Lists of Irish Americans

This is a list of notable Irish Americans.

List

Actors

*main|List of Irish-American actors

Presidents

At least twenty-three presidents of the United States have some Irish/Northern Irish (

#George Washington, 1st President
#William Howard Taft, 27th President 1909-13 [ [http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1118.html William H. Taft - History Celebrities ] ]
#Warren G. Harding, 29th President 1921-23 [ [http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312172/harding.html Warren Harding ] ] [ [http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1120.html Warren G. Harding - History Celebrities ] ]
#Harry S. Truman, 33rd President 1945-53 [ [http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1124.html Harry S. Truman - History Celebrities ] ]
#Jimmy Carter, 39th President 1977-81 [http://homepage.eircom.net/%257Eseanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm Directory of Irish Genealogy: American Presidents with Irish Ancestors ] ]
#George H. W. Bush, 41st President 1989-93

Other Presidents of Irish descent
#Jefferson Davis, first and only President of the Confederate States of America. [ [http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm American Presidents with Irish Ancestors] ] [Roberts, Gary B & Otto, Julie H: "Ancestors of American Presidents", 1995. ISBN 0-936124-19-9]

Arts

*Michael Flatley, Dancer [http://www.slate.com/id/2127055/fr/rss] "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 know for trompe-l'œil renderings of still life. [http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/sHarnett.html] "William Harnett American, born Ireland, 1848(?)-1892"
*Gene Kelly, Dancer, Actor, Singer, Director, Choreographer
*Georgia O'Keeffe, Painter [http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/okee-geox.htm] "Of Irish and Hungarian ancestry, Georgia O'Keeffe was born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wis...."
*Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Sculptor [http://ncartmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibitions/gaudens/gaudens.shtml] "Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1848 to an Irish mother and a French father."
*Harrison and Terrence Ford, Actors and sons of an Irish Father and a Jewish mother.

Business

*Diamond Jim Brady - financier and philanthropist [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471391026] "Born in 1856 into an Irish immigrant family who ran a saloon on the Lower East Side..."
*Henry Ford - founder of Ford Motor Company [http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/people.php?id=1234725&lid=1] "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 [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAgowenF.htm] "Franklin Gowen, the fifth son of an Irish immigrant, was born in Philadelphia in 1836..."
*Herb Kelleher - Southwest Airlines chairman [http://www.irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishamericamag/decjan/top100/100.asp] "www.irishboard.com"
*Tom Monaghan - founder of Domino's Pizza [http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2000/feb2000p13_21.html] "On his father's side there was the Irish connection, his grandfather coming from Tipperary and his paternal grandmother from Cork..."
*Bill Rancic - entrepreneur [http://www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/bill_rancic/index.shtml] "grew up in the suburb Orland Park, to a Croatian-Irish family..."
*Jack Welch - Former CEO of GE [http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm] "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 [http://www.justdisney.com/WaltDisney100/biography/01.html] "his father, Elias Disney, an Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora Call Disney, who was of German-American descent."
*John Ford, Director, best known for stylish Westerns and the film classic, "The Quiet Man".
*Alfred Hitchcock [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/05/hitchcock.html] "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." [http://www.classictrailers.co.uk/alfredbio.html] "In 1955, he became an American citizen."
*Ron Howard Director, Child Actor [http://www.oscarwatch.com/moveabletype/archives/reviews/cinderella_man/] "Ron Howard is of Irish descent, his ancestors having immigrated to Oklahoma for the land grab. His passion for the Irish failed him when he made “Far and Away,” but it serves him well here; it’s clear he feels a kinship with fellow Irishman Braddock."
*John Huston [ [http://www.showbizireland.com/news/october00/26-huston01.shtml] "Irish based firm director John Huston" [http://www.adherents.com/people/ph/John_Huston.html] "My father was born in 1884 in Toronto, Canada, of a Scottish mother... and an Irish father... In 1964 I became an Irish citizen."]
*Leo McCarey [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/mccarey.html] "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 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/michaelmoore/story/0,13947,1055591,00.html] "Moore, now 49, 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 [Sayles - [http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/Interview_John%20Sayles.html] "An awful lot of Americans have an Irish ancestry. Do you? Both of my parents are half Irish... it wasn't a real strong part of my upbringing. Being Catholic was but not being Irish... I just felt it would work best for my knowledge and for a general audience being set in Ireland.... Because you yourself are Irish?"]

