Inside the Kennedy White House

JFK's election brought Irish-American Catholics to the center of U.S. power

The Crisis

Thirteen Days might have blurred the line between fact and fiction, but Kennedy's Irish advisers did have a front row seat for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. In one conversation with Powers, JFK pondered the vast questions of life and death."Dave, we have had a full life," Kennedy said, adding that he feared most for the lives of his children.

On the brighter side of the Kennedy years, there was his famous trip to Ireland. Interestingly, according to Maier's book, Kenneth O'Donnell was not exactly sentimental."It would be a waste of time," he said, noting that the Cold War remained a demanding issue, and that civil rights also needed to be dealt with. "You've got all the Irish votes in this country that you'll ever get. If you go to Ireland, people will say it's just a pleasure trip." JFK responded: "Kenny, let me remind you of something. I am the President of the United States, not you. When I say I want to go to Ireland, it means that I'm going to Ireland. Make the arrangements."

November 1963

Sadly, having been there for the historic moments of JFK's brief presidency, the Irish Mafia was also there when it ended. Powers was actually in the car behind Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Powers even helped remove Kennedy's body from the car. One observer, in Maier's book, noted that the diverse cultural groups in Kennedy's inner circle reacted to his death in different ways. "The Irish were having a wake, the Protestants were at a funeral, and the Jews were weeping and carrying on."

Perhaps it's not surprising that as conspiracies have come to surround JFK's death, the Irish Americans are said to have played a role in that, too. After Kennedy was declared dead, doctors reportedly wanted to perform an autopsy in Texas. It has been said, however, that O'Donnell forcefully persuaded doctors to allow the autopsy to instead take place in Washington, raising questions about the accuracy of the procedure.

Either way, O'Donnell took the death of Jack - and, in 1968, Bobby - very hard. He fell under the sway of alcohol and was just 54 when he died in 1977. His daughter Helen O'Donnell later wrote a book entitled "A Common Good: The Friendship of Robert F. Kennedy and Kenneth P. O'Donnell."

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