John F. Kennedy

From June 26 to June 29, 1963--allegedly "the best four days of his life," and five months before his assassination--John F. Kennedy visited Ireland, the first sitting U.S. President to do so. For information on his entire trip, click here.

(When we visited EPIC in Dublin, we learned that Kennedy is one of 22 U.S. Presidents with Irish ancestry.)

On the last day of his visit, Kennedy spoke at Eyre Square (aka, Kennedy Park; aka, John F. Kennedy Memorial Park) in Galway. This 6:34 video includes highlights from the event--click here.

There is a monument to the occasion, which included Kennedy becoming a "Freeman of Galway Borough," in the location in Eyre Square where he stood to speak. Being a Freeman meant he could graze his sheep in the park for free 🤣

The story goes that while in Ireland, Kennedy was very taken with the 37th Cadet Class of the Irish Defence Forces and asked that a film of them performing their drills be sent to the White House. When he was assassinated, Jackie Kennedy requested that those cadets perform the Queen Anne Drill (the funeral drill) at his funeral. In November 2013, eleven of the cadets returned to Washington, D.C., to attend the 50th anniversary ceremony. For a lively version of this story, click here.

Galway is very proud of its connection to Kennedy, and photos and other memorabilia can be seen in many places.

Here is a display dedicated to Kennedy's visit in the Thomas Dillon store's museum:

And here is a photo at Finnegan's, where we ate dinner on Sunday night. It shares wall space with James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and many other Irish luminaries: