Diarmaid Ferriter: The Irish debt to John F Kennedy
JFK paved the way for his successors to come to Ireland, but he also embraced his dual identity
What do the Irish people owe John F Kennedy? A hell of a lot. To some extent, he was their success story. He reached the very top of American politics. He turned what was a calamitous event for his ancestors – the Famine, when his great-grandfather came over to Massachusetts – into a powerful narrative and he showed how that journey of exile and voyage could be turned into a success story.
Kennedy ...
