List of Americans of Irish descent

This is a list of Americans of Irish descent, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American-born descendants.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article and/or references showing the person is Irish American

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Contents 1 List 1.1 Actors 1.2 Arts 1.3 Astronauts 1.4 Business 1.5 Film directors/producers 1.6 Gangsters and mobsters 1.7 Law enforcement 1.8 Law 1.9 Literature 1.10 Media/Journalists 1.11 Military 1.12 Musicians 1.13 Politicians 1.14 Presidents 1.15 Science 1.16 Sports 1.17 Others 2 References 3 External links

List

Actors

Arts

• Michael Flatley, Dancer [10] "The important thing to know about Michael Flatley is that he's Irish-American... His success comes from his ability to join unlikely elements together—Irish and Americans, step dancing and flamenco, pretension and frivolity."
• William Harnett, Painter, Irish immigrant best known for trompe-l'œil renderings of still life.[11] "William Harnett American, born Ireland, 1848(?)-1892"
• Gene Kelly, Dancer, Actor, Singer, Director, Choreographer
• Georgia O'Keeffe, Painter [12] "Of Irish and Hungarian ancestry, Georgia O'Keeffe was born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wis...."
• Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Sculptor [13] "Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1848 to an Irish mother and a French father."
• Harrison Ford and Terence Ford, Actors and sons of an Irish American Grandfather a German Grandmother and a Jewish mother.
• Carrie Ann Inaba, dancer, actress (Mother of Chinese and Irish Descent)
• Martin Driscoll, Artist (painter)[14] Noted painter of Irish rural life.
• Kurt Cobain, Songwriter and musician, Lead singer of Nirvana.
• Colleen Doran, Cartoonist, illustrator, writer.

Astronauts

• Mark Kelly, astronaut, Captain USN.
• Scott Kelly, astronaut, Captain USN. The Kelly brothers are the only twins and the only siblings who have both traveled in space.
• Michael Collins, astronaut. Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11 1969.

Business

• Paul Galvin - inventor of the car radio and founder of Motorola.
• Diamond Jim Brady - financier and philanthropist [15] "Born in 1856 into an Irish immigrant family who ran a saloon on the Lower East Side..."
• Henry Ford - founder of Ford Motor Company [16] "Ford was born on 30 July 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, the son of Irish immigrants who fled the potato famine in the 1840s."
• Franklin B. Gowen - lawyer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, prosecuted the trial against the Molly Maguires [17] "Franklin Gowen, the fifth son of an Irish immigrant, was born in Philadelphia in 1836..."
• Herb Kelleher - Southwest Airlines chairman [18] "www.irishboard.com"
• Joseph P. Kennedy Sr - SEC Chairman, US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Bootlegger.
• Tom Monaghan - founder of Domino's Pizza [19] "On his father's side there was the Irish connection, his grandfather coming from Tipperary and his paternal grandmother from Cork..."
• Bill Rancic - entrepreneur [20] "grew up in the suburb Orland Park, to a Croatian-Irish family..."
• Jack Welch - Former CEO of GE [21] "The Irish-Catholic kid who learned to play golf as a 12-year-old caddy beat a champion..."
• John Leahy - COO of Airbus and commercial pilot.

Film directors/producers

• Walt Disney [22] "his father, Elias Disney, an Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora Call Disney, who was of German-English descent."
• Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's brother.
• Roy E. Disney, (1930–2009) senior executive for The Walt Disney Company and son of Roy O. Disney.
• Thom Fitzgerald, known for independent films like The Hanging Garden, born in New York. His grandparents were immigrants from County Kerry and County Cavan, Ireland.
• John Ford, Director, best known for stylish Westerns and the film classic, The Quiet Man.
• Alfred Hitchcock [23] "He was the youngest child of an East End family whose father ran a poulterer's and greengrocer's business and whose mother came of Irish stock. The family was Catholic." [24] "In 1955, he became an American citizen."
• John Huston^[1]
• Leo McCarey [25] "Leo McCarey was the first son of Irish-Catholic Thomas McCarey, a well-known boxing promoter, and French-born Leona [Mistrol] McCarey, for whom he is named."
• Michael Moore [26] "Moore, now 55, was raised in a working-class Irish-American family."
• John Sayles (1950 - ) independent film director and writer, frequently takes a small part in his own and other indie films^[2]

