Political Tuohy's

"My father was totally Irish, and so I went to Ireland once. I found it to be very much like New York (state), for it was a beautiful country, and both the women and men were good-looking." James Cagney

"My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage." James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States

"All that praying you made us do," complained Maggie. "And making us go to Mass. And starving us on Good Friday...And making us feeling ashamed of our bodies and guilty about absolutely everything. No, Ma, you were the pits." Nuala glowed with pride, truly she had been the best of Catholic mothers. Late Opening at The Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes

Frank William Towey, Jr. (November 5, 1895 - September 4, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician. Towey, a Democrat, served as the United States Representative from New Jersey's 12th congressional district from 1937 to 1939.Towey was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. After attending Manresa Hall Grammar School and St. Peter's Preparatory School, Towey went on to Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduating in 1916. Towey then attended the Fordham University School of Law, graduating in 1919. He was commissioned as an infantry second lieutenant in the United States Army in September 1918, and he served until he was honorably discharged in January 1919. He was admitted to the bar in 1920 and started his law practice in Newark, New Jersey. In 1936, the Democrat Towey decided to run for the House of Representatives seat for New Jersey's 12th congressional district. He was set to face eleven-term incumbent Republican Frederick R. Lehlbach. In a very close election, Towey beat the incumbent Lehlbach, capturing 54,688 votes in comparison to his 54,363, giving Towey a 49.9%-49.6% victory. Towey would only serve one term in the House of Representatives. In the 1938 House elections, Towey faced Republican challenger Robert W. Kean, a member of the New Jersey Kean political family. Towey lost to Kean by a nearly 14% margin.Towey resumed his law practice in Newark. From 1940 to 1947, he served as a member of the state's Selective Appeal Board. In 1943, he became assistant to the United States Attorney General, remaining in this position until 1955. Towey died in Montclair, New Jersey on September 4, 1979 at the age of 83. His ashes were interred in Acacia Memorial Park in Seattle, Washington.

Jim Towey served as Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and as Assistant to President George W. Bush from 2002 to May 2006. He is currently president of Saint Vincent College, a small Catholic school in Pennsylvania. Towey has resigned from the Saint Vincent College. He will step down as president at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. Towey graduated from Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, Florida in 1974 and went on to Florida State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science with high honors in 1978 and a Juris Doctor in 1981. Towey is a Roman Catholic and member of the Knights of Columbus. Towey has served as the sixteenth President of Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania since July 1, 2006. As President of Saint Vincent College, Mr. Towey serves as the Chief Executive Officer of an educational institution that has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of America’s Best Colleges. With nearly 2,000 students, a budget of $42 million and nearly 500 employees, Saint Vincent has experienced renewed vitality under Mr. Towey’s leadership. Prior to his work at the White House, Towey in 1996 founded Aging with Dignity, a national non-profit organization to help individuals and their families plan for and receive appropriate care during times of serious illness. He created the document, Five Wishes, the most widely used advance directive in America with over 13 million copies in circulation. His recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on the rights of disabled veterans to receive proper advance care planning led to corrective action by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Edward Twohig is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, Canada for the constituency of Kings North. He sat as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1984.Twohig was first elected in 1978, and was re-elected in 1981. He did not re-offer in 1984.

O'Connor, Thomas: Publisher of the early Irish American newspaper "Shamrock". His son, Charles, became a distinguished jurist.

O'Hair, Mary McClellan: 1936). O'Hair was the first woman regent of the University of Texas, appointed in May of 1921.

O'Sullivan, Captain Florence: A ships captain, he was named surveyor-general of Charleston, South Carolina in 1670. He was also commander of the militia. Sullivan's Island in Charleston harbor is named after him.

O'Brien, Jeremiah: Served in the House of Representatives in 1824, represent ting Maine.

O'Brien, Jeremiah: The son of an Irish immigrant, he captured the British schooner Margaretta in Machias Bay, Maine, on June 12, 1775.

O'Melveny H.K.S: A California Judge arrived with his family to California in November 1869. He was elected county judge in 1872 and was appointed to the Superior Court in 1887.

O’Farrell, Jasper: In 1843. O’Farrell, a surveyor, l arrived from County Wexford, Ireland to the United States. Noted for the accuracy of his surveys, O'Farrell was appointed official land surveyor by California Governor Manual Micheltorena. In payment, he was granted a ranch in Marin County.

O’Conor, Hugo: Probably the first Irishman in Texas. He became governor ad interim of Texas in 1767. His success in reinforcing San Antonio against raiding Apaches was a notable contribution to the further settlement of that region.

Rusk, Thomas Jefferson: (1803-1857), son of an Irish immigrant stonemason, born in South Carolina. He settled in Texas in 1835. In 1836 he was a member of the convention that proclaimed Texas an independent republic. He served as secretary of war, commander in chief of the army, and chief justice of the supreme court. In 1845 he was president of the convention that voted for annexation to the United States, and, along with Irish American Sam Houston was one of the state s first United States senators.

Sullivan, Louis H.: (1856-1924) The son of a Irish immigrant and considered the father of modernism in architecture.

Sullivan, John: (1740-1795) The son of an Irish Immigrant, he led a Brigade of New Hampshire militiamen in the seizure of Fort William and Mary in 1774. The gunpowder captured here was later used at Bunker Hill.

Sullivan, Daniel: An Irish immigrant who settled in Nansemond County, Virginia in 1690 and was elected to the House of Burgesses. His descendants were pioneers in Ohio.

