How Irish was John F Kennedy?

At one point, between the 19^th and 20^th centuries, America was the world’s melting pot as the New World was a place were people from every corner of the globe mixed and converged. 

As a result almost all modern Americans can trace back their ancestry to be a mix of Italian, German, Dutch, Scottish, English, French, Scandinavian and so on.

The Kennedys, and JFK, were slightly different.

The Kennedys can directly trace all of their roots back to the Emerald Isle of Ireland. JFK’s four grandparents were all children of Irish immigrants who left their native land during the mid 19^th century for shores anew.

The Kennedy side started with Patrick Kennedy emigrating from his native Dunganstown, County Wexford, via the port of New Ross, in 1848 during the horrors of the Great Hunger, also known as the Irish Famine. A year later Patrick married his wife Bridget Murphy, originally from Owenduff in Wexford, and began setting up their new life in the Irish stronghold of Boston.

During a similar timeframe the Fitzgeralds made their move across the Atlantic Ocean as Thomas Fitzgerald and Anna Rose Cox, of Limerick and Cavan respectively, sought to escape the poverty and destitution of rural Irish life at the time.

Interestingly the Holy Bible on which JFK placed his hand and was sworn in to an oath of office on his 1961 Inauguration came directly from Ireland via Thomas Fitzgerald. 

We all know the unfortunate events of what happened next.

John F Kennedy was the 35^th President of the United States, the first and to date only ever Roman Catholic to hold the position and, at 43 years old, he was also one of the youngest to ever take the office.

Despite all of this, and despite his charm, grace and political nous he was gunned down in his prime.

Thankfully, the Kennedy story didn’t end there. The family has been blighted by numerous tragedies over the decades but remains standing to this day and key figures, like Kerry Kennedy continue to shine a light for the family, Irish Americans and the Irish in general.

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It might not be the happiest of endings but JFK’s rise, and the rise of the Kennedys in general, is an incredible story that all started with four young Irish people, two men and two woman, seeking refuge and searching for hope during one of Ireland’s darkest hours. 

We’ll be thankful for that. 

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