Gangsters and mobsters

Law enforcement

• Raymond W. Kelly, current New York Police Commissioner
• Francis O'Neill--Chicago Police Chief

Law

• William J. Brennan, Jr. - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States^[3] "The second of eight children born to Irish immigrants..."
• James B. Comey - former United States Deputy Attorney General [27] "He was born in Yonkers 42 years ago, the second of four children in a middle-class Irish-American family."
• Charles Patrick Daly, Chief Justice New York Court of Common Pleas
• Patrick Fitzgerald - United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois [28] "His parents were Irish-born and he grew up in a working-class Irish American community..."
• Anthony Kennedy - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States [29] "Ethnicity Irish"
• Frank Murphy - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Literature

• Philip Barry-playwright; author of The Philadelphia Story.^[4]
• Ted Berrigan-poet, part of the second generation of the New York School; author of The Sonnets.^[5]
• John Berryman-poet; one of the founders of the Confessional school of poetry.^[5]
• Louise Bogan-poet, translator, and critic; served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1945-1946.^[5]
• T. Coraghessan Boyle-novelist and short story writer; awarded the 1988 PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel World's End.
• John Horne Burns-novelist and travel writer; author of The Gallery.
• Bill Bryson-travel writer; awarded an honorary OBE for his contribution to literature.
• Jim Carroll-author, poet, and punk musician; author of The Basketball Diaries.
• Neal Cassady-author and poet; provided the basis for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On The Road.
• Raymond Chandler-novelist and short story writer; author of the Philip Marlowe detective series that shaped the modern "private eye" story.
• Mary Coyle Chase-playwright and screenwriter; awarded the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Harvey.
• Kate Chopin-novelist and short story writer; her novel The Awakening (1899) is considered a proto-feminist precursor to American modernism.
• Tom Clancy-novelist; author of many bestselling novels, including The Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger.
• Mary Higgins Clark-bestselling author of suspense novels.
• Billy Collins-poet; served two terms as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003.^[5]
• Joe Connelly-novelist; author of Bringing Out the Dead.
• Michael Connelly-crime novelist; author of the bestselling Harry Bosch detective series.
• Pat Conroy-novelist and memoirist; author of The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides.
• Robert Creeley-poet and author associated with the Black Mountain poets; awarded a 2000 American Book Award Lifetime Achievement Award.^[5]
• Maureen Daly-novelist and short story writer; her novel Seventeenth Summer (1942) is considered the first young adult novel.
• J.P. Donleavy-novelist; author of The Ginger Man, named on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels.
• Kirby Doyle-poet and novelist; associated with the New American Poetry movement and "third generation" American modernist poets.
• Alan Dugan-poet; winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his volume Poems.^[5]
• James T. Farrell-novelist; author of the Studs Lonigan trilogy, named on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald-novelist and short story writer; his novel The Great Gatsby was named on both the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels and the TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005 [30].
• Robert Fitzgerald-poet, critic, and translator; served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1984-1985.
• Thomas Flanagan-novelist and academic; winner of the 1979 National Book Critics Circle Award for The Year of the French.
• Vince Flynn-political thriller novelist; author of bestselling Mitch Rapp series.
• Alice Fulton-poet and short story writer; awarded the 2002 Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry for Felt.^[5]
• Tess Gallagher-poet, short story writer, essayist, and playwright.^[5]
• Lucy Grealy-poet, memoirist, and essayist; author of Autobiography of a Face.
• Pete Hamill-journalist, columnist, novelist, and short story writer.
• George V. Higgins-novelist, columnist, and academic; known for his best-selling crime novels, including The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
• Fanny Howe-poet, novelist, and short-story writer; awarded the 2001 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Selected Poems.
• Marie Howe-poet; winner of the 1987 Open Competition of the National Poetry Series for The Good Thief.^[5]
• Susan Howe-poet and literary critic; awarded American Book Awards in 1981 for The Liberties and 1986 for My Emily Dickinson.^[5]
• Brigit Pegeen Kelly-poet; finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Orchard.^[5]
