August 2, 2013
Wednesday evening the National Library held their final lecture in a series of JFK Homecoming inspired presentations. Mike Cronin, the Academic Director for BC-Ireland, gave a talk entitled, “How nice it is just to be Irish: President Kennedy’s trip home.” He spoke to the contextual importance of JFK’s 1963 trip, even though it was not exactly a politically charged one. Cronin talked about how Kennedy visited Ireland when it was in the midst of modernizing and how television coverage really framed this. In all, the Irish were extremely happy with themselves to have pulled off such a successful and safe trip for their returned home President.
Many thanks to both Mike Cronin and the National Library for enabling this event! It was truly a magnificent way to end an inspiring set of panels, speeches, talks, and events related to the JFK Homecoming Exhibit.
The Exhibit will remain open through August 13!
July 29, 2013
How nice it is just to be Irish: President Kennedy’s trip home.
Wednesday, 31 July at 7pm
Please join us for our last JFK Homecoming inspired lecture! Professor Mike Cronin, the Academic Director for Boston College-Ireland, will be giving a talk on JFK’s historic 1963 visit this Wednesday, 31 July at 7 PM at the National Library of Ireland. No reservations are necessary and there will be no fee to attend.
More on Professor Mike Cronin:
Having completed his D.Phil at Oxford on the history of the Blueshirt movement in Ireland, Professor Cronin worked for a number of years in the History department at Sheffield Hallam University. In 1998 he moved to take the post of Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester. In 2003/4 Mike was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Study Abroad fellowship which he held at the Centre for Irish Studies at NUI Galway, and in the same year was also a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. Since March 2005 he have been the Academic Director of the Centre for Irish Programmes at Boston College in Dublin.