When Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963, we were proud of him
for being the first Irish-American and the first Catholic to be elected to the
office of President of the United States. However, Kennedy and his brother
Robert played a large part in advancing the rights of black Americans.
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| President John F. Kennedy at the US Embassy in the Phoenix Park, now the Ambassador's Residence 27 June 1963 |
Kennedy took many subtle steps to improve the civil rights
situation in the US, such as bringing law suits against local officials that
obstructed African-Americans trying to register to vote and asking the Washington
football team to vacate their federally-funded studio unless they removed the
colour bar from their recruitment policy. It was Kennedy that was in power when
the Birmingham campaign took place and when marshals had to be sent to escort
James Meredith into the all-white University of Mississippi. Kennedy sent 500
marshals to protect Meredith – 200 of these marshals were injured and two were
shot by pro-segregationists.
Kennedy was also the first president to appoint an African
American to a senior position in the White House staff. On 10 November 1960,
Andrew Hatcher became Associate Press Secretary to Kennedy and only he and
Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary, were seen behind Kennedy when he gave his
first news conference in 1961 after taking up office.
Fifty years later, an African-American claimed the most powerful post in the White House when Barack Obama was elected as
President of the United States.
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| President Barack Obama in Dublin 23 May 2011 |
To find out more about Kennedy's visit to Ireland, check out our digital book covering those four days, President John F. Kennedy Visits Ireland in 1963, available on the iTunes Store for €9.99.
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