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KENNEDY, John F. Typed draft letter signed ("Jack"), as President, TO PRIME MINISTER EAMON DE VALERA, Washington, 22 July 1963. 1 page, 8vo, on White House stationery.
KENNEDY'S IRISH IDYLL: "I SHALL NEVER FORGET THE WONDERFUL RECEPTION GIVEN TO ME IN IRELAND"
JFK's typist (Evelyn Lincoln?) "damonized" the President of Ireland, misspelling his first name with a "D" instead of an "E." "Wrong!!", President Kennedy emphatically writes alongside the error. The words to President De Valera are far more cheerful and gracious: "Mrs. Kennedy was particularly delighted with the beautiful antique silver dish ring that you presented to me on my recent European trip, and which I took directly to Hyannis Port where she and the children are staying for the summer. It truly brought 'a little bit of Ireland' to the Cape, and somewhat alleviated her disappointment in not being able to visit with you and Mrs. de Valera also. Please accept our warm thanks for this very handsome gift, and for the books, so graciously inscribed, that I am most pleased with. I shall never forget the wonderful reception given to me in Ireland - it will always be one of my most pleasant memories and a reminder of the close relations our two countries have had for many years. Mrs. Kennedy joins me in extending best wishes to you and your family and to the people of Ireland."
JFK took his ancestral home by storm on his June 1963 visit, just five months prior to his death. The first American President to visit the country, and the first foreign leader to address the Irish Parliament, Kennedy also had the more personal satisfaction of visiting his ancestral home at Dunganstown in County Wexford, from where his great-great grandfather Patrick Kennedy had migrated to the United States in 1848. The President sat down to tea with some Irish cousins, joking, "Some of the Kennedy's missed the boat and didn't all go to Washington." The journey, he told aides, "was "one of the most moving experiences" of his life.
KENNEDY'S IRISH IDYLL: "I SHALL NEVER FORGET THE WONDERFUL RECEPTION GIVEN TO ME IN IRELAND"
JFK's typist (Evelyn Lincoln?) "damonized" the President of Ireland, misspelling his first name with a "D" instead of an "E." "Wrong!!", President Kennedy emphatically writes alongside the error. The words to President De Valera are far more cheerful and gracious: "Mrs. Kennedy was particularly delighted with the beautiful antique silver dish ring that you presented to me on my recent European trip, and which I took directly to Hyannis Port where she and the children are staying for the summer. It truly brought 'a little bit of Ireland' to the Cape, and somewhat alleviated her disappointment in not being able to visit with you and Mrs. de Valera also. Please accept our warm thanks for this very handsome gift, and for the books, so graciously inscribed, that I am most pleased with. I shall never forget the wonderful reception given to me in Ireland - it will always be one of my most pleasant memories and a reminder of the close relations our two countries have had for many years. Mrs. Kennedy joins me in extending best wishes to you and your family and to the people of Ireland."
JFK took his ancestral home by storm on his June 1963 visit, just five months prior to his death. The first American President to visit the country, and the first foreign leader to address the Irish Parliament, Kennedy also had the more personal satisfaction of visiting his ancestral home at Dunganstown in County Wexford, from where his great-great grandfather Patrick Kennedy had migrated to the United States in 1848. The President sat down to tea with some Irish cousins, joking, "Some of the Kennedy's missed the boat and didn't all go to Washington." The journey, he told aides, "was "one of the most moving experiences" of his life.