• Robert Kelly-poet associated with the deep image group; awarded a 1980 American Book Award for In Time.
• William Kennedy-novelist and author, winner of the 1983 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Ironweed and a 1984 American Book Award for O Albany!.
• X. J. Kennedy-poet, translator, anthologist, editor, and children's author.^[5]
• Richard Kenney-poet and academic.
• Jean Kerr-author and Tony Award-winning playwright.
• Galway Kinnell-poet; awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and 1983 National Book Award for Poetry for Selected Poems.^[5]
• R. A. Lafferty-Hugo- and Nebula-nominated science fiction author.
• Michael Lally-poet and author; awarded a 2000 American Book Award for It's Not Nostalgia: Poetry and Prose.
• James Laughlin-poet and publisher; winner of the 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award Lifetime Achievement Award and the 1992 National Book Awards Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; namesake of the annual James Laughlin Award administered by the Academy of American Poets.
• Dennis Lehane-novelist, author of A Drink Before the War and Mystic River.
• John Logan-poet and academic; awarded the 1982 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream.
• William Logan-poet, critic, and scholar; awarded the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism for The Undiscovered Country: Poetry in the Age of Tin.
• Thomas Lynch-poet and essayist; awarded a 1998 American Book Award for The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade.
• Michael Patrick MacDonald-memoirist; winner of a 2000 American Book Award for All Souls: A Family Story From Southie.
• Cormac McCarthy-novelist and playwright; author of Blood Meridian and 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winner The Road.
• Frank McCourt-memoirist; winner of the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for Angela's Ashes.
• Alice McDermott-novelist; awarded the 1998 National Book Award and a 1999 American Book Award for Charming Billy.
• Campbell McGrath-poet.
• Thomas McGrath-poet; awarded a 1984 American Book Award for Echoes Inside the Labyrinth and the 1989 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Selected Poems: 1938-1988.^[5]
• Thomas McGuane-novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer; nominated for a National Book Award for Ninety-Two in the Shade.
• Jay McInerney-novelist; author of Bright Lights, Big City.
• James McMichael-poet; awarded the 1999 Arthur Rense Prize.
• Terrence McNally-playwright; winner of six Tony Awards and nominated for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Perfect Ganesh.
• Maile Meloy-novelist and short story writer; awarded The Paris Review's 2001 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction for her story Aqua Boulevard.
• Margaret Mitchell-novelist; awarded the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Gone With The Wind.
• Helen Curtin Moskey-poet.
• Robert C. O'Brien-journalist and children's author; awarded the 1972 Newbery Medal for Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
• Tim O'Brien-novelist and short story writer; prominent author of fiction about the Vietnam War, including The Things They Carried, a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
• Edwin O'Connor-novelist, winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Edge of Sadness.
• Flannery O'Connor-novelist and short story writer; notable author in the Southern Gothic style.
• Frank O'Hara-poet, prominent member of the New York School.^[5]
• John O'Hara-novelist; author of Appointment in Samarra, named one of the TIME 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005 [31].
• Charles Olson-poet and critic, associated with the second generation American Modernist poets; author of The Maximus Poems.^[5]
• Eugene O'Neill-playwright; awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize for Literature and four time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• J.F. Powers-novelist and short story writer; winner of the 1963 National Book Award for Morte d'Urban.
• Anne Rice- horror novelist; author of bestselling Interview With A Vampire series.
• Nora Roberts-romance novelist; first inductee into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.
• Kay Ryan-poet and academic; currents Poet Laureate of the United States.
• Michael Ryan-poet; awarded the 1990 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for God Hunger.^[5]
• John Patrick Shanley-playwright and screenwriter; winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Doubt: A Parable.
• Mickey Spillane-crime novelist; author of bestselling Mike Hammer detective novels.
• John Kennedy Toole-novelist; posthumously awarded the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for A Confederacy of Dunces.
• Michael Walsh-novelist and screenwriter; awarded a 2004 American Book Award for And All The Saints.
• Roger Zelazny-fantasy and science fiction author; winner of three Nebula Awards and six Hugo Awards.

