TV legend Norman Lear had heard it before.
"That face screams Irish!”
Lear was on the set of a new TV sitcom he was writing and producing, about a working-class family in Queens, New York.
The star of the show – with the working title "All in the Family" – was a New York City-born Irish American actor named John Carroll O'Connor, who played a narrow-minded union guy … [Read more...] about Archie’s Irish “Family” –
50 Years Later
Tom Deignan
Archie’s Irish “Family” –
Warrior for Truth
By Tom Deignan His name was Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan. A son of Irish immigrants, he was born at the height of the Great Depression and raised on a farm in Massachusetts. By the time “Neil” Sheehan died earlier this month, at the age of 84, he’d won an armful of literary awards, and played a key role in altering the course of U.S. history, as depicted in Hollywood films … [Read more...] about Warrior for Truth
Understanding the 25th Amendment and Impeachment
By Tom Deignan
For five decades, John Feerick has done his best to make sure America can deal with things at their worst. If you read the headlines this week, you saw angry debates about what to do in the wake of protests-turned-riots in the nation’s capital. Ultimately, the House of Representatives voted – for the second time – to impeach president Donald Trump, though only after Vice … [Read more...] about Understanding the 25th Amendment and Impeachment
A Forgotten Irish
Civil Rights Trailblazer
By Tom Deignan
In 1957, Martin Luther King. Jr. paid a visit to a Tennessee community organizing camp where he heard Pete Seeger perform a revised version of an old gospel tune for the first time.
Within a decade, “We Shall Overcome” would become an anthem for civil rights marchers from Birmingham to Belfast.
Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. is a fitting time … [Read more...] about A Forgotten Irish
Civil Rights Trailblazer
Presidential Distinguished Service Awards Announced
Three Irish Americans are among the recipients of this year’s Presidential Distinguished Service Awards for the Irish Abroad. Northwell Health executive, Michael J. Dowling, cultural scholar James W. Flannery, and oncologist Dennis J. Slamon were recognized alongside the likes of actress Fiona Shaw, and Professor Mitsuko Ohno of Japan, for their achievements in a wide range … [Read more...] about Presidential Distinguished Service Awards Announced