This is a list of Americans of Irish descent, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American-born descendants.
To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article and/or references showing the person is Irish American.
John Sayles (1950- ) - independent film director and writer, frequently takes a small part in his own and other indie films; both parents are half Irish[15]
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; 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[33]
Robert Fitzgerald - poet, critic, and translator; Poet Laureate of the United States 1984-1985
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
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
At least 22 presidents of the United States have some Irish ancestral origins,[48] 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 and Irish ancestry. James K. Polk also had Scots-Irish ancestry. Only Kennedy was raised as a practicing Catholic.
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.[49]
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.[49]
17th President, 1865-69: His grandfather left Mounthill, near Larne in County Antrim, around 1750 and settled in North Carolina. Johnson 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.[49]
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.[50]
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.[49][51]
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.[49]
23rd President, 1889-93: His mother, Elizabeth Irwin, had Ulster-Scots roots through her 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.[49]
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 Irish congresses held in the late 19th century. His second term as president was cut short by an assassin's bullet.[49][52]
Theodore Roosevelt (Scotch-Irish,Irish, Dutch, Scottish, 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."[53] However, he also 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." (*Roosevelt was referring to "nativists", not American Indians, in this context.)
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.[49]
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.[49]
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 1840s. His mother was of Scottish and English ancestry.
42nd President 1993-2001: He claims Irish ancestry despite there being no documentation of any of his ancestors coming from Ireland. However, his mother's maiden name was the Irish surname Cassidy.[49]
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.[57]
44th President 2009-17: His father was part of the Luo ethnic group in Kenya. His mother's ancestry was predominantly English, but a few of his maternal ancestors hailed from Moneygall, County Offaly.[58]
Science
Jim Collins - Rhodes Scholar, MacArthur genius, bioengineer and inventor[59]
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
R. Nicholas Burns - diplomat, Harvard professor, columnist and lecturer; 19th Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; 17th United States Permanent Representative to NATO; US Ambassador to Greece 1997-2001[66]
Patrick Downey - political dissident and human rights activist; denied political asylum in Ireland in 2011; grandson of Walter F. Downey; applied for political asylum in Russia in 2012; converted from Roman Catholic Church to Russian Orthodox Church; deported and given life ban from Ireland on St. Patrick's Day 2011
Ann Dunham - anthropologist and mother of Barack Obama
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 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)
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^[10] "Hannity, a proclaimed devout Irish Catholic"
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^[25] "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..."
^[26] "Philip's parents, came to United States in 1830... John and Mary were second degree cousins from County Cavan, Ireland."
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^Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning Of The West, Volume 1, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, pg. 77
^Marck, John T. "William H. Taft". aboutfamouspeople.com. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
^Marck, John T. "Harry S. Truman". aboutfamouspeople.com. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
^The Submarine Inventor "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..."
Byrne, James Patrick, Philip Coleman, and Jason Francis King, eds. Ireland and the Americas: culture, politics, and history: a multidisciplinary encyclopedia (3 vol. ABC-CLIO, 2008)
Delaney, John J. Dictionary of American Catholic biography (Doubleday, 1984), 625pp; 1500 short biographies, about half Irish
Glazier, Michael, ed. The encyclopedia of the Irish in America (University of Notre Dame Press, 1999)