From the Irish Famine to Irish-Americans on Wall Street

The First Word

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Editor-in-Chief Patricia Harty

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For those who headed out of the cities in search of opportunity, it was a hard slog (read Kara Rota’s piece about mining in Montana).

How is it then, after such brutal colonization and starvation, and a poor start in America, we emerged a people with a distinct culture intact, and, if this issue is any indication, an impressive number of high achievers in our midst?

If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger, my mother was fond of saying, and what the Irish endured made them feisty, determined and proud. It was that fury that fueled their survival and propelled them forward, or so I believe.

Generations of resistance made for great fighters, whether it was agitating for better wages and conditions in the mining and railroad camps, or fighting in America’s wars.

Irish fighting men have been awarded more Medals of Honor than any other ethnic group in  U.S. military history. And let’s not forget the women. Of 600 nuns serving as nurses during the Civil War, 53 percent were Irish-born.

Today, our Wall Street 50 honorees and
others in the financial industry have one hell of a fight of a different kind to take on. The nation’s economy rests in their hands. If, as history shows, great leadership is born out of human
experience, we have nothing to worry about.

Brian Moynihan, keynote speaker at our 2009 Wall Street 50, said it best: “It is going to be hard work and it’s going to be challenging. But when we look to the task ahead, we can take solace, it is clearly not as hard as our ancestors’ task was to leave Ireland and establish a new life. In addition, we have another benefit to help our efforts – their determination is in our blood.”
 

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