Media/Journalists

• Mike Barnicle [32] "In this racial maelstrom, there was one Globe man who was trusted on the gritty streets of South Boston, a young Irish columnist named Mike Barnicle..."
• Jimmy Breslin [33] "His book has been criticized for its intemperate remarks about the Irish and their American great-grandchildren, but if Jimmy Breslin is not qualified to make those judgments... who is?"
• Nellie Bly [34] "Miss Bly was, in fact, the daughter of Irish immigrants."
• Neil Cavuto [35] "Look, I'm half-Italian and half-Irish. I figure I was born with a temper..."
• Phil Donahue [36] "When he and Buchanan squared off on camera to debate the recent Pledge of Allegiance court ruling, they were just another pair of wealthy, middle-aged, white Irish Catholic men pontificating."
• Maureen Dowd [37] "Dowd is assumed by most people to be a Democrat... in reality she was part of this kind of Irish-Catholic mafia that included Chris Matthews and Mike Kelly..."
• Roger Ebert [38]
• Pete Hamill [39] "Born in Brooklyn in 1935, of Irish immigrant parents, Pete Hamill served in the US Navy, attended Mexico City College..."
• Sean Hannity [40] "Hannity, a proclaimed devout Irish Catholic, has blamed liberals for actions taken..."
• Magee Hickey [41]
• Greg Kelly
• Chris Matthews [42] "But Chris Matthews, the Irish-American host of MSNBC's political talk show "Hardball,"..."
• Bill Murray
• Brian Doyle-Murray
• Joel Murray
• Peggy Noonan (1950 - ) author, political analyst and pundit for the Republican Party^[6]
• Nicole O'Brian, supermodel, pageant contestant, and reality television contestant
• Conan O'Brien [43] "O'Brien, the proud Irishman, clad very casually in denims and navy blue shirt..."
• Soledad O'Brien [44] "O'Brien was named to Irish American Magazine's "Top 100 Irish Americans" on two occasions."
• Norah O'Donnell [45] "O’Donnell has also been named to Irish American Magazine’s 2000 “Top 100 Irish Americans” list."
• Bill O'Reilly [46] "He was raised Irish-Catholic in Long Island, NY..."
• John L. O'Sullivan [47] "He was the son of an English woman of aristocratic origins and an Irish-born..."
• Michael O'Looney. New York based reporter and later a business executive with Merril Lynch.
• Regis Philbin [48] "Part of an Irish-American Catholic family, he was the eldest son of Frank and Florence..."
• Dennis Roddy^[7]
• Tim Russert (1950–2008) journalist, has hosted NBC's Meet the Press from 1991 until his death in 2008.^[8]
• Ed Sullivan [49] "As you may recall, Ed Sullivan, whose heritage was Irish ..."
• Elizabeth Vargas [50] "Born in New Jersey of a Puerto Rican father and Irish American mother, and a self-described army brat..."
• John Walsh [51] "I don't know if it comes from being Irish or Catholic or both...."
• Brian Williams
• Howie Carr author, Boston newspaper columnist and New England radio talk-show host has claimed family "two-boater" Irish ancestry (i.e., Ireland-to-Canada, then Canada-to-Maine) on his father's side.

