WATCH: The Irish town ‘steeped in sorrow’ after JFK’s assassination

Locals in New Ross, Co Wexford were in a state of mourning the day after US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

President Kennedy was assassinated while driving through Dallas, just five months after visiting his ancestral homeland in New Ross, Co Wexford. 

Archive footage from British Pathé shows locals in New Ross as they react to the news of Kennedy’s death on November 23, 1963. 

Three women can be seen reading the Irish Independent bearing the headline “President Kennedy Assassinated – Shot While Driving,” while the flags of the Royal Hotel in the town are at half-mast as a mark of respect for the Irish American US President.

A separate headline notes that Kennedy’s death has caused “Shock to the Irish Nation.”

The footage also shows local children walking up the steps that Kennedy’s great-grandfather used to walk on his way to school before emigrating to the United States in the 1800s. 

Just months before his assassination that shocked the world, John F. Kennedy became the first sitting US President to visit Ireland.

In June 1963, the Irish American US President spent four days in Ireland, visiting Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick, in addition to his ancestral home in New Ross. 

As the first Roman Catholic President of the US and a proud Irish American, Kennedy was jubilantly received by the Irish people, particularly in New Ross. 

On his last night in Ireland, Kennedy was the guest of President de Valera and his wife Sinéad, an accomplished Irish writer, folklorist, and poet.

During the evening, she recited a poem of exile for the young president who was so impressed that he wrote it down on his place card.

Over breakfast the next day, JFK memorized the poem and recited it in his last speech at Shannon as he departed.