- If you forgive the poor attempt at Irish,
(speaks Gaelic) I'm at home.
(audience clapping)
- [Narrator] President Biden clearly takes pride
in his Irish heritage.
- As long as I can remember it's been,
sort of, part of my soul.
- [Narrator] He enjoys dropping old Irish sayings
into conversation.
- If you're lucky enough to be Irish,
well you're lucky enough.
- [Narrator] And when presented with a Mongolian horse,
named the animal Celtic.
Now, Biden has visited his ancestral home
for the first time as president
in what was both an important personal pilgrimage
and a demonstration of American soft power abroad.
The second Catholic president's visit to Ireland
came 60 years after the first, John F. Kennedy.
- I want to say that I'm happy to be here tonight.
- [Narrator] And continued a long tradition
of US leaders gracing the Emerald Isle.
- I want you to know that for this great grandson of Ireland
this is a moment of joy.
- Many American presidents have described their days
either visiting Belfast or Dublin
as some of the best days of their presidency.
Bill Clinton visited three times.
George W. Bush visited twice.
Barack Obama visited once.
And now Biden, who claims a lot of Irish ancestry.
- [Narrator] During his trip,
Biden visited the place his mother's family came from,
met the Irish president and addressed parliament in Dublin.
- The United States was shaped by Ireland
and that's not hyperbole.
- [Narrator] The influence of Biden's Irish roots
has long been seen in his political rhetoric.
His speeches, for example,
often make references to Irish poetry.
- You know, as the great Irish poet
Seamus Heaney once wrote,
"History says, Don't hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice rises up,
And hope and history rhyme"
It's everything I've been taught.
- I think for President Biden, the experience of being Irish
and the historical experience of
Irish living under British rule
is a way that he uses to sort of connect
with oppressed minorities in other parts of the world.
So he's made it a real part of his political worldview.
- My background and the background of my family
is Irish American and we have a long history
of not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people
with Great Britain
and their attitude toward Irish Catholics over the years.
- [Narrator] Biden's Irish connection
has helped strengthen already strong links
between the US and Ireland.
- I think it's fair to say that today
we're celebrating our national day
with a president who is unmistakably a son of Ireland.
(audience clapping)
- [Narrator] Being a son of Ireland has also got him
out of one or two verbal gaps in the past.
- He knows lot about it.
His mom lived in Long Island for 10 years or so.
God rest her soul.
And although she's, wait, your mom's still,
your mom's still alive, your dad passed.
God bless her soul.
(audience laughing)
There's an old Irish proverb, as some of you know,
that I heard my grandfather use
but never really applied to me before.
He said, it goes, "A silent mouth is sweet to hear."
(audience laughing)
Well, I'm gonna yield to that proverb.
(audience laughing)
- I think the Irish in general are very pro-American.
I mean, the connections are obviously huge
because so many of its sons and daughters left
and many of them went to America
and made something of themselves.
So I think it's nice to have some of these people return,
create new links between Ireland and America.
- [Narrator] This is particularly important now,
25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.
The landmark peace deal between Republicans and Unionists
in Northern Ireland was negotiated with US help.
- I think for America,
it sort of brings a reminder of the times in the world
when American hard power and soft power
can sort of make a difference for good.
- [Narrator] The President had the opportunity
during his visit to push for its preservation
amid political instability in the region.
- As a friend,
I hope it's not too presumptuous of me to say
that I believe democratic institutions
establishing the Good Friday Agreement
remain critical to the future of Northern Ireland.
- The Good Friday Agreement is an unquestioned win for peace
and America was a big part of that.
So I think Biden's going to rightly sort of celebrate that.
- Your history is our history.
But even more important, your future is America's future.
(bouncy music)