Military

• John Barry - father of the United States Navy [52] "John Barry was born in a modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson on Our Lady's Island, which is part of Tacumshane Parish in County Wexford, Ireland..."
• Michael Corcoran - United States Army general [53] "A policeman in Ireland, Michael Corcoran became a symbol of what an Irishman -- and a Fenian -- could make of himself in the New World..."
• James Hickey - leader of Operation Red Dawn [54] "Hickey is the son of working-class Irish immigrants..."
• Stephen W. Kearny United States Army officer, noted for action in the southwest during the Mexican American War ^[9]
• Andrew Lewis - Continental Army general "LEWIS, Andrew, soldier, born in Donegal, Ireland, about 1720"
• Dennis Hart Mahan - guiding light and head of faculty at West Point for decades prior to the Civil War. Influential author whose published works were the keystone for spreading engineering knowledge throughout the antebellum United States. His Napoleon seminar at West Point informed Civil War strategies, North and South.
• Alfred Thayer Mahan - naval officer and author whose work, including "Sea Power," inspired the creation of the modern United States Navy.
• George Gordon Meade - commanding general of the Army of the Potomac who led the Union forces to victory at Gettysburg in July 1863
• Thomas Francis Meagher - United States Army general, Fenian [55] "THOMAS Francis Meagher, Irish nationalist. captain in the 69th New York State Militia at 1st Manassas, and Civil War general..."
• Richard Montgomery - Continental Army general [56] "MONTGOMERY, RICHARD (1736-1775), American soldier, was born in Co. Dublin, Ireland, in 1736..."
• Audie Murphy - most decorated combat soldier of World War II [57] "One of the countless young Irish Americans queuing up in front of the recruitment offices was Audie Murphy from Greenville, Texas..."
• Timothy Murphy - marksman, Continental Army ^[10] "His parents, Irish immigrants, were Thomas and Mary (Lundy) Murphy..."
• Jeremiah O'Brien - captain in Continental Navy ^[11] "The shamrock centered at the top of the pile alludes to Jeremiah O'Brien's Irish ancestry..."
• John O'Neill - United States Army general, Fenian ^[12] "General John O'Neill arrived in the United States from Ireland in 1848..."
• John P. O'Neill - high ranking anti-terrorism expert [58]
• Molly Pitcher - Revolutionary War heroine [59] "She survived her husband many years, known of course as Molly McCauly, and the statements so frequently made that Molly Pitcher was a young Irish woman..."
• John Reynolds - general commanding the right wing of the Army of the Potomac who surprised Lee and committed the Union army to battle at Gettysburg in July 1863. Killed in the front lines while personally rallying troops for counterattacks during the first day of fighting.
• Philip Sheridan - United States Army, General of the Army, Cavalry [60] "John and Mary Minah Sheridan, Philip's parents, came to America in 1830 at the urging of John's uncle, Thomas Gainor, living in Albany, New York. John and Mary were second degree cousins from County Cavan, Ireland."
• John Sullivan - Continental Army general [61] "General John Sullivan: His Irish Family Background"

Musicians

• Main article: List of American musicians of Irish descent

Politicians

• Main article: List of American politicians of Irish descent

Presidents

At least 22 presidents of the United States have some Irish ancestral origins,^[13] although the extent of this varies. For instance President Clinton claims Irish ancestry despite there being no documentation of any of his ancestors coming from Ireland, but Andrew Jackson and Kennedy on the other hand have strong documented Irish origins. Also Ronald Reagan's great grandfather was an Irish Roman Catholic, and his mother had some Scots-Irish ancestry. James K. Polk also had Scots-Irish Ancestry. Only Kennedy was raised as a practicing Catholic.

