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Biden’s Visit to Ireland, in Pictures

President Biden’s three-day trip will mix diplomacy and personal genealogy as he meets with Irish leaders and traces his own family roots.

President Biden in Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland, on Friday night. Credit...

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Photographs by Kenny Holston

• Published April 12, 2023 Updated April 16, 2023

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — President Biden wound down his trip to Ireland on Friday, making stops at places resonant to his Catholic faith and emotional to him as a father.

Thousands of people stood along the River Moy in Ballina on Friday night, for the chance to see Mr. Biden as he visited St. Muredach’s Cathedral on the river’s banks. Mr. Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, made the bricks that were used to construct the pillars supporting the building’s nave.

The last day of his trip included a stop at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, a sacred shrine for Roman Catholics. He was told by a priest there that a friar who had administered last rites to his eldest son, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015, was living in Knock. The president broke down in tears in a subsequent meeting with the friar, Frank O’Grady.

On Wednesday, President Biden hailed 25 years of relative peace in Northern Ireland in a speech at a Belfast university, urging political leaders to embrace economic possibilities and turn away from violence.

“No matter what divides us, if we look hard enough, there are always areas that are going to bring us together,” Mr. Biden told a small audience at Ulster University in Belfast. “Standing for peace, rejecting political violence must be one of those things.”

The brief stop in Belfast on Wednesday included a short meeting with Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister. On Thursday, he met with the president and prime minister of Ireland.

Mr. Biden visiting the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre’s Family History Research Unit in County Mayo on Friday.

Marine One, the presidential helicopter, carrying Mr. Biden over County Mayo.

Mr. Biden standing with his son Hunter Biden and sister, Valerie Biden Owens, second from right, while looking at a plaque dedicated to his late son, Beau Biden, at Mayo Roscommon Hospice in County Mayo.

People lined the streets with a “Welcome Home Joe” sign as Mr. Biden passed by, en route to tour the basilica at the Knock Shrine in County Mayo.

Mr. Biden touring the basilica in Knock.

Crowd in front of St. Muredach’s Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy in Ballina.

President Biden speaking at the Irish Parliament in Dublin.

Mr. Biden departing the chamber after addressing Ireland’s Parliament.

Mr. Biden before meeting with President Michael Higgins in Dublin.

Mr. Biden with Mr. Higgins.

Mr. Biden reviewing Irish troops in Dublin.

Ringing the Peace Bell, which symbolizes reconciliation after Ireland’s decades-long conflict known as the Troubles.

Mr. Biden meeting with Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar.

Mr. Biden touring Carlingford Castle in County Louth, Ireland.

Mr. Biden speaking to children after arriving at Dublin International Airport.

Speaking about the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at Ulster University in Belfast.

Mr. Biden meeting with the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in Belfast.

Mr. Biden at Ulster University.

Crowds outside the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast as Mr. Biden met with Mr. Sunak.

Mr. Biden disembarking from Air Force One after arriving at R.A.F. Aldergrove, an air base near Belfast.

Mr. Biden was greeted by the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, left, and the American ambassador to Britain, Jane Hartley.

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Day by day, here's where Joe Biden will visit during his Irish trip

US PRESIDENT JOE Biden will soon be landing in Ireland for a four-day whistlestop trip starting tomorrow.

His itinerary includes visits to Belfast, Louth, Dublin and Mayo, including a public speech in Ballina and a meeting with President Michael D. Higgins.

Here’s a day-by-day look at what his plans are for the week.

The first leg of Biden’s visit to Ireland will be in Belfast to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Air Force One is expected to land on Tuesday evening, where Biden will be greeted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In an official statement, the White House said that “President Biden will first travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland from April 11-12 to mark the tremendous progress since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago and to underscore the readiness of the United States to support Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities”.

The American president will deliver a keynote address at Ulster University’s new Belfast campus on Wednesday morning, which the university’s vice-chancellor and president Professor Paul Bartholomew said would be a “very special day” for the institution.

As his visit to Belfast comes to an end, the main stops on Biden’s itinerary on Wednesday will be in Co Louth, where some of his Irish ancestors were from.

It’s expected that he will visit Dundalk and Carlingford, with the chair of Louth County Council saying the county is “thrilled” to welcome him.

“He has close and long-standing ties with the county and the Cooley Peninsula, and we look forward to extending the warmest of welcomes to him,” said Conor Keelan, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council.

