presidential heritage

[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.

"I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming."

Jimmy Carter

[Undertoad]

People in the US are [almost] never ashamed of their old country heritage, and I doubt any British heritage would EVER be a source of shame. One thing Americans are incredibly good about is not carrying grudges. The Japanese wanted to completely destroy the US only a half century ago, and today they make half our cars and we could not be better friends as nations. There were two generations that learned to hate Japanese people due to the war, but anyone who does today is considered very strange.

I think the only reason Brit and German heritages aren't as celebrated as some, is that they are so common, because they arrived so long ago. By the time the Irish, Chinese, Africans, etc. started coming over or being sent, the original northern Euros had settled in and started the culture.

The other thing is that, 14 generations into the US, surnames are less and less likely to reflect a large portion of someone's heritage. My own surname probably reflects about an eighth of what I can trace back to cultures that existed 2-300 years ago. Consider Tiger Woods - an English surname if anything, he's part African, part Asian and who knows what else.

We are becoming all proud mutts, and love and share the best parts of all our heritages. It's cool!

[wolf]

Last night one of the 10 or so cops that spent time hanging out in my office had a very Irish first name, and extremely Italian last name.

Such cross-cultural unions have actually been very common in the US because of the common bond of the Catholic Church. (and yes, this STILL caused problems in some families. the Irish being earlier immigrants than the Italians for many years looked down on them).

[Griff]

We here are more united by ideas than blood. For instance, "Whale Penis" is of particular importance.

[wolf]

Is "Whale Penis" an idea or ideal?

[Griff]

Originally posted by wolf
Is "Whale Penis" an idea or ideal?

Passions are high on this topic. I haven't seen such heated rhetoric since the guerilla war in Missouri. Its apparent to me and all right thinkers that its an idea whose time has come, not some lame ideal that we nod to while having it our own way. Whale penis is the way we live our lives in fly over country.

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Undertoad
People in the US are [almost] never ashamed of their old country heritage, and I doubt any British heritage would EVER be a source of shame.

Well, I would imagine that there are some that are a bit disturbed by their French heritage right now...

(For the record, I'm not.)

[wolf]

It is true, then, that the French have no shame ...

[elSicomoro]

I'm hardly representative of the French...for that matter, I'm hardly representative of the US.

[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.

[storm]

what about W.A.S.P.s ?, I've heard references about them but have never really understood what they are all about.

"one touch of nature makes the whole world kin"

shakespeare

[elSicomoro]

W.A.S.P.: Los Angeles hair-metal band who was right up there with all the other big hair-metal bands of the 80s. I didn't care for 'em.

[elSicomoro]

Oh...you wanted a serious response...

WASP stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. It's a reference to the dominant group in American society, though Anglo-Saxon isn't accurate, and that dominance isn't as strong anymore.

[Pi]

Yes and don't forget the Mayflower...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally posted by Pi
Yes and don't forget the Mayflower...

That's the moving van that brought "them" into our fine neighborhood.