"JFK SENT THE SECRET SERVICE TO FETCH A GREEN TIE"

JFK PRESENTED A BOWL OF SHAMROCK ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 17, 1961, John F. Kennedy's first St. Patrick's Day as President of the United States, the Chief Executive was presented with a ceremonial bowl of shamrock by Thomas J. Kiernan, ambassador to Ireland.

The ceremony was held beginning at 10 a.m. in the Oval Office.  

Also attending was Rhode Island congressman John E. Fogarty who co-sponsored an Irish unification proclamation with JFK.

The President also received a hand-printed scroll displaying the Kennedy Coat of Arms signed by Gerald Skvin, chief herald of Ireland.

The President, having forgotten it was St. Patrick's Day, dispatched John "Muggsie" O'Leary* of the Secret Service to fetch a "soft, green tie."

*John J. O'Leary first met JFK when he was a Capitol police officer.  He became a special agent of the Secret Service when JFK was elected POTUS in 1960.  After the assassination, JJO served as personal agent for Mrs. Kennedy & the children.  He died in Somerville, MA in 1975 at the age of 72.

SOURCES

"JFK's First St. Patrick's Day in the White House," by Michael P. Quinlin, March 17, 2011

"Ireland's Man in D.C. in June 1963:  Ambassador Thomas Kiernan," by Dr. Michael Kennedy, www.independent.ie/

"'Muggsy' O'Leary Succumbs," The Evening Journal, December 30 1975, www.pinterest.com/

JFK Receives Ceremonial Bowl of Shamrock

from Ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan

March 17, 1961

JFK Library Photo

"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

 

THE WEARING OF THE GREEN

JFK'S IRISH PRIDE MOTIVATES SONG

Dublin, Ireland (JFK+50) In honor of St. Patrick's Day, JFK+50 will reflect today on one of the rare occasions when President John F. Kennedy was moved to sing in public.  Our 35th President was endowed with many talents, but as he himself would have admitted, singing was not necessarily one of them.

On June 26, 1963, however, during a luncheon reception here in Dublin, the President was..."moved by impulse to stand up and sing," along with his close friend and administrative aide, David 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.  The Dublin Evening Herald proclaimed..."Mr. Kennedy has returned to Ireland as the living symbol of the Irish triumph over the trials and tribulations of history."

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

JFK in Ireland

Gaelic Field, New Ross

June 27, 1963

JFK Library Photo

The first Kennedy to come to America was Patrick who left County Wexford and the potato famine behind in 1849.  He sailed on the Washington Irving.    It was a one 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 fourth child and first son, JFK's grandfather, Patrick Joseph Kennedy was born in 1858. 

Of the 43 men who have served in the office of the Presidency, there has been only one of direct Irish descent on both sides of his family.  That man, of course, was John F. Kennedy.  It is fitting and proper, then, that we honor JFK on this day of Irish celebration. 

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.

               

The Wearing of the Green

JOHNNY, I HARDLY KNEW YE I

JULY 13, 2012

"JOHNNY, I HARDLY KNEW YE" I

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today we begin our report of Chapter 12 of the book by Kenneth P. O'Donnell & David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy.  It is published by Little, Brown & Company.

The title of Chapter 12 is "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye"


Kenneth O'Donnell writes that President Kennedy personally answered letters picked at random from the 5000 which arrived at the White House on any given day.


Every 50th letter was pulled & sent to his office & sometimes he just wandered into the mail room himself & picked out some letters to take back to the Oval Office to read.


Sometimes he would write an answer himself & then have it typed by his personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln.


Kenny includes a sample letter from a young boy as St. Patrick's Day was nearing.


The letter reads:


"Dear President Kennedy:


I like you very much.  I am 10 years old.  Where do the little people live?  Do they have horses? Can only the Irish see them?  Can you see them.


Mark Aaron Perdue"


JFK's response reads:


"Dear Mark:


Your questions are quite pertinent, coming as they do just before St. Patrick's Day.  There are many legends about the "little people," but......if you really believe, you will see them.


My "little people" are very small, wear tall black stovepipe hats, green coats & pants, & have long white beards.  They do not have horses.  They are most friendly, & their message is that all peoples of the world should live in peace & friendship


Since you are interested in the Irish, I want to wish you a happy St. Patrick's Day.


Sincerely,


John F. Kennedy"*


*I was not so fortunate to get a personal response to one of my letters from President Kennedy, but I was most happy to receive a letter from his secretary, Mrs. Lincoln, & the White House card that JFK signed for me.