“I have no doubt that he will witness a large and welcoming Co Louth gathering.”

Security sources had previously indicated to  The Journal  that Biden would go on a “walkabout” in Dundalk. 

Thursday will mark a busy day for Biden in Dublin as he makes a series of visits to important locations in the capital city, including in Phoenix Park and Leinster House.

Phoenix Park is set to close at 5pm on Wednesday until 5pm on Thursday to accommodate the visit. All gates, including pedestrian gates, will be shut.  

Biden’s day will start with a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin to meet President Michael D. Higgins. The second stop in Phoenix Park will be at Farmleigh House.

The US President will then be escorted across the city centre to Leinster House, where he is expected to make a speech to a joint sitting of the Dáil and Seanad in the afternoon. He will become the fourth US President to do so; John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton previously addressed the Houses.

Access to the building will be heavily restricted during the speech with additional security in place. Media covering his speech from the Dáil gallery will be required to take a supervised antigen test and register in advance for access.

It will be followed by another engagement in the city centre that is believed to be a State reception in Dublin Castle.

The last day of Biden’s Irish tour will see him head west on Friday out to Co Mayo, another county where he has family roots.

He is expected to travel to Knock, with some speculation that he may visit the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation. Government sources have said such a visit is “in the mix” as Biden turned the first sod on the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation project in 2017.

He’ll make a major public appearance in his ancestral home in Ballina, which he first visited in June 2016 as US vice-president.

Now, as president, he will deliver a speech outside St Muredach’s Cathedral on Friday afternoon.

The event is open to the public and anyone who wishes to attend can register  here .

Irish presenter and fundraiser Laurita Blewitt, a third cousin of Biden, told RTÉ Radio One’s Brendan O’Connor programme yesterday that there is “great excitement” around Ballina.

“The whole place is getting a facelift, lots of painting being done and flowerbeds being set. It’s brilliant for the town and great excitement and we’re counting down the days,” Blewitt said. 

“There’s a massive influx of American staff here in Ballina over the last couple of weeks. It’s been getting busier and busier,” she said.

Blewitt, a fundraiser for the Mayo Roscommon Hospice, said that an invitation has been extended to him to pay a visit but that details have not yet been confirmed.

Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally and Christina Finn

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U.S. President Biden to visit Ireland, Northern Ireland next week

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• Political stalemate awaits president in Northern Ireland
• Biden to underscore U.S. support for N.Ireland economy
• Will visit ancestral homes on both coasts of Ireland

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Joe Biden visit latest: US president to wrap up Ireland trip with visit to ancestral home

Joe Biden, the US president, will today conclude his four-day historic trip by travelling to the west of Ireland to make a public address at a cathedral in Co Mayo - the town where some of his ancestors hail from.

Saturday 15 April 2023 00:55, UK

• US leader arrives in Co Mayo for last leg of trip
• Homecoming reception ready for Biden in Ballina 
• Biden bows head before plaque dedicated to son Beau 
• Why Biden's visit could boost his chance at re-election back home | Dominic Waghorn
• What is the Good Friday Agreement?
• Updates from David Blevins, Dominic Waghorn, Stephen Murphy and Ashna Hurynag. Live reporting by Brad Young and (earlier) Bhvishya Patel

The final speech of Joe Biden's visit has ended before he flies back to America tonight.

It has been a trip characterised by folksy stories, nostalgic tributes and a single "gaffe", but read between the lines of the president's visit and you'll find some important diplomacy.

He encouraged, indirectly, the DUP to return to Stormont amid their boycott of the Northern Irish Assembly, while being careful to emphasise that it isn't up to him.

Mr Biden brought the gravitas of an American president to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, stressing how precious peace is and how it must be "nurtured".

The trip "humanised" him and will make him "more relatable" to American voters, a former Ohio State senator said.

And, in the closing moments, being named the "most Irish of all American presidents" by the prime minister will likely be a title Mr Biden is happy to return home with.

Joe Biden says the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is a  "reminder of the importance of peace".

He says the world "stands at an inflection point" that will impact decades to come.

In these moments "we need hope and courage more than ever."

He says the challenges around the world are too great for any one country to meet alone.

The president points to the climate crisis, world hunger and the invasion of Ukraine.

This is a moment to "recommit to progress" and a "greater future" for our children, he adds.

He says he has "never been more optimistic" about what the world can achieve.

