Updated
2025-03-13T16:45:56Z
- St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 every year.
- Irish leaders traditionally visit the White House and gift the president with shamrocks.
- Ireland's prime minister met with Donald Trump amid an escalating trade war.
The White House typically marks St. Patrick's Day with a visit from Irish officials and the exchange of a shamrock.
This year, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office amid an escalating trade war between the US and the European Union.
Photos show how St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated at the White House through the years.
As President John F. Kennedy was America's first Irish-Catholic president, St. Patrick's Day held special meaning for him.
In 1952, Ireland's ambassador to the US, John Hearne, sent President Harry Truman a box of shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day, and a tradition was born.
In 1961, Irish Ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan presented Kennedy with a basket of shamrocks and the Kennedy coat of arms with a family tree showing his Irish ancestry.
Irish Ambassador William Patrick Fay pinned a cluster of shamrocks to President Richard Nixon's lapel in 1969.
The Irish delegation also gifted him with a foot-high Waterford crystal vase engraved with a White House etching.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter received a Waterford crystal vase from Irish foreign minister Garret FitzGerald.
FitzGerald went on to serve as Taoiseach, the prime minister of Ireland, from 1981 to 1982 and from 1982 to 1987.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave FitzGerald a hat embroidered with the words "Very Important Irishman."
Reagan also accepted the traditional shamrock gift.
Reagan was visited by a man dressed as a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day in 1986.
The leprechaun presented Reagan with a personalized shamrock.
President George H.W. Bush received a bowl of shamrocks from deputy prime minister of Ireland Brian Lenihan in 1990.
The reception took place in the White House Rose Garden.
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton wore a green dress for St. Patrick's Day in 1995.
President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton posed with Irish Prime Minister John Bruton and his wife, Finola Bruton, in the Grand Foyer of the White House.
President Bill Clinton received a bowl of shamrocks from Prime Minister John Bruton in 1996.
The two men also wore shamrock lapels.
In 2001, President George W. Bush accepted the traditional gift in the Roosevelt Room.
First lady Laura Bush wore a green jacket in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
President Bush, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were serenaded by the United States Air Force Reserve Pipe Band in 2007.
The group walked down the steps of the House of Representatives on their way to the White House for the shamrock ceremony.
Michelle Obama wore a green Michael Kors dress to the White House St. Patrick's Day reception in 2011.
Obama stood onstage with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's wife, Fionnuala Kenny.
In 2012, the White House fountain on the South Lawn was dyed green for the occasion.
President Obama also visited a bar and attended a St. Patrick's Day lunch at the Capitol.
First lady Melania Trump wore a green animal-print sheath dress designed by Brandon Maxwell to greet the prime minister of Ireland in 2018.
She paired the dress with Christian Louboutin snakeskin heels.
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar wore shamrock lapels on St. Patrick's Day in 2018.
When asked if he would visit Ireland, Trump said, "I would love to visit Ireland soon, I will come, I love it, I have property there, I will go."
President Joe Biden continued Obama's tradition of dyeing the fountain green for his first St. Patrick's Day in the White House.
St. Patrick's Day had special significance since Biden was the first Irish Catholic president since Kennedy. He is known for often quoting Irish poets in his speeches.
In 2021, Biden held a virtual meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, where he accepted the traditional shamrock from afar.
Like many of his predecessors, Biden wore a green tie and shamrock lapel.
Vice President Kamala Harris also held a virtual meeting with Martin.
The meeting went virtual again in 2022 after Martin tested positive for COVID-19.
The Taoiseach was supposed to meet with Biden in person in the Oval Office and attend the yearly St. Patrick's Day Friends of Ireland lunch hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill.
Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was able to meet with Biden in person on St. Patrick's Day in 2023.
Former One Direction member Niall Horan, who is Irish, performed at the Shamrock presentation.
During Trump's second non-consecutive term, Martin visited the White House amid a brewing trade war with the European Union.
During their Oval Office meeting, Trump said that Ireland "took our pharmaceutical companies" and that the European Union "was set up in order to take advantage of the United States." Martin countered Trump, saying that the trade relationship between the two countries is "a two-way street."
The day after Martin's visit, the EU announced tariffs of its own on more than $28 billion worth of US goods. In response, Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European alcohol and called the European Union "one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States" in a Truth Social post.