Gangsters

*main|List of Irish American mobsters

Lawyers

*William Brennan - United States Supreme Court Justice [ [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/90/biography Oyez: William J. Brennan, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice ] ] "The second of eight children born to Irish immigrants..."
*James B. Comey - former Deputy Attorney General of the United States [http://www.savemartha.com/martha_stewart_trial_who.html] "He was born in Yonkers 42 years ago, the second of four children in a middle-class Irish-American family."
*Patrick Fitzgerald - current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1707291,00.html] "His parents were Irish-born and he grew up in a working-class Irish American community..."
*Anthony Kennedy - United States Supreme Court Justice [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/104/background] "Ethnicity Irish"

Literature

*Bill Bryson-of Irish stock on his mother's side, as mentioned in his memoir.
*F. Scott Fitzgerald-novelist and writer of short stories [http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html] "Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary (Mollie) McQuillan, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant..."
*Susan Howe-poet [http://bostonreview.net/BR28.6/palattella.html] "Howe’s mother, Mary Manning, the Irish playwright, actress, and novelist..."
*Eugene O'Neill-playwright; winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/oneill.htm] "Eugene O'Neill was born in New York into an Irish-Catholic theatrical family..."

Media/Journalists

*Mike Barnicle [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/daily/globe0825.htm] "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 [http://southerncrossreview.org/37/breslin.htm] "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 [http://www.webstationone.com/fecha/cal-may/may5.htm] "Miss Bly was, in fact, the daughter of Irish immigrants."
*Neil Cavuto [http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/neilcavuto/2004/01/17/10459.html] "Look, I'm half-Italian and half-Irish. I figure I was born with a temper..."
*Phil Donahue [http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2002/07/18/donahue/index.html] "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 [http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14946/index4.html] "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..."
*Pete Hamill [http://www.saja.org/hamill.html] "Born in Brooklyn in 1935, of Irish immigrant parents, Pete Hamill served in the US Navy, attended Mexico City College..."
*Sean Hannity [http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/195/] "Hannity, a proclaimed devout Irish Catholic, has blamed liberals for actions taken..."
*Magee Hickey [http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/NYC/irish_heritage_and_culture_committee_of_bronx.htm]
*Greg Kelly
*Chris Matthews [http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=17164] "But Chris Matthews, the Irish-American host of MSNBC's political talk show "Hardball,"..."
*Peggy Noonan (1950 - ) author, political analyst and pundit for the Republican Party [Noonan - [http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95000588] "I pick Dublin because I was there most recently, and also because I'm Irish-American..."]
*Conan O'Brien [http://users.vnet.net/allbell/irish.html] "O'Brien, the proud Irishman, clad very casually in denims and navy blue shirt..."
*Soledad O'Brien [http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/obrien.soledad.html] "O'Brien was named to Irish American Magazine's "Top 100 Irish Americans" on two occasions." [http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/obriensoledad.asp] "Soledad O’Brien brings her unique heritage of Latino, Irish, and African-American cultures..."
*Norah O'Donnell [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3688941/] "O’Donnell has also been named to Irish American Magazine’s 2000 “Top 100 Irish Americans” list."
*Bill O'Reilly [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/23/60minutes/main645202.shtml] "He was raised Irish-Catholic in Long Island, NY..."
*John L. O'Sullivan [http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jah/91.2/br_28.html] "He was the son of an English woman of aristocratic origins and an Irish-born..."
*Regis Philbin [http://www.kipaddotta.com/regis-philbin.html] "Part of an Irish-American Catholic family, he was the eldest son of Frank and Florence..."
*Tim Russert (1950 - 2008) journalist, has hosted NBC's "Meet the Press" from 1991 until his death in 2008. [Russert - [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4459759/] "Irish America magazine has named him one of the top 100 Irish Americans in the country and he was selected as a Fellow of the Commission of European Communities." [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/192/story_19270_1.html] "I thought that certainly people I grew up with in the Irish Catholic neighborhood in Buffalo would want to read it."]
*Ed Sullivan [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/freeman/20060304-9999-1c04freeman.html] "As you may recall, Ed Sullivan, whose heritage was Irish ..."
*Elizabeth Vargas [http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/hispanic/arts_culture_media/amoruso_elizabeth_vargas_1205.asp] "Born in New Jersey of a Puerto Rican father and Irish American mother, and a self-described army brat..."
*John Walsh [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067100669X] "I don't know if it comes from being Irish or Catholic or both...."
*Brian Williams