The president has taken to the podium and has begun speaking to crowds gathered outside the cathedral on both sides of the river.

Irish and American flags are waving over the heads of those listening to his last speech of a four day visit to the island or Ireland.

He describes the visits he has undertaken throughout the day, including meeting again a priest who gave the last rites to his late son, Beau.

Mr Biden says it "meant the world to me" to be celebrated in the town of Ballina when he won the election.

As he has in other speeches of his visit, the president speaks of his distant relatives, this time from Co Mayo, emphasising the importance of family.

He says the history and future of America and Ireland is shared: "Everything between Ireland and America runs deep."

Leo Varadkar stands on a bright green carpet as he begins speaking, and thanks Mr Biden for choosing the area for such an important part of his visit.

He thanks the US president for "your friendship, your leadership" in Ireland, America and around the world.

In the "darkest days of the country's history", Joe Biden's ancestors left Ireland, which was "starved of rights and freedoms", he says.

Today Co Mayo rededicates itself to "justice and dignity".

"You are the most Irish of all American presidents, not because of what is written on your family tree, but because of what is enshrined in your soul," he concludes.

The president is moments away from speaking.

Joe Biden is soon to speak at St Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, in the final address of his visit to the island of Ireland.

Follow along with all the key moments here live or watch the speech in full above.

Crowds are waiting on the banks of the River Moy to hear what he has to say.

A brick might not seem an obvious gift for a sitting US president, but that's just what Joe Biden has received in Co Mayo.

He was presented with a 200-year-old brick recovered from the fireplace of his family's ancestral home in Ballina.

Bricks have further significance at the site of his speech this evening at St Muredach's Cathedral in Ballina, set to begin soon.

His great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, which helped him buy tickets to sail his family to America in 1851.

The president spent time speaking with expert Brendan Walsh about the background of the Blewitt family today, as well as the history of North Mayo and Irish-American connections, at its Heritage and Genealogical Centre

Huge crowds have gathered along the banks of the River Moy ahead of Joe Biden's address in Ballina.

The town is awash with Irish tricolours and American flags and a green stage is set for the US leader's speech at around 9pm.

There are sniffer dogs amid a visible security presence, while Garda divers were seen in boats on the river.

Music has been blaring from loudspeakers as excitement builds, ahead of live performances by The Chieftains and The Coronas.

We reported earlier that Joe Biden broke down in tears after an emotional meeting with a priest who gave the last rites to his son Beau - who died in 2015 with brain cancer (see post at 5.03pm).

Now, Father O'Grady, the priest who performed the ceremony for Mr Biden's son, has spoken of the emotional encounter and said he had not seen the US president since the death of his son.

He told Irish broadcaster RTE: "I was very surprised when I got a phone call to say the president wanted to see me.

"It was a delightful 10 minutes with him. I hadn't seen him really in eight years since Beau died. His son Hunter was there too, so we had a real reunion.

"He certainly misses his son. He has been grieving a lot, but I think the grief is kind of going down a bit. We talked a little bit about how grief can take several years."

The priest went on to say that Mr Biden was "very impressed with Knock".

"As a man of great faith, it really hit home very hard to him about his son's passing when he comes to Knock, because we talk about mysteries of life and death in a place like Knock, all the time here," he added.

"He is a man of great faith, and it is just a coincidence that I happened to meet him."

Joe Biden's visit to Ireland will "build on the foundations" that exist between the countries and strengthen ties in a divisive world, Dara Calleary, Ireland's minister of state for enterprise, trade and employment, has said.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Calleary said Ballina was "bursting with pride this evening" and it was good to see the town get the recognition it deserves.

He also said he earlier had the honour of welcoming Mr Biden at Knock Airport and the president was "incredibly excited" about the trip.

The Irish politician went on to say Mr Biden's "message of unity" was very important at this present time.

"We live in a very challenging world and it is important that where we have friendships, where we have a community of countries, such as the USA and Ireland, that we strengthen the community links," he said.

"Tonight is a community celebrating one of its most famous sons as we are doing in Ballina.

"The community between America and Ireland, between America and the EU and America and the UK is extremely strong but it needs to be strong in this very divisive world.

"This visit will build on those strengths and build on those foundations that are already there."

President Joe Biden has arrived at the North Mayo Heritage Centre at Enniscoe House near Crossmolina.

Mr Biden is due to learn more about the genealogy of his family and his North Mayo roots at the site.

