President Ronald Reagan on St. Patrick's Day.Diana Walker/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty ImagesSt. 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.John F. Kennedy with Irish Ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty ImagesIn 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.William Patrick Fay with Richard Nixon.APThe 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.Jimmy Carter with Garret FitzGerald.Harvey Georges/APFitzGerald 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."Irish Prime Minister Garret Fitzgerald with Ronald Reagan.Scott Stewart/APReagan also accepted the traditional shamrock gift.Reagan was visited by a man dressed as a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day in 1986.Ronald Reagan with a man dressed as a leprechaun.Diana Walker/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty ImagesThe 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.President George Bush and Brian Lenihan.Doug Mills/APThe 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.The Clintons with Irish Prime Minister John Bruton and his wife Finola Bruton.Greg Gibson/APPresident 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.Irish Prime Minister John Bruton with Bill Clinton.RICHARD ELLIS/AFP via Getty ImagesThe two men also wore shamrock lapels.In 2001, President George W. Bush accepted the traditional gift in the Roosevelt Room.Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern with George W. Bush and Laura Bush.Mai/Mai/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty ImagesFirst 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 United States Air Force Reserve Pipe Band marked St. Patrick's Day.Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe 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.First lady of Ireland Fionnuala Kenny with Michelle Obama.Jonathan Ernst/ReutersObama 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.Green water in the fountain on the South Lawn of the White House.Joshua Roberts/Getty ImagesPresident 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.Donald Trump and Melania Trump greeted Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.Alex Edelman-Pool/Getty ImagesShe 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.Leo Varadkar and Donald Trump.Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty ImagesWhen 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.Marine One over a White House fountain dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty ImagesSt. 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.A virtual meeting between Micheál Martin and Joe Biden.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty ImagesLike 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.Joe Biden met virtually with Micheál Martin.Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThe 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.Leo Varadkar met with Joe Biden at the White House.Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesFormer 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.Micheál Martin and Donald Trump in the Oval Office.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesDuring 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.
