Replies

Himself and Ted Kennedy are great buddies!!

Aha--that would explain it! Speaking of which, I recently came across this article from 1971:

In Amsterdam, Dutch police seized a planeload of Czech-made arms flown from Prague and allegedly intended for the outlawed Irish Republican Army to use in its campaign to oust British troops from Ulster. They also arrested the Belgian pilot of the charter aircraft and an American who was charged with importing arms without a license.

SNIP

Perhaps the biggest brouhaha of all originated in the U.S. Senate over a resolution by Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and Abraham Ribicoff calling for the withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland and talks leading to a united Ireland. "Ulster is becoming Britain's Viet Nam," said Kennedy in a speech. "America cannot keep silent when men and women of Ireland are dying. Britain has lost its way, and the innocent people of Northern Ireland are the ones who now must suffer . . . The tragedy of Ulster is yet another chapter in the unfolding larger tragedy of the empire. It is India, Palestine, Cyprus and Africa once again."

Hoary Propaganda. The speech caused hardly a ripple in the U.S., but from Belfast to Whitehall it reaped a whirlwind of scorn. Kennedy, declared Northern Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Faulkner, "has shown himself willing to swallow hook, line and sinker the hoary old propaganda that I.R.A. atrocities are carried out as part of a freedom fight on behalf of the Northern Irish people." Other critics quickly pointed out that Kennedy's proposal for unification was unrealistic, and that even the Irish Republic's Lynch has said only that he hopes unification can be achieved in his lifetime. In the London Times, Louis Heren said that "[Kennedy's] assertion that the U.S. was entitled to intervene because of the Irish contributions to American culture" amounts to "an ethnic Brezhnev doctrine."

The British Foreign Office declined to comment, but a Conservative M.P. introduced a motion in the House of Commons questioning the Senator's qualifications "for expressing moral judgments on anything"--an obvious reference to the 1969 Chappaquiddick tragedy. In a cutting cartoon, the London Evening Standard showed a crusty clubman growling over his port: "Looks like Kennedy's driven in at the deep end again."

--"Off the Deep End", TIME, Nov. 1, 1971

I got onto this subject because I was reading about a trip Kennedy made to Ireland in 1974. Some people he met when he was over there are mentioned here:

"FIREWORKS DISPLAY", Western People, Wednesday, August 04, 2004

With the name of Senator Ted Kennedy appearing in the news again as presidential candidate John Kerry geared up for the Democratic Convention in Boston last week it brings to mind that thirty years ago a small group of people from Kiltimagh had the pleasure of meeting Senator Kennedy and members of his family at the home of film director John Heuston in Craughwell, Co Galway. During the famous Coillte Come Home Week festivals in the late 60s and early 70s people flocked to Kiltimagh to see the wonderful fireworks displays which were the main attraction at the festivals. In 1974 Bord Failte contacted John Carroll who was secretary of the committee at the time to see if they would be willing to put on a fireworks display for the Kennedy clan on July 4th, American Independence Day. The display was to be a surprise for Ted Kennedy's 12 year old son who was suffering from bone cancer at the time and had just had a leg amputated. The Kiltimagh contingent who travelled to Craughwell to put on the display were John Carroll, Mick Higgins, Michael Charlton, Thomas Carroll, Jerry Walsh and Susan Carroll. When they arrived at Heuston's castle they got a warm welcome from the Kennedy family and another famous guest who was there, Senator Gene Tunney [actually John Tunney--Gene was his dad--F], son of the legendary boxer who had strong Kiltimagh connections and was a good friend of Jerry Walsh. It was a memorable night for the group and one that is remembered and often talked about when they all meet up.

Irish_Thatcherite, I'm doing some research related to this right now--would you happen to know if there are any online archives that might have more information on Irish newspapers' coverage of the above trip? Kennedy's son Kara injured her foot during the trip, which generated some media coverage in the US.