ANNOUNCES 1000th VISITOR FROM IRELAND

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Coincidence or the "luck of the Irish," JFK+50 had our 1000th visitor from Ireland today, March 17, 2013, ST. PATRICK'S DAY!