NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) is pleased to again host the CAHSS Intellectual Conversations on April 13, 2017. This is the final conversation in the winter series titled, “Migration.” This event will feature David Kilroy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of History and Political Science. His topic is: “U.S. Presidential Visits to Ireland and the Politics of Immigration.”
The conversation will be held from noon – 1:00 p.m. Thursday, April 13 in the Cotilla Gallery on the second floor in the Alvin Sherman Library. The event is free and open to the public. The next series of Intellectual Conversations will commence in the fall.
State visits by American presidents overseas are primarily a function of U.S. foreign policy, targeting important allies or countries of particular strategic or economic significance to the United States. So why has Ireland, a neutral country of minimal strategic or economic importance to the U.S., warranted visits from six of the last ten American chief executives? The answer lies not in realm of foreign policy but in the arena of domestic American politics. This presentation will examine how and why several U.S. presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, have used Ireland as a stage for addressing the issue of immigration and its role in shaping American identity.