Editor’s note: Below is the second of a three-part series in which local attorney Lee Stockdale shares stories of his father’s friendship and professional association with President John F. Kennedy. Look for the last part of the series in Friday’s Bulletin.

JFK was sworn in as president on January 20, 1961.

Four days later, Dad sent Senator George Smathers a letter and with it he enclosed a copy of a memorandum we have recently discussed. We regret that we were unable to get this information to you sooner and sincerely hope that the delay has not been damaging.

The three-page memorandum, author unknown, began: It is now the object of the American foreign policy to bring about the downfall of the Cuban Communist regime without resort to U.S. armed intervention. The preservation of the political integrity of the countries of the western hemisphere require[s] its immediate elimination. Measures must be devised that will cause this with the least bloodshed.

JFK named Dad ambassador to Ireland. The Miami Herald wrote: For the man who was one of the original New Frontiersmen in the Kennedy campaign the appointment caps an elevator-like career which has had as many downs as ups a reference to Dads losses for reelection as a Dade County commissioner and his run for Congress.

Dad was undeterred by any perceived downs. He was elated. Sort of. Actually, when President Kennedy floated the idea of the ambassador job, Dad told Mom it was out of the question. He had his real estate business, employees, responsibilities, his life in Miami, all that.

Mom was adamant and persuasive: Dad was going to take this post. &bsp;

Dad was honored to be chosen to go to Ireland, the Kennedy homeland. He wrote the president: I shall be the best they ever had.

He told the Miami Herald: Im going to treat this job as if it were the biggest job in the world.

Dad had been director of the Miami Beach Hotel Association and a big Miami tourism booster.&bsp; He told the Herald, I visualize a tremendous step-up in tourism and interest between the two nations and promised to do his utmost to sell America to the Irish people.

After Dad was sworn in, President Kennedy wrote him a three-page Confidential letter that included: We are living in a critical moment in history.&bsp; Powerful destructive forces are challenging the universal values which, for centuries, have inspired men of good will in all parts of the world. It was quite somber.

We sailed from New York to Cork, Ireland, on the U.S.S. America. On the same ship were John Kenneth Galbraith, the new ambassador to India, and his family. Then early one morning, rising out of the mist, was Ireland, radiantly green.

We lived in Dublin, inside Phoenix Park. We had two neighbors in Phoenix Park: President amon de Valera, the president of Ireland, and the Papal Nuncio.&bsp; DeValera, a hero of the Irish Revolution, came to visit us and pinched my cheek extremely hard when we greeted him.

The ambassadors residence had about 60 acres, with horses, pigs, and sheep. A number of families lived on the grounds to care for the property, to include Big Johns family, which lived in the gatehouse.

Every time we went in or out of the front gate, Big John would wave and call out, Woah-hoah! Thats the only thing I remember Big John ever saying.

Our home in Phoenix Park was a place of constant receptions, balls and dinners. There was often a famous person staying with us. Guests included Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jack Parr, Arthur Godfrey, Grace Kelly, Peter Ustinov, Amy Vanderbilt, Peggy Cass, and Ethel Kennedy. &bsp;

After Ted Kennedys visit, he wrote: Dear Grant, The first call that I made after being down on the ground some 15 minutes was to our battling champion of the Free World and described minutely your performance over there. This description was not limited to that dashing cavalry ride but had to include those remarks of our distinguished Mayor Moynihan of New Ross.

Mom, a poet, loved to visit Irish writers in their homes and I sometimes went along. These were great visits because the writers were normal Irish people, not diplomats or government officials, and they were always creative and fascinating. I recall visiting Irelands former president, Sean T. OKelly, at his home in Roundwood. He told me, earnestly, that although he had never personally seen a leprechaun, he once came upon a small cave and inside, perfectly laid out, was a leprechauns complete set of clothes. So he believed in leprechauns. &bsp;

In May of 1962, Dad announced his resignation. He told the Irish Independent he never intended to make diplomatic service a career and had responsibilities of my own, as I have five children and I must get back home to my business.

Just days before we departed Dublin, Dad broke ground for the new embassy building, a proud achievement. My older siblings informed me that JFK expressly told Dad he wanted him back in Miami to be the presidents eyes and ears in South Florida, only 90 miles from communist Cuba, a political flashpoint. &bsp;

Dads new office in Miamis DuPont building was directly across the hall from Senator Smathers Miami law firm, Smathers and Thompson.

As soon as we got back, Dad went with the Chief on a four-day trip to Colorado, South Dakota, California, and back to Washington.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was two months away.