There is a flame that has been burning, since November 25, 1963, a flame that has never gone out. That flame was lit by Jacqueline Kennedy. As the burial service of her husband drew to a close, she took a light from the candle of a nearby soldier, knelt down, and said goodbye to John F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. The President's brothers Bobby and Ted, then symbolically lit the flame after her.
Who can forget the scenes from that day, forged in our memories, of a young Caroline Kennedy standing with her mother Jackie and uncle Bobby as her little brother, John F Kennedy Jr. stepped forward to give a final salute to his father, as the casket passed through the crowd, draped in the American flag. It was John F. Kennedy Jnr's third birthday and the day his father was buried. It was a day the world would never forget. He was a President of hope and patriotism, who had spirit and ideals and he would be sorely missed.
He was also the first Irish Catholic President of the United States, and the first American President ever to visit Ireland, though many have tried to emulate the visit since. Barack Obama's visit in 2011 is probably the closest any have come to capturing the Kennedy spirit of "Yes we can". It seems fitting that he is in Ireland this very week, with the G8 summit, along with many other influential leaders.
This week marks the 50th anniversary of President John F Kennedy's visit to Ireland in 1963- a journey that brought him back to his ancestral homeland in New Ross, County Wexford. Ireland at that time was just beginning to emerge from a very dark period in the 50's and the President's message to the people of Ireland was one of spirit and hope.
To mark the anniversary of John F Kennedy's visit a special ceremony is taking place in Arlington cemetery today, with members of the Kennedy family, the Peace Corps and Irish dignataries present at the late President's grave.
Minister Paul Kehoe, and Congressman Joe Kennedy III -grandson of Bobby Kennedy- will each make an oration at the grave side. Members of the Defence Force will pay tribute to the President, and a wreath will be laid at his grave. Amhrán na bhFiann, and The Star Spangled Banner, will fill the air. Then, the Kennedy torch will be lit, from the eternal flame. This flame will then travel across the Atlantic, that same water that John F Kennedy's ancestors crossed so many years ago. We will be there for Newstalk, bringing you details of every moment- from Arlington to New Ross, on what is sure to be an historic week.
Members of the Kennedy family, including his sister and former ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, his daughter Caroline, and her son Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of the late President, will travel to Ireland for a ceremony in New Ross, the ancestral Kennedy homestead. There, this Saturday, they will light a flame to commemorate John F Kennedy's visit to Ireland 50 years ago, in honour of the late President, and as a symbol of hope for Irish emigrants. The flame is going to be placed on the Quays in New Ross, where President Kennedy gave a speech in 1963. In his speech the President talked of emigration, of his own family's story and of his delight at being back in Ireland, “I want to express my pleasure at being back from whence I came..."
When President Kennedy was in Ireland he made a great many speeches, joined in the sing songs and made impromptu visits to distant cousins. He was in his element, and for those four days he captured the hearts and minds of the Irish people. In one address he remarked, "last night somebody sang a song, the words of which I am sure you know, of 'come back to Erin, Mavaureen, Mavaureen. Come back again to the land of thy birth. Come back in the springtime Mavaureen.' This is not the land of my birth, but it is the land for which I hold the greatest affection, and I certainly will come back in the springtime."
As we all know, there was no springtime to follow for John Fitzgerald Kennedy, as shots fired from the grassy null in Dallas on the 22nd of November, brought the young President's life to an end at the age of 46.
A dark winter followed, as the people of America mourned a President they loved, one who had brought hope and vitality to the White House. In the days that followed John F Kennedy's funeral, 50,000 people came to visit his grave each day.
Perhaps John F Kennedy will keep that promise with his return, once more, to the land from whence he came. Following this dark winter of economic turmoil, a time when our core values have been tested, just as John F Kennedy gave hope to the people of Ireland in 1963, maybe in this, his return, by way of the flame, he will bring hope once more, in that metaphorical springtime of which he spoke.
The President joked in his speech on the quays that if his ancestors had stayed in Ireland, he may have been working at the factory in Dunganstown. Instead, 115 years after his great grandfather had left the shores of New Ross, in search of a better life, John F Kennedy returned to Wexford as one of the world's most influential men.
In 1848, Patrick Kennedy must have mulled over the decision a hundred times: what would it mean to leave Ireland, to leave the only home he'd ever known? How bad must things have been for him to decide that the boat into the unknown was his best option? What if he hadn't left that day, he'd missed the boat, had a change of heart, or been taken ill, like so many others at that time. Little did he know that that decision would change the course of history for the entire world.
In summing up his trip to Ireland John F Kennedy said, "...So Ireland is a very special place. It has fulfilled in the past a very special role. It is in a very real sense the mother of a great many people, a great many millions of people, and in a sense, a great many nations."
As the flame is lit in New Ross this week, it will burn for all the people who leave Ireland, every day. I hope that it will bring hope to their families who wave them goodbye, to those who stay behind, to their brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers and I hope that it will give strength to Irish emigrants everywhere, knowing that there is a flame lighting for them, on that quay in New Ross, ready to welcome them home.
Who knows how their decision might change the course of history, and let us hope they too remember from whence they came.
