State papers: Joe Kennedy told Éamon de Valera Irish visit was happiest moment in JFK's life 

US president John F Kennedy greeting children at his ancestral home at Dunganstown, Co Wexford on June 28, 1963. His father later wrote to President Éamon de Valera expressing his gratitude for the welcome he received, especially in Co Wexford. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

The father of the late US president, John F Kennedy, told President Éamon de Valera that one of the happiest moments in his son’s life was the warm reception he received from the Irish people during a State visit to Ireland in 1963.

A former ambassador to the UK, Joe Kennedy wrote to the Irish president to express his family’s profound gratitude for the decision to name an arboretum in Wexford in honour of his son — who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, just a few weeks after his return from Ireland.

Joe Kennedy’s private letter, part of newly-released State papers from the National Archives, showed how Mr Kennedy said the John F Kennedy Memorial Park in Wexford — near the Kennedy ancestral home in Dunganstown, Co Wexford — would forever serve as a symbol of the US president’s deep love for Ireland.

US president John F Kennedy's motorcade makes its way through a sea of well-wishers in Cork in June 1963. In his letter to Éamon de Valera, JFK's father, Joe Kennedy, also highlighted the participation of Irish Army cadets at his funeral. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

Joe Kennedy, who lost four of his children in tragic circumstances, wrote movingly about the importance of Irish heritage to his late son.

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“From president Kennedy’s early boyhood in our Irish neighbourhood in Boston to that solemn day in November when the Irish Guards paid final respects at his graveside, his Irish heritage was central to his life,” his father wrote.

He added: “One of the happiest and most memorable events in our son’s life was his visit to Ireland in 1963. He was deeply moved by the warm welcome from the citizens of Co Wexford, the home of his forefathers.”

The files show letters of thanks were also sent to President de Valera by the US president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, and his brother, senator Edward Kennedy.

The late president’s wife expressed how much the Irish memorial meant to her and her children, and described the decision to establish the park in Wexford as profoundly emotional for his grieving family.

A guard of honour was provided by the Irish Army's 37th cadet class at the grave of John F Kennedy during his funeral at Arlington Cemetery in Virgina. Picture: US Army

“It will be a memorial that will forever touch our hearts, alive as he will always be for us in his beloved Ireland,” she told Mr de Valera.

“He was Irish and of nothing was he more proud.”

Senator Kennedy claimed the late US president himself “would have been deeply moved and honoured by this tribute by the Irish people whom he loved so dearly”.

The John F Kennedy Park and Arboretum is now one of the top tourist attractions in the South East, seeing almost 120,000 visitors in 2023.