6 times Joe Biden has spoken about his Irish heritage
Erin McDowell
- Throughout his political career, President Joe Biden has been open about his Irish roots.
- He has said reciting Irish poetry helped him overcome his stutter as a young man.
- He also credits his Irish heritage and upbringing for his perseverance and pride.
While St. Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House are still very much up in the air, it's highly likely that President Joe Biden will find a way to honor his Irish heritage on the holiday.
Throughout his political career, Biden has been open about his Irish roots and ancestry, which trace all the way back to the Great Famine.
Biden is also distant cousins with the Irish rugby player Rob Kearney, has incorporated Irish poetry verses into many of his speeches, and has even spoken about the role Irish poetry played in helping him to overcome his stutter.
Here are six times Joe Biden has spoken about his Irish heritage.
Biden has invoked and referenced Irish poets - and musicians - in a number of his speeches.
"As the great Irish poet Bono said … 'America is not just a country, it's an idea.' It's an idea that has been embraced by the Irish for the last two centuries," Biden said in a speech at his induction to the Irish America Hall of Fame in 2013.
In a campaign video in 2020, he quoted a verse from "The Cure at Troy" by Seamus Heaney.
"History says, don't hope, on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime, the longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme," the politician read over a montage of scenes from the campaign trail and Americans throughout the year of 2020.
At the inauguration celebration, "Celebrating America," actor and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda recited the poem in full.
He has also said that learning to recite poetry by W.B. Yeats as a young man helped him overcome his stutter.
Also in the speech at his induction into the Irish America Hall of Fame, Biden shared how practicing the poetry of Yeats helped him to change his speech patterns.
"I used to stutter so badly and my uncle, who was a well-educated man and lived with us as a bachelor, had two volumes of Yeats on the bureau," he said. "At night in the bedroom, my uncle and I would put on this little light and stand in front of the mirror and read Yeats, because we have to learn not to contort my face and I would practice and practice not to contort my face, but to breath and to get it down."
In fact, he's referenced Irish poems so many times, his colleagues make fun of him for it.
"My colleagues always kid me about quoting Irish poets all the time," Biden said in a speech in 2013. "They think I do it because I'm Irish. I do it because they're the best poets."
Biden has spoken about how his Irish heritage and family shaped his drive to succeed.
"My mom used to have an expression — she'd say, 'As long as you're alive, you have an obligation to strive, and you're not dead until you've seen the eyes of God.' And the truth of the matter is I think that's the Irish of it," Biden said, according to Irish Central.
He has also spoken about pride and unity among Irish Americans.
"All the stories, all the pride, all that of which created this sense of unity among Irish Americans," Biden said as he addressed the audience at his induction into the Irish America Hall of Fame. "It's interesting when you think about it, why are we as proud of as are? Why would my mother, coming from very modest means, say things to me like, 'Joey remember, you're a Biden. You're every man's equal, no other man is above you.'"
Biden also spoke about the strong "sense of pride" he and his family shared in their Irish heritage.
"There's something about us Irish, about how we view ourselves and how we were viewed by others," he continued. "We have a combination of spirituality and yet we are doubters, we are compassionate, but we are demanding."
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