Was Reagan Irish? We made sure of it!
His Tipperary roots sparked a special relationship
POLITICIANS here worked behind the scenes to trace President Ronald Reagan’s Irish ancestry so we could have better access to the White House, a documentary reveals.
The research found he had links to Co. Tipperary, leading Reagan to begin the annual meeting between taoisigh and US presidents in the White House for St Patrick’s Day.
The origins of the nation’s access to the US president every March – which is considered the envy of many countries around the world – is revealed in RTÉ’s documentary screened tomorrow on John Hume’s instrumental role in the peace process.
In the programme, the Irish ambassador to the US from 1978 to 1981, Seán Donlon, told how he began the research after discovering that Ronald Reagan didn’t know if he had Irish roots.
He said: ‘I had met Ronald Reagan when he was running for president and I asked him, as I would ask anyone with a name like that, how far back his Irish connections went. To my surprise he wasn’t sure.
‘We were able to eventually get the shipping records and were able to trace the president back to Ballyporeen.
‘He had said to me during the election campaign [that] if you find I’m Irish, I will mark it on the first St Patrick’s Day if I’m in the White House.’
In 1981, ambassador Mr Donlon said, Mr Reagan was true to his word and turned up for the St Patrick’s Day reception at the Irish embassy in Washington DC during the US president’s first year in the White House.
The event was also attended by House Speaker Tip O’Neill, who represented Boston, and Ted Kennedy.
Mr Donlon said: ‘Tip O’Neill said to President Reagan: “Next year I’ll do the lunch if you’ll come.”
‘There was a tradition in Washington that the president never visited the [Capitol] Hill except for his State of Union speech once a year, but on the spot, he agreed.
‘Ever since then the speaker has had a lunch on St Patrick’s Day and so far every president has attended.’
The documentary also details how John Hume forged links to powerful US political figures as far back as 1972 when he got a loan from the credit union to take up an invitation to meet Ted Kennedy. ‘He trusted him absolutely,’ said Jean Kennedy Smith of her younger brother’s friendship with the Derry teacher.
It was a friendship which was to prove pivotal to the Irish cause as Hume’s growing influence with leading Americans led to US pressure on the British to sort out the Troubles.
In the programme, former taoiseach Enda Kenny told how Hume had a structure and a strategy of mobilise the IrishAmerican influence in the Senate and on Capitol Hill.
Maurice Fitzpatrick’s 90-minute documentary includes interviews with Bertie Ahern, former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter along with Tony Blair and John Major.
‘He trusted him absolutely’