Military

*John Barry - father of the United States Navy [http://www.ushistory.org/more/commodorebarry.html] "John Barry was born in a modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson on Our Lady's Island, which is part of Tacumshin Parish in County Wexford, Ireland..."
*Michael Corcoran - United States Army general [http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/corcpt1.html] "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 [http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=942305] "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 [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08132b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Irish (In Countries Other Than Ireland) ] ]
*Andrew Lewis - Continental Army general "LEWIS, Andrew, soldier, born in Donegal, Ireland, about 1720"
*Thomas Francis Meagher - United States Army general, Fenian [http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/meagher.html] "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 [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/M/MO/MONTGOMERY_RICHARD.htm] "MONTGOMERY, RICHARD (1736-1775), American soldier, was born in Co. Dublin, Ireland, in 1736..."
*Audie Murphy - most decorated combat soldier of World War II [http://www.irishtribute.com/heritage/viewer.adp@article=1538218.html] "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 [ [http://www.americanrevolution.org/murphy.html The Saratoga Rifleman ] ] "His parents, Irish immigrants, were Thomas and Mary (Lundy) Murphy..."
*Jeremiah O'Brien - captain in Continental Navy [ [http://navysite.de/dd/dd975.htm USS O’Brien (DD 975) ] ] "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 [ [http://www.historicomaha.com/oneill.htm General John O'Neill ] ] "General John O'Neill arrived in the United States from Ireland in 1848..."
*John P. O'Neill - high ranking anti-terrorism expert [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020114fa_FACT1]
*Molly Pitcher - Revolutionary War heroine [http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacumber/molly.htm] "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..."
*Philip Sheridan - United States Army, General of the Army, Cavalry [http://www.netpluscom.com/~pchs/sheridan.htm] "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 [http://www.castletown.com/GeneralSullivan.htm] "General John Sullivan: His Irish Family Background"

Musicians

*main|List of Irish American musicians

Politicians

*main|List of Irish American politicians

cience

*Michael Collins - astronaut with Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 missions [http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=197&docID=-1]
*Jim Collins - Rhodes Scholar, MacArthur genius, bioengineer and inventor [ [http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142737/k.6839/Fellows_List__October_2003.htm Fellows List - October 2003 - MacArthur Foundation ] ]
*John Philip Holland - inventor of the submarine, Fenian [ [http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/holland/inventor.htm John Philip Holland ] ] "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 [http://www.bkfk.com/inventions/irishinventors.asp] ] "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

Others

*Billy the Kid - gunslinger [ [http://www.frontiertimes.com/outlaws/billy_the_kid.html FrontierTimes - Outlaws - Billy The Kid ] ] "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) [ [http://www.mollybrownmuseum.com/ Molly Brown Museum control page ] ]
*Eileen Collins - first female commander of a Space Shuttle [ [http://www.ntif.org/theme/irish.html] ] "The Irish American contribution to space exploration has continued in recent years with astronauts Kathryn Sullivan and Eileen Collins..."
*John Dunlap - printer, printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence [ [http://www.virtualology.com/virtualwarmuseum.com/revolutionarywarhall/JOHNDUNLAP.NET/ John Dunlap ] ] "John Dunlap, born in Ireland in 1747..."
*Anne Glover - hanged as a witch in Boston [ [http://www.aoh61.com/history/ir_american.htm Famous Irish Americans ] ] "A native of Ireland, she had been sold as a slave in Barbados..."
*Dan Harrington - world poker champion [ [http://www.worldpokertour.com/players/?x=profile&id=2280 WPT | Players | Players ] ] "Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Irish descent..."
*James Hoban - Architect of the White House in Washington, DC [ [http://www.irish-architecture.com/architects_ireland/hoban.html James Hoban (1762-1831) - Biographies - Irish Architecture ] ] "Hoban studied at the Dublin Society School in Dublin before emigrating to the United States of America..."
*Mary Jemison - Frontiers Woman [ [http://home.dc.rr.com/claesjonsson/Jemison.htm Jemison family ] ] "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. Redhead.
*Christa McAuliffe, a teacher-astronaut who was killed in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (also has Lebanese ancestry).
*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.

External links

* [http://www.irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishamericamag/ IrishAmerica.com]
* [http://www.irishabroad.com/yourroots/genealogy/features/theirishbornofindependence.asp The Irish-born signatories of the American Declaration of Independence]
* [http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/mdohhome.html Medal of Honor Recipients (Irish Born)]
* [http://www.irishconnectionsmag.com/archives/v5i2/alamo.htm Irish Heros at the Alamo]
* [http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/coffin.htm Coffin Ships]
* [http://www.aihs.org/ The American Irish Historical Society]
* [http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2001_Irish2.asp Early Irish Immigration to USA]
* [http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/christpt1.html Irish immigrant soldiers in the Civil War]

References