White House plans omitted the Rebel County. But John F Kennedy insisted on visiting Cork

On the 60th anniversary of his assassination, we look at how John F Kennedy insisted on a visit to Cork when he made a famed trip to Ireland in 1963 — just months before he was killed

President John FKennedy at Cork City Hall with Lord Mayor of Cork Sean Casey. File picture

White House planners did not include Cork in the first draft itinerary they prepared for President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's famous visit to Ireland in June 1963.

But that was quickly changed one day after the president called his cigar-smoking press secretary Pierre Salinger into his office in Washington.