The Irish in Power

Men and women who helped build a superpower

While the stories of the major players like JFK, Joe Biden and others such as Tip O’Neil are well known, others who were just as influential deserve their stories told. Irish American men and women whose lives impacted not only on the history of America but also the world.
The Irish in power is the story of some of America’s most flamboyant and influential Irish American politicians. It tells the tales of the men and women whose ancestors left Ireland in poverty and hunger who then climbed the greasy pole of political power and helped forge a superpower.
Irish people have been instrumental in the creation of the United States of America. Half of all US Presidents have been of Irish descent and the men who ruled the major cities of the eastern seaboard in the 1920s and 30s were proud Irishmen.
It also took an Irishwoman to smash the glass ceiling and become the first female mayor of a major American city.
The Irish in Power pulls no punches. It is not a romanticised story of Irish people making good in America — it is an honest look at the virtues and flaws of the Irish Americans elected to power in their new home.