Scotch-Irish: An Americanism, it refers to those Irish-Americans of Scottish descent whose families, having lived for a time in the north of Ireland, migrated in considerable numbers to the American colonies in the eighteenth century. The great Migration of Scotch-Irish to America took place from 1717 through 1776 when an estimated 250,000 Scotch-Irish arrived in the Colonies.

Spence, Edward F: A former mountain merchant in the 1870s, Spence served in the California Legislature and as Treasurer of Nevada

Scott, Joseph: Scott arrived in Los Angeles in June of 1897 and within ten months was admitted to practice at the Los Angeles Bar. Scott and Rev. Peter Yorke of San Francisco, organized statewide support for the Friends of Irish Freedom. Along with John Byrne, a native of County Wicklow, they helped shelter exiles and kept Irish nationalism alive despite press position. When Irish President Eamon de Valera visited Los Angeles, he and Scott were rebuffed by the mayor and the Shrine Auditorium was closed to them.

he began the first manufacture of tinware in America, at New Britain, Connecticut.

Lynch, Colonel Charles: Commander of irregular forces during the Revolution. His harsh treatment to Loyalists gave rise to the term "lynch

the legislature (1722 -1742) and of the Governor s Council (1742 -1753) He championed the Colonial cause in his pamphlet "The Rights of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of English Laws" (1728). His son, Daniel (1722 1797), was secretary of the province of Maryland (1761 1774) and a leading opponent of the Stamp Act.

Logan, James: (1674 1751), an Irish immigrant who arrived in the Colonies in 1699 as secretary to William Penn. He became a member of the

1738), and chief justice of Pennsylvania. While mayor, he authorized his fellow Irishmen to attend the first public Mass in Philadelphia.

Talbot, George: An immigrant who received a land grant in Maryland in 1680 . He named his properties New Ireland and subdivided it into estates called New Munster, New Leinster, and New Connaught. It included what is now Hartford and Cecil Counties, Maryland, and part of Newcastle County, Delaware

Pollock, Robert: An Irish immigrant who arrived in Maryland in 1672. Their son, William, changed the family name to Polk. Their great-grandson would become President James K. Polk.

Embry, Philipp: The Wesley Chapel on John Street in New York City, the first Methodist church in the city, was established by Irish Methodists, led by Embury, an Irish immigrant in 1768..

Lewis, Andrew: In 1774, Lewis, an Irishman, opened the Northwest Territory to the British by defeating the Shawnee Indians at Point Pleasant on the Ohio River during the Revolutionary War. In 1776, Lewis joined the patriots and was named a brigadier general in the Continental Army

Public Burden: In one three year period, several thousand Irish immigrants settled in Boston. In 1720, the Governor complained about the "public burden" the Irish might cause asked the General Court of Massachusetts to warn immigrants from Ireland to leave the colony within seven months.

Irish Exclusion: In 1698, a law was enacted in South Carolina to discourage the settlement of Irish there. In 1704, an act to discourage the entry of Catholics into Maryland laws were passed (and again in 1715) that excluded or imposed duties upon the importation of all "Irish servants."

Hartford and Cecil Counties, Maryland: In 1680 Hartford and Cecil Counties, Maryland and part of Newcastle County, Delaware were deeded to a George Talbot and settled by Irish immigrants.

Knights of Columbus: A fraternal and beneficent society of Catholic men, founded in New Haven, Connecticut, on February 2, 1882

Its founding members were Irish-Americans, the Reverend M.J. McGivney, the Reverend P.P. Lawlor, James T. Mullen, Cornelius T. Driscoll, Dr. M.C. O'Connor, Daniel Colwell, William M. Geary, John T. Kerrigan, Bartholomew Healey, and Michael Curran.

The purpose of the society is to develop a practical Catholicity among its members, to promote Catholic education and charity, and, through its insurance department, to furnish at least temporary financial aid to the families of deceased members.

Healy, George Peter Alexander: An American portrait and historical painter. The son of an Irish captain in the merchant marine, and the eldest of five children.

His work "Franklin urging the Claims of the Colonists before Louis XVI" gained him a second-class gold medal at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855.

Among his sitters were Pius IX (1871), Lincoln, Grant (1878) Cardinal McCloskey, Louis Philippe ("his royal patron"), Marshal Soult, Webster, Calhoun, Hawthorne, Prescott, Longfellow, Liszt, Gambetta, Thiers, Lord Lyons, and the Princess (now the queen) of Rumania. In one large historical work, "Webster's Reply to Hayne" (1851), now in Faneuil Hall, Boston, there are one hundred and thirty portraits.

The Grace Institute: founded inn May of 1897, by William R. Grace, the first Catholic Mayor of New York. The foundation was dedicated to the memory of his parents. The object of this institution was to give free tuition to women in dressmaking, stenography, typewriting, book-keeping, and domestic science. The poor are also generally helped by this institution. He was prompted to found and endow it after a study of the economic conditions of workmen's families during a strike among the employees of one of his enterprises. The institution is non-sectarian, and is under the charge of the Sisters of Charity.

Hayden, Tom: During the 1960s, Hayden was in the forefront of the anti-war movement. Intelligent and well spoken, Hayden was widely viewed as the chief ideologue of the Movement. In 1962, he drafted the famous Port Huron Statement expressing the idealism of the New Left. He was also a co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society. (SDS)

In the early sixties, Hayden participated in civil rights work in the South and in the black ghettoes of Newark. He later shifted his focus to efforts to end the Vietnam War, twice making trips to North Vietnam during the war.

After the Chicago Seven trial, Hayden married (and later divorced) actress Jane Fonda.

A California State Senator for eighteen years, he was part of the US Commerce Department delegation to Northern Ireland in 1995, and penned a book on th experience, Reunion: A Memoir and Irish Hunger.