The centre will be the penultimate stop of his tour of Co Mayo ahead of his speech in Ballina this evening.

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Explained: The full itinerary for Joe Biden's visit to Ireland

President Joe Biden's visit to the island of Ireland starts on Tuesday, making him the eighth US president to visit Ireland.

Mr Biden is visiting to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, with the trip set to take in Belfast, Dublin, Mayo and Louth.

The 45th US president's family ancestry can be traced back to Ballina, Co Mayo, and the Cooley Peninsula, Co Louth.

Here, we take a look at the itinerary for his visit.

Tuesday, April 11th

Mr Biden is expected to arrive in Belfast late in the evening. He will be greeted by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak. He will stay the night at an undisclosed location in the North, reportedly a Belfast city centre hotel, with some suggesting the Grand Central Hotel on Bedford Street.

Wednesday, April 12th

Mr Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Mr Sunak on Wednesday morning.

The meeting is expected to take place at the Belfast city centre hotel hosting the US president.

He will then travel to Ulster University , where he will deliver a speech at the university's newly opened campus.

Vice-chancellor and president of Ulster University Professor Paul Bartholomew said it would be a significant day for the institution.

“We are looking forward to what will be a very special day in the University’s history, and to hosting President Biden on his first visit to Northern Ireland since becoming president,” he said.

“As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, Ulster University, across all three of our campuses, is looking forward to preparing the next generation of civic, business and societal leaders.”

After his speech at Ulster University, Mr Biden will travel to Co Louth, where his great-grandfather James Finnegan was born.

In Louth, Mr Biden will first head to the Cooley Peninsula to visit Carlingford. He has a number of distant relatives here, and he visited Lily Finnegans pub when in Ireland as vice president in 2016.

Mr Biden spoke fondly of the pub afterwards, but it is unclear whether another stop here will be included.

He is expected to visit Carlingford Castle, a Norman castle that was built circa 1190.

Mr Biden will then visit Dundalk for a walkabout of the town centre.

In a statement, Louth County Council said: "There is expected to be high security in operation and people are being advised not to carry bags of any sort, as is normal in such circumstances. Residents and visitors are very welcome to attend and celebrate the historic occasion of a US President coming back to visit his ancestral county."

Councillor Conor Keelan, Cathaoirleach, Louth County Council said: “We are delighted that Joe Biden is visiting Louth, this time as President of the United States. I expect that he will receive a very warm welcome once more in Carlingford and then in Dundalk, where I have no doubt that we will see a great crowd in the town centre tomorrow afternoon to mark the historic visit.”

After his visit in 2016, Mr Biden was awarded the Freedom of Co Louth. He remains the only individual to hold this honour.

Mr Biden will then return to Dublin, where he will stay overnight.

Thursday, April 13th

At a White House press briefing , national security council co-ordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Mr Biden will meet President Michael D Higgins on Thursday.

“Following that ceremony, he will meet again with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, whom the president just hosted here for St Patrick’s Day.

“In both meetings, the president will discuss our close cooperation on the full range of shared global challenges."

After his meeting with President Higgins, Mr Biden will become the fourth US president to address the Oireachtas.

He follows John F Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in 1995.

On Thursday evening, Mr Biden will attend a banquet dinner in Dublin Castle.

Friday, April 14th

Mr Biden will fly into Ireland West Airport to spend the final day of his visit in Co Mayo.

He will visit the Knock Shrine and the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre’s family history research unit before going on to Ballina.

He will finish his visit with a speech at St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina.

Mr Kirby said the president’s great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827.

“Those bricks were used to construct and support the great cathedral and help Edward afford to buy tickets for himself and for his family to sail to America decades later in 1851.

“The president is very much looking forward to that trip and to celebrating the deep historic ties that our two countries and our two people continue to share.”

Gates will open at 5.30pm and the programme begins at 7pm. This is a free public event and entrance will be on a first come, first served basis.

The time for Mr Biden's speech is not confirmed, but it could be as late as 9pm.

You can register to attend here Tinyurl.com/biden-ballina .

After the speech, Mr Biden will travel to Dublin Airport to fly back to the United States.

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In pictures: US presidents visiting Ireland, from JFK to Trump

US president Joe Biden will arrive in Ireland on Tuesday as he begins a visit marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The itinerary of Mr Biden's four-day trip, which will include stops in Co Louth and Co Mayo from where his ancestors hail, follows that of other US presidential visits.

