OF ALL the ethnic and cultural strands that make up the rich fabric of American culture, none is more distinctive and at the same time more harmonious than the rich emerald green of Ireland.
Irish wit and warmth, grace and charm, have enriched our literature, our music, and of course, our politics, and by so doing have added immeasurably to the texture of American life.
On this St. Patrick's Day, Patricia Ryan Nixon and I join with all Americans in celebrating that sparkling joyfulness and love of life that represent one of the very finest features of the American national character, a feature that in large part has been bequeathed to us by the sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle.
RICHARD NIXON
Note: On March 17, 1974, Ambassador John C. Molloy of Ireland called on the President at the White House to present a St. Patrick's Day gift of shamrocks in a Waterford crystal vase.
Richard Nixon, St. Patrick's Day Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256496