Kennedy clan comes home to rekindle a transatlantic love affair

JFK had pledged to come back the following spring — half a century later his family brought a touch of Camelot home again.

The slain president’s daughter, Caroline, exuded an ever-present easy smile as more than 30 of her relatives returned to the old Wexford homestead to rededicate a transatlantic love affair.

As always, a new generation of Kennedys seemed ready to grab the torch and draw attention to themselves, and as Wexford went wild on reminiscences of Jun 1963, Robert Kennedy’s grandchildren leapt into the limelight.

Max and Chris delivered a joint speech before the tree planting at the arboretum dedicated to their great uncle which set out their wishlist for the trip. Chris said: “We wanted to drink a real Irish drink in a real Irish pub. We wanted to give a speech. And we wanted to know, to really know, an Irish girl, and after today’s speech we don’t need help with the first two, but we still need help with the third.”

Given that their great uncle JFK is far more famous today for his, shall we say, romantic conquests than the Peace Corps or the Cuban missile crisis, it was a humanising moment in a day dripping heavy with talk of “divinity” and duty.

Recalling the attitude of a long distant 1963 Ireland to the Kennedy visit, Brian Hayes, the junior finance minister, remembered his mother’s recollection: “It was like a god had come amongst us.”

Few politicians could ever match the oratorical skills of JFK, but in his address to mark the opening of a centre dedicated to the late president’s Dunganstown family roots, Taoiseach Enda Kenny did manage to lift one member of the audience off his feet — unfortunately it was a soldier in the eight-strong honour guard passing out backwards.

As soldiers and officials carried the unconscious squadie past the podium a few feet from him, Mr Kenny went on as if nothing had happened.

But when it came to the ribbon cutting, Mr Kenny was forced to make an executive decision and wisely refused to use the giant 2ft-long gold scissors — which would not have looked out of place in Father Ted — instead handing them to Brendan Howlin, while the Taoiseach made do with a normal pair.

Oh, how that picture of Mr Howlin holding gold scissors nearly half as big as himself will come back to haunt the public expenditure and reform minister as he draws up the cuts list for the budget in October.

After that it was through to the new centre and a recreation of the spread laid on for JFK 50 years ago in the courtyard.

As the ornate silver teapot glistened in the sunshine, a beaming Mr Howlin joked: “Be careful with that, it has to go back afterwards — times are tough, remember.”

Caroline, who possesses a compelling mix of serenity and star quality, was centre of attention as she toured the visitors’ centre, her presence made more poignant by the giant black and white images of her father cuddling her as a child just months before his assassination in Nov 1963.

She and her late brother John had returned to the homestead four years after the shooting to play barefoot with their Irish cousins, but this trip was intended to leave a different footprint in history.

It was also clearly, like the Michelle Obama visit, a golden opportunity to market Brand Emerald Isle to the 35m Americans who claim affinity with these shores.

The picture-postcard scenes finally won out after storm clouds and sunshine had battled for supremacy over the south-eastern skies all day — for as the eternal flame reached New Ross by boat, a beautifully warm summer evening exploded across the packed quayside.

The 1,000 days of JFK’s presidency are locked in mythology by his followers as “Camelot”, but famously, he said the four most enjoyable were spent on that trip to Ireland, when he told ecstatic well-wishers: “And I certainly will come back in springtime.”

A rendezvous with death ensured that springtime never flowered, but now Wexford has an eternal flame in his memory to light all seasons by.