In June of 1963, when American president John F. Kennedy came “home” to Ireland, Brian Brennan lined up with thousands of his fellow Irishmen on O’Connell Street in the centre of Dublin.
They waited for hours to catch a glimpse of a famous descendant of Irish immigrants, to welcome home a long-lost son of Ireland. Finally they were rewarded. “As was the custom in those innocent times, the president rode in an open car through the streets of Dublin, hatless, smiling and waving. When the motorcade passed Nelson’s Pillar, people in the offices above tossed rolls of toilet paper and bus tickets onto the street,” remembers Brennan.
Five months later the news of Kennedy’s shooting death reached Ireland, and the shock felt like a death in the family, he writes. Read Brennan’s column, JFK: The Murdered King in F&O’s Loose Leaf column (available to subscribers or with a $1 day pass to Facts and Opinions.)