JFK in Life & Death

President Kennedy in Ireland, 1963. | Couresty of JFK Presidential Library & Museum, Boston.
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President Kennedy in Ireland, 1963.
Couresty of JFK Presidential Library & Museum, Boston.
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"Galway Gave President Kennedy Warm Western Welcome"
Connacht Tribune, 6 July, 1963.
Telegram, dated 22 November 1963, from President Éamon de Valera to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson extending sympathies on behalf of the Irish people on the death of the recently assassinated President Kennedy. | Courtesy of the National Archives.
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Telegram, dated 22 November 1963, from President Éamon de Valera to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson extending sympathies on behalf of the Irish people on the death of the recently assassinated President Kennedy.
Courtesy of the National Archives.
One of a series of Irish postage stamps specially commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the visit of President Kennedy to Ireland. | Courtesy of An Post.
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One of a series of Irish postage stamps specially commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the visit of President Kennedy to Ireland.
Courtesy of An Post.

“He [JFK] was very, very, very deeply moved by the warmth of the reception he got here. It wasn’t so much the enthusiasm of the crowd, the cheers, the general outpouring of welcome to him as what he sensed in them, meaning that there was no political significance in this. They weren’t beseeching anything from him; they weren’t asking for anything; it was just enthusiasm for himself as a person.”
Seán Lemass (Taoiseach, 1956-66), 1966

JFK in Life & Death

President Kennedy’s administration lasted little more than a thousand days. On the 22nd November, five months after his visit to Ireland, John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas. He had been the subject of three separate death threats during his visit to Ireland. The man accused of his murder, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, on the day before the president’s funeral. The circumstances surrounding John F. Kennedy’s death remain controversial. Interestingly, Oswald had been aboard the SS Massdam, which docked in Galway Bay en route from Rotterdam to New York in 1961.

Author
By Brendan McGowan, Galway City Museum
Page added
19/06/2013

Comments about this page

  • Hi Adrian,

    Thank you for your inquiry and condolences on your family’s loss. I suggest you get in contact with An Post, the Irish postal service and I will send you more details via email.

    Kind Regards
    Lorna (editor)

    By Lorna Elms (22/06/2020)

  • Dear Sir/Madam,

    Do you know where I can get a copy of the photo that was used in the stamp to commerate JFKs visit to Ireland? The reason I ask is that the soldier in the photo above is my Great Uncle Paddy Daly. His wife, Pat, passed away last weekend and I would like to try and get a copy for my dad who was very close to them (he always stayed with them when travelling to and from London back in the day). He will be 75 next Wednesday and I know it hurt him that he was not able to attend Auntie Pats funeral during the week (although he was able to watch the funeral online after I told him it should be possible during these difficult times). Anyway, I hope you can help me or at least point me in the right direction. I should be flying to Ireland from Germany tomorrow to celebrate his birthday but due to the current circumstances it is not possible unfortunately.

    Thanks and regards,

    Adrian Patton

    By Adrian Patton (18/06/2020)

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