Andrew Jackson (Scotch-Irish)

7th President 1829-37: : He was born in the predominantly Ulster-Scots Waxhaws area of South Carolina two years after his parents left Boneybefore, near Carrickfergus in County Antrim. A heritage centre in the village pays tribute to the legacy of 'Old Hickory', the People's President. Andrew Jackson then moved to Tennessee, where he served as Governor^[14]

James Knox Polk (Scotch-Irish)

11th President, 1845-49: His ancestors were among the first Ulster-Scots settlers, emigrating from Coleraine in 1680 to become a powerful political family in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He moved to Tennessee and became its governor before winning the presidency.^[15]

James Buchanan (Scotch-Irish)

15th President, 1857-61: Born in a log cabin (which has been relocated to his old school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania), 'Old Buck' cherished his origins: "My Ulster blood is a priceless heritage". The Buchanans were originally from Deroran, near Omagh in County Tyrone where the ancestral home still stands.^[15]

Andrew Johnson (Scotch-Irish & English)

17th President, 1865-69: His grandfather left Mounthill, near Larne in County Antrim around 1750 and settled in North Carolina. Andrew worked there as a tailor and ran a successful business in Greeneville, Tennessee, before being elected Vice-President. He became President following Abraham Lincoln's assassination.^[15]

Ulysses S. Grant (Scotch-Irish, English & Scottish)

18th President, 1869-77: The home of his maternal great-grandfather, John Simpson, at Dergenagh, County Tyrone, is the location for an exhibition on the eventful life of the victorious Civil War commander who served two terms as President. Grant visited his ancestral homeland in 1878.^[16]

Chester A. Arthur (Scotch-Irish & English)

21st President, 1881-85: His election was the start of a quarter-century in which the White House was occupied by men of Ulster-Scots origins. His family left Dreen, near Cullybackey, County Antrim, in 1815. There is now an interpretive centre, alongside the Arthur Ancestral Home, devoted to his life and times.^[15][17]

Grover Cleveland (Scotch-Irish & English)

22nd and 24th President, 1885-89 and 1893-97: Born in New Jersey, he was the maternal grandson of merchant Abner Neal, who emigrated from County Antrim in the 1790s. He is the only president to have served non-consecutive terms.^[15]

Benjamin Harrison (Scotch-Irish & English)

23rd President, 1889-93: His mother, Elizabeth Irwin, had Ulster-Scots roots through her two great-grandfathers, James Irwin and William McDowell. Harrison was born in Ohio and served as a brigadier general in the Union Army before embarking on a career in Indiana politics which led to the White House.^[15][18]

William McKinley (Scotch-Irish & English)

25th President, 1897-1901: Born in Ohio, the descendant of a farmer from Conagher, near Ballymoney, County Antrim, he was proud of his ancestry and addressed one of the national Scotch-Irish congresses held in the late 19th century. His second term as president was cut short by an assassin's bullet.^[15][19]

Theodore Roosevelt (Scotch-Irish, Dutch, Scotch, English & French)

26th President, 1901-09: His mother, Mittie Bulloch, had Ulster Scots ancestors who emigrated from Glenoe, County Antrim, in May 1729. Roosevelt praised "Irish Presbyterians" as "a bold and hardy race."^[20] However, he is also the man who said: "But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts "native"* before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen." [62] (*Roosevelt was referring to "nativists", not American Indians, in this context)^[21]

William Howard Taft (Scotch-Irish & English)

27th President 1909-13^[22][23]

Woodrow Wilson (Scotch-Irish)

28th President, 1913-21: Of Ulster-Scot descent on both sides of the family, his roots were very strong and dear to him. He was grandson of a printer from Dergalt, near Strabane, County Tyrone, whose former home is open to visitors. Throughout his career he reflected on the influence of his ancestral values on his constant quest for knowledge and fulfillment.^[15]

Warren G. Harding (Scotch-Irish & English)

29th President 1921-23^[24]

Harry S. Truman (Scotch-Irish, English & German)