From John F Kennedy meeting his Wexford relatives in 1963, to Donald Trump spending time at his Co Clare golf resort in 2019, US presidents have crossed the pond to connect with Irish people, pay homage to their heritage, and discuss the important issues of the day.

Here are some of the most memorable moments from those past trips.

John F Kennedy

Sixty years ago, John F Kennedy described his trip to Ireland as the best four days of his life.

Taking place five months before his assassination, Kennedy became the first foreign leader to address a joint sitting of the Oireachtas, and his speech also marked the first time cameras were allowed into the chamber to record proceedings.

All eight of Kennedy's great-grandparents migrated to Boston from Ireland during the famine of the late 1840s.

"It took 115 years to make this trip, and 6,000 miles, and three generations," he said in a speech by the River Barrow near one of his ancestral homes in Co Wexford.

Richard Nixon

On a State visit to Ireland in October 1970, Richard Nixon arrived in Shannon and came to his ancestral home in Timahoe, Co Kildare. While there he visited a quaker cemetery where his mother's ancestors are buried.

The visit was marred by some protests against the Vietnam war. One man threw eggs at the presidential motorcade as it passed through Dublin city centre, forcing a waving Nixon to duck back inside the car for cover.

Nixon's wife, Pat, was also of Irish heritage and visited some of her relatives in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.

#OTD 10/3/1970 The Nixons arrived in Ireland. President Nixon was only the second American President (after JFK) to visit Ireland. (Image: The Presidential Motorcade en route to Kilfrush House in Limerick from Shannon Free Airport. WHPO-4662-12A) pic.twitter.com/7MhyiAAahD Advertisement — RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) October 3, 2018

#OTD 10/5/1970 President Nixon being presented with a portfolio of reproduction documents concerning his ancestors by the historian of the Society of Friends in Ireland, Mrs. Denis Goodbody, at the Quaker cemetery in Timahoe, County Kildare, Ireland. (Image: WHPO-4688-03) pic.twitter.com/RdrghNL2Mx Advertisement — RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) October 5, 2019

#OTD 10/5/1970 - President Nixon standing by the side of a road in Ireland during a brief stop of the Presidential motorcade (WHPO-4685-04) pic.twitter.com/vzOhATqFGh — RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) October 5, 2016

#Nixon50 #OTD 10/5/1970 President Nixon’s motorcade traveled from Timahoe through the towns of Kildare (shown here), Newbridge, and Naas, County Kildare, Ireland. (Images: WHPO-4678-12 & 30) pic.twitter.com/odsHBc4e8E — RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) October 5, 2020

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan visited Ireland in June 1984 alongside with his wife, Nancy. He addressed the Oireachtas and was given Freedom of the City of Galway.

His visit was memorable for a photograph of the president drinking a pint in John O'Farrell's pub in Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, where his great-grandfather Michael Regan was born in 1829.

Renamed The Ronald Reagan for the visit, the entire interior of the bar – including the counter, the wall-length display cabinet and the beer taps – was transported to The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California in 2004.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton visited Ireland three times during his presidency. He was greeted by ecstatic crowds in Belfast and Derry when he became the first US president to visit Northern Ireland as well as the Republic in 1995.

He returned to Ireland in 1998 following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing.

Clinton made a final visit in December 2000 as his presidency came to end.

George W Bush

President George W Bush's first visit to Ireland came in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, as he met British prime minister Tony Blair at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, in April 2003. He also held meetings with taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Northern Irish political leaders amid anti-war protests.

He returned to the Republic in June 2004 for an EU-US Summit held at Dromoland Castle in Co Clare. Some 10,000 people turned out for a 'Stop Bush' rally in Dublin.

President Bush made a short, low-key visit to Shannon in 2006 to visit US troops serving in Iraq.

He made a final trip to Northern Ireland in 2008 when he met the DUP's Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama kicked off a 2011 European trip in Ireland, drinking a Guinness in his ancestor's home village in Co Offaly and giving a memorable public address in College Green, Dublin.

"I'm Barack Obama, from the Moneygall Obamas. And I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way," said Obama.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump spent a low-key two days in Ireland in June 2019, almost entirely at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare.

While Trump made no appearances open to the public and met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar only in Shannon Airport on his arrival, his sons Eric and Donald Jr toured the pubs in Doonbeg and bought drinks for locals.

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Which US Presidents have visited Ireland?

