Joseph Kennedy in Cardiff

Above is a photograph of then American ambassador, Joseph Kennedy, at St David's Cathedral, Charles Street, Cardiff, in 1938 (he's to the right of the Cardinal). He was, of course, the father of doomed golden boys of American politics, JFK and Bobby Kennedy. Joseph was in the city to attend the National Congress of the St Vincent de Paul Society, an international Roman Catholic voluntary organisation. The month after his Cardiff visit Kennedy gave a speech at the annual banquet of the Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion in London titled, In Search of Wales. Believe it or not I have actually read a transcript of this speech. It begins: "All my life, it seems, I've been waiting to get what we, in America, call the 'low down' on your country." He then went on to butter up his audience before talking about the Welsh influence on American life. More Kennedy-related thrills here and here.