Were you there?
A very full Eyre Square, Galway, for JFK's remarks on the final day of his visit. (JFK Presidential Library)
JFK waving to the people of Galway from his open-topped car. (NLI, Independent Newspapers Collection)
Distant figures on rooftops try to get the best view of JFK in Eyre Square, Galway. (NLI, Independent Newspapers Collection)
The podium in Eyre Square, where JFK was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Galway. (NLI, Independent Newspapers Collection)
29 June 1963
Speaking to the crowds on his Galway visit, President Kennedy emphasised the connections betweent the west of Ireland and the United States, telling them that “If the day was clear enough and if you went down to the Bay and you looked west and your sight was good enough, you would see Boston, Massachusetts.”
He had arrived in Galway to be greeted by a massive “living flag” – hundreds of schoolchildren dressed in the colours of the Irish tricolour, formed up to create the impression of a large flag laid out on the ground. JFK made his way to Eyre Square, cheered by the 100,000 people who had gathered to see him. As in Wexford, Dublin, and Cork, he was made a Freeman of Galway, and extended a general invitation to the crowd in return: “If you ever come to America, come to Washington, and tell them if they wonder who you are at the gate that you come from Galway. The word will be out, and when you do, there will be a céad mile fáilte, which means in Gaelic ‘a hundred thousand welcomes.’”
Limerick