33rd President 1945-53^[25][26]

John F. Kennedy (Irish)

35th President 1961-63, (County Wexford),

Richard Nixon (Irish, Scotch-Irish, English & German)

37th President, 1969-74: The Nixon ancestors left Ulster in the mid-18th century; the Quaker Milhous family ties were with County Antrim and County Kildare.^[15]

Jimmy Carter (Scotch-Irish & English)

39th President 1977-1981 (County Antrim)^[16]

Ronald Reagan (Irish, English & Scottish)

40th President 1981-89: He was the great-grandson, on his father's side, of Irish migrants from Ballyporeen, County Tipperary who came to America via Canada and England in the 1940s. His mother was of Scottish and English ancestry.^[27]

George H. W. Bush (Irish, Scotch-Irish & English)

41st President 1989-93: County Wexford historians have found that his now apparent ancestor, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (known as Strongbow for his arrow skills) - is remembered as a desperate, land-grabbing warlord whose calamitous foreign adventure led to the suffering of generations. Shunned by Henry II, he offered his services as a mercenary in the 12th-century invasion of Wexford in exchange for power and land. When he eventually died of a festering ulcer in his foot, his enemies said it was the revenge of Irish saints whose shrines he had violated. The genetic line can also be traced to Dermot MacMurrough, the Gaelic king of Leinster reviled in history books as the man who sold Ireland by inviting Strongbow's invasion to save himself from a local feud.^[28][29]

Bill Clinton (Scotch-Irish & English)

42nd President 1993-2001: He claims Irish ancestry despite there being no documentation of any of his ancestors coming from Ireland ^[15][30]

George W. Bush (Irish, Scotch-Irish & English)

43rd President 2001-09: One of his five times great-grandfathers, William Holliday, was born in Rathfriland, County Down, about 1755, and died in Kentucky about 1811-12. One of the President's seven times great-grandfathers, William Shannon, was born somewhere in County Cork about 1730, and died in Pennsylvania in 1784.^[29]

Barack Obama (Kenyan, African American & Irish American )

44th President 2009-: He is part of the "American melting pot" as his maternal ancestors came to America from Kenya & Ireland Republic of Ireland

Ireland. His ancestors lived in New England and the South and by the 1800s most were in the Midwest. His father was Kenyan and the first of his family to leave Africa.(County Offaly)^[31][32]

Science

• Michael Collins - astronaut with Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 missions [63]
• Jim Collins - Rhodes Scholar, MacArthur genius, bioengineer and inventor^[33]
• John Philip Holland - inventor of the submarine, Fenian ^[34] "John Philip Holland was born in Ireland in 1841. He emigrated to America where his first successful submarine design was paid for by Irish nationalists seeking Ireland's liberation from Britain."
• Charles Brian Montagu McBurney - medical pioneer ^[35] "Charles McBurney (1845-1913) was an Irish American medical pioneer famous in his field for his early reports about appendicitis."
• Charles Townes - physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate ^[35]

Sports

• Mickey Ward - WBA champion boxer.
• James J. Braddock - champion boxer.
• John Cena - WWE professional wrestler (Mother of Irish Descent)
• John McEnroe - professional tennis player.
• Tom Brady - three time Super Bowl Champion QB.
• Muhammad Ali - legendary professional boxer; descended from the Abe O'Grady, Ennis, County Clare
• John Daly - professional golfer in PGA Tour.
• Shaquille O'Neal - four time NBA Champion.
• Jeff Hardy - TNA professional wrestler
• Matt Hardy - Professional wrestler
• Shannon Moore - TNA professional wrestler
• Whitey Ford - hall of fame pitcher for the NY Yankees.
• Jason Kidd - NBA point guard.
• John Elway - hall of fame NFL quarterback.
• Derek Jeter - five time World Series champion short stop for NY Yankees.
• Michael Phelps^[36]
• Kelly Slater- Professional Surfer
• Ben Hogan - hall of fame PGA golfer.
• Kevin McHale - NBA hall of famer.
• Troy O'Leary - Boston Red Sox outfielder for 6 years.
• Pat Duff - Major League Baseball player.
• Tom Cahill - Major League Baseball player.
• Jack Dempsey - World Heavyweight Champion 1919-1926.
• CM Punk - Father is of Irish Descent.

