President Reagan and Séamus Keating, 2 June 1984
Item
- Format
- JPEG
- Title
- President Reagan and Séamus Keating, 2 June 1984
- Identifier
- VH0010
- Depiction
- Two men, one in academic robes, in front of scaffolding and a limestone wall.
- Description
-
President Ronald Reagan, accompanied by First Lady Nancy Reagan, visited NUI Galway on 2 June 1984. There he received an honorary doctorate of laws from the National University of Ireland, presented to him by Dr T.K. Whitaker, Chancellor of the NUI. On the same occasion he was presented with the Freedom of the City and a resolution scroll by Mayor Michael Leahy. On the right in this photograph is Séamus Keating, present in his official capacity as City and County Manager. The scaffolding seen in close-up supported the platform and covering erected for the occasion.
The event was attended by many staff of the University, while others, objecting to President Reagan's policies, either remained away or engaged in protests off-campus.
Both the event on the University campus and the protests in the city drew major media attention. Security on the ground was at a noticeably high level (Galway Advertiser), while significant numbers of aircraft were seen and heard over Galway in the course of the day. In the context of efforts to end violence in the North of Ireland, to which he referred on each day of his visit to Ireland, President Reagan made particular reference to President Colm Ó hEocha's role as chairman of the New Ireland Forum, whose Report had recently been published but 'was being largely ignored internationally, so his [President Reagan's] references to it were deeply appreciated in Government circles' (Dwyer 2014).
The White Houses's official video and transcript of President Reagan's address on the occasion, held in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, are available online. -
Aula Maxima, University of Galway
-
Quadrangle - seating erected for President Reagan honorary conferring
-
Quadrangle (North side), University of Galway
- People
- Ronald Reagan
- Séamus Keating
- References
-
RTE archives at https://www.rte.ie/archives/2014/0527/619967-galway-opposition-to-president-reagan/?fbclid=IwAR1w5EMvFJFELcqFhQGbASKaFOc6yp_jTAdlaq47J_fyoc_Mime80Lw6bjU, accessed 23 July 2023.
'President Reagan's remarks to University College, Galway, Ireland on June 2, 1984', Records of the White House Television Office (WHTV) (Reagan Administration), January 20, 1981–January 20, 1989, at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75502280; transcript at https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-university-college-galway-ireland, accessed 3 Feb. 2024.
Ryle Dwyer, 'Irish Archives 1984: Reagan visit was a focus of protests', Irish Examiner, 29 Dec. 2014 at https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-20304253.html, accessed 3 Feb. 2024.
Ronnie O'Gorman, 'The day Bishop Casey challenged America's power', Galway Advertiser, 20 April 2017 at https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/91925/the-day-bishop-casey-challenged-americas-power, accessed 3 Feb. 2024.
- Contributor
- Unknown
- Bibliographic Citation
- J. Conroy, ‘President Reagan and Séamus Keating, 2 June 1984', Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 13597, Archival Record Id VHRS
- Spatial Coverage
- The Quadrangle
- Temporal Coverage
- 2 June 1984
- Period
- 1980s
- Category
- b&w
- portrait
- on-campus
- outdoors
- Subject
- University of Galway
- Academic ceremonies and events
- Honorary conferrings
- Official visits
- Political figures
- Freedom of the City
- Buildings & Estates
- Galway campus
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- University of Galway Library
- Rights
- This image may be used for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC-SA see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
