JFK and Northern Ireland!

I have been asked so many times, if John F Kennedy had lived would the British still be occupying Northern Ireland? The experts would say it would not have mattered, but I rarely agree with these so-called experts in the mainstream media. JFK was very proud of his Irish roots, and he was extremely anti-colonialism. The summer of 1963 he visited Ireland even though his advisors told him it would be a waste of a trip. “You have all the Irish votes you will ever need “, they said to him, but this was one of JFK’s proudest moments. The people of Ireland came out like never before to see this Irish American U.S. President.

Throughout JFK’s life, he always sided with nationalists over colonialists. When Prime Minister Nehru of India tried to tell him about the evils of British colonialism, Kennedy cut him off. “I come from a people who have suffered under the thumb of Colonialism, Kennedy would say to Nehru. Kennedy was also sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians in Israel. He also gave a tremendous speech in support of Algeria’s independence from France.

Kennedy also was close to and had a good working relationship with then Prime Minister of Great Britian MacMillan. He was never hesitant to express his support of African independence from Britain and France to Macmillan. So, like so many other things, this situation in Ireland would be different had Kennedy lived. I believe that and that JFK’s Irish pride was real and true unlike former President Reagan’s plastic paddy fake pride.