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Martin Dempsey

Last Word: Leadership Lessons of Grandma Bridget

By Martin Dempsey
April / May 2018

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Retired General Martin Dempsey on the lessons he learned from his Irish grandmother. ℘℘℘ Bridget Jennings was my diminutive, Irish immigrant grandmother. In 1922, as a 16-year-old, she left her parents and siblings in County Mayo and came to the United States. At 21 she married John Devenney of County Donegal, and at 41 she was widowed. I was her first grandchild. Both my … [Read more...] about Last Word: Leadership Lessons of Grandma Bridget

Last Word:
Lessons on Leadership

By General Martin Dempsey (ret.)
December / January 2018

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General Martin Dempsey on what he learned from the writings of W.B. Yeats. ℘℘℘ I first became interested in the poetry of William Butler Yeats in graduate school. By that time I had accumulated enough life experience to help make sense of this prolific poet who wrote of folklore, history, romance, heroism, and mysticism in the years between his first published book of verse in … [Read more...] about Last Word:
Lessons on Leadership

Gen. Martin Dempsey Receives Joyce Award

By Patricia Harty, Editor-in-Chief
April / May 2017

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General Martin Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was presented with the James Joyce Award in Dublin recently. Also known as the Honorary Fellowship of the Society, the award is given by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin for those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field. Recipients have ranged from … [Read more...] about Gen. Martin Dempsey Receives Joyce Award

Weekly Comment:Gen. Martin Dempsey Gives Powerful Notre Dame Commencement Speech

By Irish America Staff
May 17, 2016

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Gen. Martin Dempsey's Notre Dame commencement speech is a powerful tribute to the importance of faith, country, and education. ℘℘℘ This past weekend, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 2016 Irish America Hall of Fame inductee, gave the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame's 171st commencement ceremony. Addressing the 2,163 … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment:Gen. Martin Dempsey Gives Powerful Notre Dame Commencement Speech

Gen. Martin Dempsey’s 2016 Hall of Fame Speech

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Niall and Patricia and other organizers of this terrific event, my fellow Honorees, and --the president Clinton has departed-- but this has been quite an extraordinary day for Deanie and I… You know, if forty years ago—forty-one years ago when I entered the military or thirty-nine years ago when we were married, someone said that we‘d be honored in this way, I would…It … [Read more...] about Gen. Martin Dempsey’s 2016 Hall of Fame Speech