Seven different presidents have visited ireland while in office, including president john f. kennedy, who famously became the first serving president to visit ireland in 1963. .

US President Joe Biden will make his first visit to Ireland as president next week, but he is by no means the first sitting US President to visit the Emerald Isle. 

Seven different presidents have visited Ireland while in office, including President John F. Kennedy , who famously became the first serving president to visit Ireland in 1963. 

IrishCentral took a look at all of the previous presidential visits to Ireland ahead of Biden's visit in April. 

US President Joe Biden 🇺🇸 is coming Home to #Ireland 🇮🇪 Building on a rich history of US Presidents being welcomed to Ireland, bringing a message of Peace, Partnership & Prosperity 🤝 This is #GlobalIreland 🌍 🇮🇪 Info 👉 https://t.co/iJkENJjmJ1 @POTUS @WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/JGTY6rWjYI — Irish Foreign Ministry (@dfatirl) April 5, 2023

John F. Kennedy

Kennedy greets the crowd during his visit to Ireland. Getty

Kennedy's historic visit to Ireland took place in June 1963, just over four months before his assassination in Dallas the following November. 

JFK visited his ancestral homeland in County Wexford during the visit in addition to visiting Dublin, Galway, Cork, and Limerick. 

Kennedy also became the first foreign head of state to address the Dáil during the four-day visit, which he later referred to as "the best four days of his life". 

The four-day visit became one of the most important cultural events to take place in Ireland in the 1960s and helped solidify relations between Ireland and the United States. 

A US diplomat remarked that Ireland was "hoarse from cheering" by the time Kennedy left. 

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Richard Nixon

Nixon on October 3, 1970.

Richard Nixon undertook a three-day state visit to Ireland in October 1970, meeting with then-Taoiseach Jack Lynch.

Ireland changed dramatically in the seven years between Kennedy's homecoming and Nixon's visit, with student protests taking place in the street and the early days of the Troubles unfolding in Northern Ireland. 

Nixon paid his respects to his ancestors at a Quaker graveyard in County Kildare, but his visit was received with far less fanfare than Kennedy's seven years previous. 

Ronald Reagan

Reagan celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Neither Gerald Ford nor Jimmy Carter visited Ireland as President, meaning 14 years passed between Nixon's visit and the next presidential visit in June 1984 when Ronald Reagan made a five-day visit . 

Reagan met with Irish President Patrick Hillery and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, while he also visited his ancestral homeland in Ballyporeen, County Tipperary. 

Nixon made an address in the village on June 3 and discussed the "Irish-American tradition". He later paid a visit to a local pub that had been renamed "The Ronald Reagan Lounge" in his honor. 

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Bill Clinton 

Bill Clinton meets Gerry Adams his visit to Northern Ireland in 1995. Public Domain

The first sitting president to visit Ireland on more than one occasion, Bill Clinton first visited Ireland in December 1995 after his historic visit to Derry before visiting again in September 1998 and December 2000. 

Clinton met with Irish President Mary Robinson and Taoiseach John Bruton during his first visit in 1995 and subsequently met with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern during his visit in September 1998. 

Clinton made several public addresses during his latter two visits and played an incredibly important role in the Northern Ireland peace process. 

George W Bush

George Bush and Bertie Ahern on St. Patrick's Day in 2002. Getty

Bush also visited Ireland on more than one occasion, visiting in June 2004 and again in February 2006. 

Neither of Bush's visits was an official state visit. 

He visited in 2004 to attend a EU-US summit in Dromoland Castle, briefly meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. 

The visit was marked by widespread protests against the war in Iraq. 

Bush only spent 12 hours in Ireland in February 2006, meeting with US Marines who had stopped at Shannon Airport en route to Iraq. 

Barack Obama 

May 23, 2011: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in Hayes Bar in Barack\'s ancestral home of Moneygall, Co Offaly.

Obama made a 24-hour state visit to Ireland in May 2011, visiting his ancestral homeland in Moneygall, County Offaly. 

Obama also met with President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Enda Kenny during the visit in addition to making a public address at College Green in Dublin. 

Obama's visit left a lasting legacy on Ireland and led to the creation of the infamous Barack Obama Plaza service station in County Offaly. 

Donald Trump 

Donald Trump meets Leo Varadkar in June 2019. Rolling News

Donald Trump spent a night in his golf resort in Doonbeg, County Clare , after a state visit to the United Kingdom in June 2019. 

