The 2014 Kennedy Summer School is set to kick off this September 11-14th in New Ross, Co. Wexford and includes a venerable list of Irish and American participants covering the history, culture, and politics between the two countries. This year’s theme is “History Repeats Itself” and the list of speakers include: Dr. Christine Kinealy, professor of history and director of the Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University; Nicole Mary Kelby, the award-winning author of The Pink Suit; space commentator Leo Enright; and professor Nina L. Khrushcheva, granddaughter of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Summer School Director Noel Whelan said, “the task we have embarked on for the New Ross JFK Trust is to leverage the extraordinary success of last year’s 50th anniversary celebrations of President Kennedy’s visit to Ireland and to build the Kennedy Summer School into a sustainable high profile annual event which brings hundreds of visitors to New Ross every September.”
The Kennedy Summer School builds on the links between New Ross and John F. Kennedy. The Kennedy family hails from Dunganstown, which President Kennedy visited in 1963, later stopping at the New Ross quayside where he made a historic and memorable speech attended by throngs of Irish.
Guests will flock again from all over Ireland and America and converge on New Ross for the three day event. Impressive talks include “A Cold War Then and Now Again,” “The Edward M. Kennedy Lecture,” which features a special address by Baroness Nuala O’Loan, and a special screening of Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy, a film based on the book of the same name which collected 250 of the roughly 1.5 million condolence letters sent to Jackie Kennedy after President Kennedy’s assassination.
The events are supported by Fáilte Ireland, Brandon House Hotel, Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at NUI Maynooth; and Wexford County Council.
JFK Summer School
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