The sun shone, the Áras gleamed, the grounds looked magnificent - President Joe Biden's visit to Áras an Uachtaráin in April was a triumph.
With the sole exception of Misneach barking at the distinguished visitor, it all went off without a hitch, with the two Presidents getting along famously (though, with neither known for brevity, the length of their conversations probably did not help a programme already under time pressure).
Quite the contrast, then, from the first US Presidential visit to the Áras 60 years ago this week, which saw a near riot breaking out on the Áras lawn.
When John F. Kennedy called on President Éamon de Valera in June 1963, the plan was for a garden party, where the great and good of Irish society could sit at tables on the lawn of the Áras as the two presidents strolled around, shaking hands and chatting to groups of guests.
Pleasant, relaxed, informal. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, as it turned out.
The problems started with the guest list – two thousand places were available, and the Áras garden party quickly became the hottest ticket in town, with VIPs - and those who thought they were VIPs – desperate to get an invite, causing huge headaches for civil servants trying to keep to the required number.
Then the Irish weather took a hand – a persistent drizzle dampened the mood and ruined elegant outfits.
To avoid the rain, the chairs set out on the lawn remained upturned, a trip hazard for the unwary.
And then the guests – the supposed cream of Irish society – went mad when Kennedy and de Valera emerged from the Áras to greet them.
Watch: "A Man is Standing in One of the Floral Urns"
As security staff tried to clear a way for the two Presidents, eager guests mobbed them, desperate to shake Kennedy's hand (the women were the worst, according to newspaper reports).
In the crush, guests fell over the upturned chairs, high heels sank into the soggy grass, and extravagant party hats were crushed.
And it was not just the female guests who had their outfits ruined – a bishop had his cape ripped and was almost dragged to the ground by the stampede.
'Turn around, Jack, turn around'
Eighty-year-old President de Valera appealed to the crowd to move back; when they did not, Kennedy’s security detail surrounded him and rushed him back towards the Áras.
President de Valera, who was almost completely blind, was left outside, and had to be rescued by the Garda Commissioner, Daniel Costigan.
The crowd were still pushing forward, trying to get a glimpse of Kennedy, but could only see the back of his head.
Frank Aiken, Minister for External Affairs, called out: "Turn around, Jack, turn around".
He did, but while he gave the crowd a smile, the crush was so bad he could not raise his hand to wave.
'You're making me look awfully bad, Mr President'
The two Presidents managed to give the crowd the slip, sneaking out of a side door for a tree planting ceremony.
Kennedy threw some earth on his tree, before handing the shovel to the Áras groundsman – his bad back presumably ruled out a more energetic display.
De Valera, conscious of the disparity in their ages, energetically set to work, throwing spadefuls over his own tree.
JFK ruefully remarked: "You’re making me look awfully bad, Mr President."
Heading back to the house, Kennedy insisted on trying to meet the guests again, but once word got round that the star of the show was back on display, he was again mobbed; his security detail tried to get him through some French doors, which turned out to be locked, so a path had to be beaten through the crowd again.
'The strawberries were lovely, even if the weather wasn't'
Under the portico, de Valera tried to address the crowd, apologising for his visitor’s inability to shake everyone’s hand; in a fitting metaphor for the chaos, his words were drowned out when the Army No. 1 Band struck up a tune.
The next day’s Irish Independent reported on the "uncontrollable mass" of guests who "mobbed" the President; the Sligo Champion said it was "an event of which the entire nation felt ashamed"; but, as the Irish Press recorded on a more positive note, "the strawberries were lovely, even if the weather wasn’t".
Some of the British newspapers were no fonder of Irish-American friendship then than they are now; the London Daily Express sneered about guests dressed in the "mothball eaten togs of Victorian days" and "comic hats" who turned the garden party into a rugby scrum.
As it turns out, a misbehaving Bernese Mountain Dog is not the worst thing that can happen during a visit to the Áras.
Poignantly, de Valera wrote to Kennedy the following month (just four months before JFK’s assassination in Dallas), referring to reports of a recent reception in Washington.
"I was somewhat relieved to see by the newspapers that you are being mobbed in the White House gardens as you were here!," he wrote.
"Well, that is the penalty. Take care, however, that you do not risk being injured."