Others

• Billy the Kid - gunslinger ^[37] "aka Billy Bonney, from his birth in New York's Irish slums..."
• Molly Brown the Unsinkable Molly Brown was Born Molly Tobin (Irish born father) ^[38]
• Eileen Collins - first female commander of a Space Shuttle ^[39] "The Irish American contribution to space exploration has continued in recent years with astronauts Kathryn Sullivan and Eileen Collins..."
• Pamela Kyle Crossley - historian
• Ann Dunham, anthropologist and mother of Barack Obama
• John Dunlap - printer, printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence ^[40] "John Dunlap, born in Ireland in 1747..."
• Richard T. Nolan, writer, Episcopal Church canon, retired philosophy and religion professor.
• Ellen Ewing Sherman - step sister and wife of William Tecumseh Sherman. Because they would have needed to buy a slave to help with the children, Mrs. Sherman refused to accompany her husband to command at the Louisiana military academy, which later became LSU. During the Civil War, she and their children took up residence at Notre Dame University, with which her family was closely affiliated.
• David Steele Presbyterian Minister
• John Quinlan (wrestler) Pro Wrestler
• Ann Glover - hanged as a witch in Boston ^[41] "A native of Ireland, she had been sold as a slave in Barbados..."
• Dan Harrington - world poker champion ^[42] "Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Irish descent..."
• James Healy - Bishop of Portland, America's first African-American bishop, born a slave according to the laws of Georgia to an Irish immigrant and his beloved African wife. First graduate and valedictorian of Holy Cross College in Massachusetts.
• Patrick Healy - President of Georgetown University, considered its second founder. Brother of James Healy. First African-American president of an American university. Priest in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).
• Michael Healy - Captain of the Revenue Cutter Bear, defender of Alaska's native Americans, inspiration for Jack London's "The Sea Wolf," prominent figure in James Michener's "Alaska". Younger brother of James and Patrick Healy.
• James Hoban - Architect of the White House in Washington, DC ^[43] "Hoban studied at the Dublin Society School in Dublin before emigrating to the United States of America..."
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - former First Lady, her mother, Janet Lee Bouvier, is of mostly Irish descent
• Mary Jemison - Frontiers Woman http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Irish_Americans&action=edit&section=17^[44]"Mary Jemison was born onboard the ship Planter on the way from Ireland to America.
• Mark Calaway - Pro wrestler with the WWE, known as the Undertaker.
• Christa McAuliffe, a teacher-astronaut who was killed in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (also has Lebanese ancestry).
• Paul Charles Morphy, (1837-1884) American chess player.^[45]
• John L. Sullivan - Last bare-knuckle boxing heavyweight champion of the world & first gloved heavyweight champion of the world. Also, the first American athlete to become a national celebrity and to earn over $1 million.
• Kathleen Willey - a major figure in the Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky scandals involving President Bill Clinton, her mother is of Irish descent.
• Coco Rocha, is a Canadian model of Irish, Welsh, and Russian descent.
• Henry Louis Gates, professor, at Harvard University "I am descended from a white man... who slept with a black slave. And we know from the analysis of the DNA that... goes back to Ireland"^[46]

References

External links

• IrishAmerica.com
• The Irish-born signatories of the American Declaration of Independence
• Medal of Honor Recipients (Irish Born)
• Irish Heros at the Alamo
• Coffin Ships
• The American Irish Historical Society
• Early Irish Immigration to USA
• Irish immigrant soldiers in the Civil War