Intelligencer

Did Reagan Deny Irishness?

FORMER President Ronald Reagan feared that is Irish roots might endanger his political career, according to a new documentary to be shown on Irish television this week.

Former Irish Ambassador to the U.S. Sean Donlon reveals that in 1980 he met Reagan in California during his first presidential campaign. “I commented to him, given his name, ‘You must be Irish, what part of Ireland do you come from?’”

“He said, ‘No, no I am not Irish, I have an English background.’ I said, ‘With a name like Reagan you have to be Irish.’”

The documentary is titled Failte Mr. President, which commemorates Reagan’s visit to Ireland 20 years ago. Reagan and his wife Nancy visited the Reagan homestead in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary.

“When I told Reagan coming up to the election in 1980 that his roots were definitely Irish, not English, he asked if the information could be kept quiet until after the election. He was a political package and presented as a WASP,” Donlon revealed.

“He was appealing to the right-wing element in the Republican Party for support. The Democrats traditionally played more to the Irish side.

“He didn’t want to change his package at the last minute. We kept it quiet. When he became president he said, ‘Now I will be happy to embrace my Irishness. I will come to the embassy on St. Patrick’s Day.’”

Donlon said he presented Reagan with a detailed family tree, and he was genuinely interested and proud of it saying he “had now found himself and knew who he was.”

Dr. Garret FitzGerald, a former Irish prime minister, says that once Reagan discovered his roots he genuinely embraced them. 

“He regularly dined in the Irish Embassy and he didn’t dine in any other embassy in Washington. Perhaps some sentiment and some politics,” FitzGerald told the documentary.

This latest account, however, does not gel with other information, including statements from Neil Reagan, President Reagan’s brother, who was the family historian. 

Neil has stated that he kept Ronald up to date frequently about his Irish roots. Neil also pointed out that when he was governor of California Ronald visited Ireland, researching those very roots.

FitzGerald Disagreed 

IN the same program Garret FitzGerald reveals that he did not want to give President Reagan an honorary degree from University College Galway during his visit there because of Reagan’s policies in Latin America.

It was a time when the issue of Nicaragua and El Salvador was a burning one in Ireland, and church leaders in particular were very critical of the Reagan administration policy there. As it turned the presentation was protested by only a few hundred people.

Fitzgerald also stated how surprised he was when he met Reagan that he “felt he had to have notes in front of him to talk to me about the subject of Central America.”

Kerry for Kerry

“AS the U.S. presidential election campaign draws to a close, thefuture of humankind, world peace and global justice will be decided by the American people, though their decision will inevitably effect everyone on this planet.”

Thus runs a press release we received this week from a group from Co. Kerry in Ireland that has decided to use the fact that John Kerry shares his last name with them.

The (County) “Kerry Against Bush” calls upon the “people of Kerry to do what they can to ensure that G.W. Bush will not be re-elected on November 2.”

The press release “urges the people of Kerry to contact their friends, relatives and associates in America, speak to American tourists and American expatriates to urge them to use their vote responsibly and vote against Bush.”

“Kerry is a place with strong ties to America. Kerry is America’sclosest neighbor to the east. The first Europeans said to have crossed the Atlantic to the ‘promised land’ of America were from Kerry. 

“Since that day millions of Kerry people have traveled to America in the hope of a better life. Kerry people and their descendants played key roles in the foundation and building of that great country. They fought in the American Revolution, signed the Constitution, and helped build the cities, roads and railways. We the people of Kerry have invested too much time and effort in America to see is all ruined by Bush and his cronies.”

The press release also notes, “In the past, County Kerry has had a significant influence on America and it’s people.” “Http://kerryagainstbush.org provides information, resources and a forum for Kerry people who believe that the world would be a better, safer and more peaceful place if George Bush was not president of America.”

What’s next? Tree-huggers for Bush perhaps, or Australian Bush residents for Bush? This is one wacky election. 

Ironically the one candidate with Irish connections is Vice President Dick Cheney. His roots go back to, of all places, Co. Kerry.