This is a list of notable Irish Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American-born descendants. For more information see also: List of Americans of Irish descent.
List
"To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Irish American or must have references showing they are Irish American and are notable."
Robert McNamara - President of Ford Motor Company. McNamara's style of "scientific management" with his use of computer spreadsheets featuring graphs showing trends in the auto industry were regarded as extremely innovative in the 1950s and were much copied by other executives in the following decades.
Mark Gallogly - American private equity investor who co-founded and served as Managing Principal of the private investment firm Centerbridge Partners until his retirement in 2020
William S. O'Brien - American businessman who dealt in mining stocks and operated silver mines.
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 (1894–1973) – director, best known for stylish Westerns and the film classic The Quiet Man
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
Ernest J. King – was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II.
William D. Leahy – The most senior United States military officer on active duty during World War II, he held several titles and exercised considerable influence over foreign and military policy. As a fleet admiral, he was the first flag officer ever to hold a five-star rank in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Alfred Thayer Mahan – naval officer and author whose work, including Sea Power, inspired the creation of the modern United States Navy
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 US; his Napoleon seminar at West Point informed Civil War strategies, North and South
George Gordon Meade – commanding general of the Army of the Potomac who led the Union forces to victory at Gettysburg in 1863
George S. Patton – general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
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
Out of the 115 killed at Battle of Bunker Hill 22 were Irish-born some of their names include Callaghan, Casey, Collins, Connelly, Dillon, Donohue, Flynn, McGrath, Nugent, Shannon, and Sullivan[79]
Dennis E. Nolan - Major General who distinguished himself by heading the first modern American military combat intelligence function during World War I.
At least 22 presidents of the United States have some Irish ancestral origins,[80] 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 Kennedy on the other hand have strong documented Irish origins. Also Ronald Reagan's great-grandfather was an Irish Roman Catholic. Kennedy and Joe Biden were raised as a practicing Catholics.
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.[83]
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.[83] Buchanan also had pre-plantation Irish ancestry being a descendant of the O'Kanes from County Londonderry.
17th President, 1865–69: His grandfather suppoosedly left Mounthill, near Larne in County Antrim around 1750 and settled in North Carolina he was of English ancestry. 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. His Mother was Mary “Polly” McDonough of Irish ancestry 1782[83][84]
Ulysses S. Grant (Possibly Irish, 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.[85] His grandmother was Rachel Kelley, the daughter of an Irish pioneer.[86] Surname Kelly[87]
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.[83][88][89]
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.[83] Stephen Grover Cleveland was born to Ann (née Neal) and Richard Falley Cleveland. Ann Neal was of Irish ancestry and Richard Falley Cleveland was of Anglo-Irish and English ancestry[90]
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.[83][91]
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.[83][92]
Theodore Roosevelt (Irish, 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."[93] 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."[94] (*Roosevelt was referring to "nativists", not American Indians, in this context)[95]
27th President 1909–13: His great great great grandfather, Robert Taft was born in 1640 in Ireland and immigrated to America, during the mid 17th century. Robert taft was from County Louth in the republic of Ireland, He died in Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts.[96][97]
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.[83]
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 and County Cork.[83]
40th President 1981–89: He was the great-grandson, on his father's side, of Irish migrants from County Tipperary who came to America via Canada and England in the 1840s. His mother was of Scottish and English ancestry.[101]
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. He would die from a festering ulcer in his foot, which his enemies said 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.[102][103]
42nd President 1993–2001: He claims Irish ancestry despite there being no documentation of any of his ancestors coming from Ireland[83][105]
George W. Bush (Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Welsh, French, German & 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.[103]
44th President 2009–2017: His paternal ancestors came to America from Kenya and his maternal ancestors came to America from England. 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.[106][107] His great great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, was born in the Irish town of Moneygall.[108]
Alan C. Newell - Mathematician who received the John von Neumann Prize in applied mathematical sciences and who made contributions to many areas of research such as pattern formation, nonlinear waves and solutions, optics, wave turbulence, plasmas and fluids and coherent structures.
Bert W. O'Malley - Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and winner of the 2007 National Medal of Science. He is considered the 'father of molecular endocrinology' and has received numerous other awards as well, including the prestigious Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize.
William P. Murphy - 1934 Nobel Prize-winning scientist in Physiology or Medicine
Linda B. Buck - 2004 Nobel Prize-winning scientist in Physiology or Medicine
Kathleen Antonelli - Also known as Kay McNulty, was a computer programmer and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers.
William James MacNeven - Physician and referred to as the "Father of American Chemistry". One of the oldest obelisks in New York City is dedicated to him near St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway.
Sean B. Carroll - Biologist who has won several awards including the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science from the Franklin Institute "for proposing and demonstrating that the diversity and multiplicity of animal life is largely due to the different ways that the same genes are regulated rather than to mutation of the genes themselves."
John P. Hayes - Computer Scientist and Electrical Engineer who in 2013, the IEEE Computer Society Test Technology Technical Community honored with a Lifetime Contribution Medal. In 2014, Hayes was recognized with the ACMSpecial Interest Group on Design Automation Pioneering Achievement Award "for his pioneering contributions to logic design, fault tolerant computing, and testing."
R. Nicholas Burns – American diplomat, Harvard professor, columnist and lecturer; 19th Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; 17th United States Permanent Representative to NATO; United States Ambassador to Greece 1997–2001[117]
Mark Calaway – pro wrestler with the WWE, known as the "Undertaker"
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
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
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)
Coco Rocha – Canadian model of Irish, Welsh, and Russian descent
Ellen Ewing Sherman – stepsister 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.
John L. Sullivan – last bare-knuckle boxing heavyweight champion of the world; first gloved heavyweight champion of the world; first American athlete to become a national celebrity and to earn over $1 million
^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."
^[1] "The Irish-Catholic kid who learned to play golf as a 12-year-old caddy beat a champion..."
^"Louis Sullivan". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 18 January 2024. His Irish-born father and Swiss-born mother had immigrated to the United States in 1847 and 1850, respectively
^"Walt Disney - 100 Years of Walt Disney". Archived from the original on 17 March 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006. "his father, Elias Disney, an Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora Call Disney, who was of German-English descent."
^William Dean Howells (1917) [First published 1916]. "I". Years of My Youth. Harper & Brothers. Retrieved 23 January 2024. I can reasonably suppose that it is because of the mixture of Welsh, German, and Irish in me that I feel myself so typically American
^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?"
^Hammond, Ruth (August 1998). "Portrait of the Artist As a News Man". Pittsburgh City Paper. Pittsburgh.
^Russert – [3] "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."
^General John O'Neill"General John O'Neill arrived in the United States from Ireland in 1848..."
^Wright, Lawrence (7 January 2002). "The Counter-Terrorist". The New Yorker – via www.newyorker.com.
^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..."
^Robert A. Nowlan (2016). The American Presidents From Polk to Hayes: What They Did, What They Said & What Was Said About Them. Outskirts Press. p. 387. ISBN9781478765721. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016.
^discovernorthernireland – explore more: Arthur Cottage Accessed 3 March 2010. "Arthur Cottage, situated in the heart of County Antrim, only a short walk from the village of Cullybackey is the ancestral home of Chester Alan Arthur, the 21st President of the USA."
^"John Philip Holland". Rnsubmus.co.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2013. "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."
^"Irish American Inventors". Archived from the original on 22 March 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2006. "Charles McBurney (1845–1913) was an Irish American medical pioneer famous in his field for his early reports about appendicitis."
