Title: Interview with Dr. Tom Irons

Identifier: UA09.01.05.01.005   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/60396)

Description: Raw footage of Professor of History and University Historian Dr. John A. Tucker interviewing Dr. Tom Irons about his recollections of Senator John F. Kennedy's visit to East Carolina College on the presidential campaign trail as well as where he was living and attending school at the time. Includes Kennedy's speech, and the introduction by Louis Gaylord. Kennedy's visit was the first time a presidential nominee had visited Greenville, NC. Irons discusses his grandmother's opposition to Kennedy on the basis of his Catholicism, the enthusiasm he and his friend had for Kennedy's visit and details of their experience, his family's interest in Kennedy's campaign, how Kennedy's visit began his interest in politics, and where he lived and went to school at the time. Dr. Irons was eleven years of age at the time of Kennedy's visit.