Trump played a round of golf at his luxury hotel and met with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during the short visit. 

He also received a warm welcome from the residents of Doonbeg during his short stay in Ireland. 

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Why are US presidents so drawn to Ireland?

The visits are acts of political theatre with american audiences clearly in mind, with the blueprint established by kennedy.

US president Joe Biden at Ulster University in Belfast on Wednesday. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Joe Biden is the eighth sitting US president to visit Ireland since 1963. This interest in Ireland by American presidents far outweighs the country’s geostrategic or economic significance to the United States. So why do they come? The common and largely correct answer to that question is electoral politics. With more than 40 million Americans claiming Irish ancestry, a trip to the old country comes with a certain obvious electoral appeal.

John F Kennedy established the formula during his historic visit in 1963, visiting with distant cousins on the Kennedy family homestead in Dunganstown, Co Wexford. The Dunganstown legacy provided a blueprint for subsequent visits by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and now Biden to follow, locating their roots in small-town, rural Ireland. These visits are acts of political theatre with American audiences clearly in mind but with some complexity in how each is expected to play with American audiences.

John F Kennedy poses with relatives in Dunganstown, Co Wexford, on his visit to Ireland in 1963

American presidents are viewed by those who vote them into office as symbols of national identity. Until Kennedy’s election in 1960, occupants of the White House routinely grounded their biography in a mixture of Protestant faith and ancestral roots in the early republic, with log cabins and frontier credentials featuring prominently from the age of Andrew Jackson. Kennedy’s Catholicism and immigrant background broke the mould in 1960. JFK had re-election and American voters in mind when he decided to visit Ireland, but not necessarily Irish Americans, whose vote he could already largely rely on.

The Dunganstown visit was instead a recasting of the log cabin narrative, an orchestrated effort to expand the definition of core American identity from the frontier and the heartland to include the masses of European immigrants who had arrived in the US between the Irish famine and end of the first World War. Kennedy was crafting what a later commentator called the Ellis Island narrative.

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President Richard Nixon during his visit to Ireland in 1970

Nixon, with one eye on re-election and a potential challenge from the Kennedy dynasty, hoped to replicate the magic of JFK’s visit and expand his appeal to traditionally Democratic white ethnic voters in the US. His expectations were not met in what was aptly dubbed in a later RTÉ radio documentary “the forgotten visit”. Headlines about the egg-throwing antics of anti-Vietnam war protesters upstaged Nixon’s photo op at the graveside of his Milhous ancestors in Timahoe, Co Kildare. The 18th-century migration story of Nixon’s Quaker ancestors fit neither the Ellis Island narrative nor conventional understanding at that time of what it meant to be Irish American.

US president Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in the Ronald Reagan Pub in Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, in 1984. Photograph: Pat Langan

Reagan’s 1984 visit, in contrast, was more successful. Arriving in the run up to his re-election campaign, Reagan’s story conformed more easily with the narrative that Kennedy had succeeded in situating in the mainstream of American identity. The visit was tailor made to appeal to the so-called Reagan Democrats, the same white ethnic voters that Nixon had targeted who were increasingly abandoning the Democratic Party for the GOP. The carefully choreographed Ballyporeen portion of the trip, shielded from the vocal protests in Dublin against US policy in Central America, succeeded in positioning Reagan at the heart of the Ellis Island narrative.

President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton in College Green in Dublin on their visit to Ireland in 1995. Photograph: RollingNews.ie

The three visits of Bill Clinton in the 1990s temporarily interrupted the Dunganstown legacy, replacing ancestral pageantry with a substantial presidential initiative to broker a peace deal in Northern Ireland. The anniversary of the resulting Belfast Agreement forms the primary context for Biden’s visit. The decision to break with the traditional US policy of deferring to London on all matters related to Northern Ireland and to throw the full weight of his presidency behind the peace process by visiting Ireland north and south stemmed from a commitment Clinton made during the primary campaign in 1992 that was calculated to secure the support of powerful Irish American figures in the Democratic Party for his nomination. American votes were still a factor in Clinton’s Irish trips.

Former US president George W Bush with Bertie Ahern in the grounds of Dromoland Castle in Co Clare in 2004. Photograph: PA/Maxwell's

The same could not be said for the brief stopovers in Ireland of George W Bush in 2004 and Donald Trump in 2018, Bush for a European Union summit at Dromoland Castle and Trump to visit his golf resort in Doonbeg. Barack Obama, however, revived the Dunganstown legacy with its implicit appeal to American voters when he arrived in Ireland in 2011. Obama’s visit to Moneygall was similar in so many respects to Reagan’s earlier stopover in Ballyporeen, right down to the pint-sipping photo op in the local pub.

