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Kennedy spent four days in the land of his ancestry. On the second day of his trip the president travelled by helicopter to County Wexford where hundreds of well-wishers cheered and waved flags on his arrival. A choir of 300 boys greeted him singing "The Boys of Wexford", a ballad about an insurrection in 1798. The president left his bodyguards to join them in the second chorus. Once the singing was over, Kennedy shook hands with as many schoolchildren as he could reach. He was then driven to the nearby port of New Ross from where Patrick Kennedy, his great-grandfather, had set sail for America back in 1848 during the potato famine.
In a speech at the Wexford quayside, the President said "When my great-grandfather left here to become a cooper in East Boston he carried nothing with him except two things - a strong religious faith and a strong desire for liberty. I am glad to say that all of his grandchildren have valued that inheritance."
At Dunganstown, President Kennedy visited his ancestral homestead, a small croft building and farm. The president and two of his sisters met 15 of their cousins, including the current owner of the homestead, Mary Ryan who welcomed him with a kiss on the cheek. Tea was served on trestle tables in the yard and a banner declared "Welcome home, Mr President". Kennedy spent about an hour chatting with his Irish family, cut a large cake and with teacup in hand said: "I want to drink a cup of tea to all those Kennedys who went and all those Kennedys who stayed." The next day, in Dublin, Kennedy spoke before the Irish parliament, where he openly condemned Britain's history of persecuting Irish Catholics.
Following is a YouTube clip of some newsreel footage of that visit: