When J.F.K. visited Ireland in 1963, both Ireland and Irish-Americans celebrated the occasion. The visit of President Joe Biden this week inspired similar feelings—but in a situation far different.
Mr. Biden’s visit is not just a symbolic endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement. The future of the accords has been thrown into doubt by the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union via its Brexit vote.
This St. Patrick’s Day we can find Irish Americans at the height of political power, but they may not be what predecessors like John F. Kennedy and Patrick Moynihan expected.
“Today, I join Christians worldwide in observing Ash Wednesday,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “The Lenten season is a time for reflection and discernment and an opportunity to recommit ourselves to God and to one another.”