US president Donald Trump seated beside his wife Melania and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the restaurant at his golf resort in Doonbeg in 2019. Photograph: Stephen Kearon

Addressing a massive crowd in College Green, Obama nonetheless offered new twist on the Ellis Island narrative. In comparing the experience of his father leaving a small town in Kenya in search of opportunity in America to the journey across the Atlantic made by his great-great-great maternal ancestors, Obama offered a more expansive version of the story that Kennedy and Reagan had told. Obama’s visit was less about highlighting his Irish ancestry than about building a new multicultural narrative of immigration and American identity that extended beyond the white European funnel of Ellis Island. For a president whose American identity was doubted by so many white voters in the US, Ireland offered a familiar stage on which to make this appeal.

President Barack Obama and taoiseach Enda Kenny at College Green, Dublin, in 2011. Photograph: Eric Luke

With an approval rating consistently below 50 per cent and a re-election campaign looming on the horizon, historical precedent might point to this being an opportune time for Biden to visit Ireland. Reagan and Obama went on to secure re-election the year after their visits and Kennedy likely would have done so too had he not been assassinated. Biden’s sojourn in Ballina will surely ring with echoes of Dunganstown but the return on such political pageantry is no longer clear. The Irish vote, like every other constituency in the US, is deeply fractured along the fault line of culture-war politics, with one of the most divisive issues being immigration. Obama’s College Green speech highlighted the complexity of an issue which can no longer be framed as neatly in rural Ireland as Kennedy and Reagan so readily did.

David P Kilroy is chair of the department of humanities and politics at Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, Nova Southeastern University

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A U.S. envoy visits Hanoi days after Putin, saying US-Vietnam trust is at 'all-time high'

A senior U.S. diplomat has held talks in Vietnam and said that the trust between the two countries is at an “all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi

HANOI, Vietnam -- A senior U.S. diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said that the trust between the two countries was at an “all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin's state visit to Hanoi.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink insisted that his trip was unrelated to Putin's visit on Thursday . Vietnam had elevated the United States to its highest diplomatic status, comprehensive strategic partner, last year, putting it at the same level as China and Russia. The elevation of the U.S. ties suggested that Vietnam wanted to hedge its friendships as Western companies look to diversify their supply chains away from China.

Kritenbrink was speaking at a briefing for selected media in Hanoi. A recording of the interaction was reviewed by The Associated Press.

Putin's trip to Hanoi had triggered a sharp rebuke from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, which said that “no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities,” referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year.

The American East Asia envoy echoed those concerns but said that he made it clear to Vietnamese officials that the “main reason” for his trip was the partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam. He met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

“Only Vietnam can decide how best to safeguard its sovereignty and advance its interests,” he said, while stressing the economic relations between Vietnam and its largest export market, the U.S. Trade between the two countries was $111 billion in 2023 — compared to just $3.6 billion between Vietnam and Russia.

Russia remains important for Vietnam, not just because it is an old ally from the Cold War era, but also because it continues to be its biggest defense supplier and Russian oil exploration technologies help maintain Vietnam’s sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea.

Kritenbrink said that China's increasingly assertive actions in pressing its claims to virtually the entire South China Sea were a cause of “great concern” for the region and the world.

The territorial disputes, which involve China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, have long been seen as an Asian flashpoint that could pit the U.S. against China if the high seas confrontations escalate into an armed conflict.

Vietnam said Friday that it was ready to hold talks with the Philippines to settle their overlapping claims to the undersea continental shelf in the South China Sea in a diplomatic approach that contrasts with China.

“We think that China’s actions, particularly its recent actions, around the Second Thomas Shoal, vis-à-vis the Philippines have been irresponsible, aggressive, dangerous, deeply destabilizing,” Kritenbrink said. He stressed that defense treaties between the U.S. and its ally the Philippines were “ironclad.”

The Philippines said Friday it has no plan to invoke its mutual defense treaty with the U.S. after the Chinese coast guard reportedly rammed, boarded and used machetes and axes to damage two Philippine navy boats in a chaotic faceoff that injured Filipino navy personnel.

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