presidential heritage

[tw]

Originally posted by storm
Forgive my ignorance of american presidents but I was wondering how many of them could claim to be of british descent, there does seem to be a lot of anglo saxon names involved, Bush, Nixon, Carter, Wilson, Ford, Lincoln etc. Has there ever been a greek american as president or italian, spanish and so on.
Over here in England we always hear about old country identities in the U.S. but I've never heard any reference to british or english heritage, is this because people are ashamed of it or is there some other reason. Jimmy Carter

English was not the source of most American Heritage. Most immigrants were German. Second highest were Irish. But if running for office, it helps to have a name that people can read. Many Hollywood names were abandoned for simpler names such as John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe. Neither George Stephenoupolis nor Norman Swartzkopf will be elected president. I cannot even write their names correctly. How do you 'write in' a ballot if you cannot spell his name? And can you imagine the cost in longer campaign posters? Two campaign workers to carry just one banner. I think all those immigrant came over here to get rid of excess baggage - names that were just too long.

Wasn't his European ancestry name Bushdakouchous? Just more history he would like us to forget.