< Back to Front Page Text size – +

Candidates have curious cousins

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor March 25, 2008 12:44 PM

Barack Obama likes to joke that he and Vice President Dick Cheney are distant cousins.

Now, it turns out that he and the other major presidential contenders share lineage with several other famous historical figures and current celebrities, according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

To wit, Obama, whose mother was born in Kansas, has at least six presidents, hailing from both parties, as distant cousins, including President Bush and his father, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, and James Madison. Other cousins include Winston Churchill, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and actor Brad Pitt.

The genealogical society, tracing the family trees of the presidential candidates, said today it also found that HiIlary Clinton has common ancestors with actress Angelina Jolie and Camilla Parker-Bowles, mistress and now wife of Prince Charles. Because Clinton's family has French-Canadian heritage, she is also distantly related to author Jack Kerouac and singers Madonna, Celine Dion, and Alanis Morissette.

On the Republican side, John McCain is a sixth cousin of First Lady Laura Bush, the genealogical society said. Because most of his ancestry is Southern makes "notable connections somewhat harder to trace because of challenges to genealogists in that region," genealogist Christopher Child said in a statement.

Child, while noting that famous cousins are interesting, said "it should not influence voters."

  • CommentComment
  • EmailEmail
» Back to Front Page
.

Because most of his ancestry is Southern makes "notable connections somewhat harder to trace because of challenges to genealogists in that region,". That must be because of the long history of illiteracy and inbreeding down South. Just one big happy, dumb family. The Huckabee States.

Posted by B-ster March 25, 08 06:46 PM
.

Southern records were not like New England Vital Records. Many church records were lost to fire and war. First Cousin marriage were also common in New England and it is still legal except for Maine.

Posted by Bob Birely March 25, 08 07:30 PM
.

Well i think it should not have any effect on the vote cause if the candidate is ralated to a paticular person it does not mean he or she will build the nation tks.

Posted by Tina March 26, 08 06:51 AM
.

"Dumb family", eh?

Interesting that a member of yours has just defined "ignorance".

Posted by Jesse Ames Spencer March 26, 08 09:06 AM
.

I CAN SEE THE HEADL...
I CAN SEE THE HEADLINES NOW: "BARACK OBAMA DESTINED TO BECOME PRESIDENT," is cousin to six previous U.S. heads of state. Or so say researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, who claim that Obama is distantly related to George W. Bush, his father George Sr., Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Not exactly the cream of the presidential crop, Truman excepted. And too bad for Barack that there's no Lincoln tie-in. His supporters would be howling at the moon about his manifest destiny. I'm giddy, dizzy, imagining the potential familial relationships soon to be revealed. Lady killer! George Clooney reveals he's a ...check out the rest of the story at CrabbyGolightly.com. Taking a dim view of celebrity, media and power. cRABBY on 03/26/2008 8:37AM

Posted by CrabbyGolightly March 26, 08 12:19 PM
.

Will this lose any faminist votes for Hil? Being related to a drunken wife beater like Kerouac.

That being said, I still like Kerouac much better than Clinton.

Posted by ZP March 26, 08 05:38 PM
.

Response to B-ster. You obviously know little about genealogy. Among other things, numerous court records (Southern states) were burned and destroyed during the Civil War. Further, your slur is very revealing...

Posted by TRS April 3, 08 04:55 PM
.

B-ster- I beg your pardon,I am from the South and very proud of it. How do you know that there isn't any inbreeding in your area? Don;t say something about a place you probably don't even know anything about.I am a true southern person,born,and raised.I am sorry to know that there are actually people like you who still belive in the past. The past is the past and that os where it needs to stay.This is a new time and era,things in life are bad enough with the economy the way it is. You need to look at your self in the mirror long and hard to see what kind of person you really are.

Posted by t-bell April 15, 09 11:20 PM
add your comment *(If you put a URL in your comment, it must be relevant )
Required
Required (will not be published)

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

About Political Intelligence

Reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors about the transition to the new administration and other national political happenings.

Send your comments to masspolitics@globe.com

see all Globe blogs
Boston.com section front player with three thumbnails below.

News from the Washington Bureau

Healthcare overhaul could limit tax breaks on benefits

WASHINGTON - For the secretaries and environmental engineers, game wardens and van drivers who work for the state of New Hampshire, surgery is free, even at Boston’s top teaching hospitals if it’s necessary. So are MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays. (Globe Staff, 7/4/09)

Consumers likely to face increased bank costs

WASHINGTON - An array of government-created insurance agencies - which have long charged bargain-rate premiums to banks, credit unions, and brokerages - are seeking to make up for massive shortfalls in their insurance funds by raising fees and premiums, many of which are likely to be passed on to consumers. (Globe Staff, 7/2/09)

Obama confronts skeptics on healthcare, pledges action

ANNANDALE, Va. - President Obama, pledging to overhaul healthcare this year despite divisions in Congress and the public, took on his skeptics directly yesterday, seeking to assure patients that their costs would not increase and that they would not be victims of a “government takeover.’’ (Globe Staff, 7/2/09)

Supreme Court rules in favor of Conn. firefighters

WASHINGTON - A sharply divided US Supreme Court ruled yesterday in favor of a group of white firefighters who accused the city of New Haven of racial discrimination, potentially making it much harder for employers to bring racial balance to the workplace, while handing ammunition to critics of high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on the eve of her confirmation hearings. (Globe Staff, 6/30/09)

Lobbyist at center of healthcare overhaul

WASHINGTON - The face of the insurance industry in Washington is a slight, soft-spoken former AFL-CIO employee benefits director with a penchant for data-driven logic. She has the confidence and intellectual agility of a skilled debater, but prefers to dwell on areas of agreement. On healthcare, Karen Ignagni often sounds like the lifelong Democrat that she is. (Globe Staff, 6/30/09)

Colleagues say Kerry is in midcareer metamorphosis

WASHINGTON - When the longtime mayor of North Adams, John Barrett III, picks up the phone these days, he often hears a familiar deep voice that he once acidly complained wasn’t heard very much in his city or other smaller venues in Massachusetts. (Globe Staff, 6/29/09)

Obama taps supporters for help with healthcare overhaul

WASHINGTON - The group Organizing for America is headquartered only two blocks from the Capitol, but when horse-trading over healthcare legislation intensified there this week, Barack Obama’s grass-roots advocacy operation turned its attention away from Washington. (Globe Correspondent, 6/28/09)

House approves overhaul of environmental policy

WASHINGTON - The House last night narrowly approved a landmark overhaul of US environmental policy, handing President Obama a big political victory with a vote to dramatically limit greenhouse gases and fundamentally alter how the nation produces energy in coming decades. (Globe Staff, 6/27/09)

US sharpens focus on Afghanistan

ISAF HEADQUARTERS, KABUL - US Army General John Craddock, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, is leaving his post in an upbeat mood: Afghanistan is no longer playing second fiddle in Washington to Iraq. The troops he has long requested are finally arriving. Even the Europeans are sending temporary reinforcements to safeguard the presidential election in August. (Globe Staff, 6/25/09)

Health data rights declaration gets push

WASHINGTON - More than 30 bloggers from the medical, technology, and patient advocacy worlds are rallying to support patients’ right to obtain copies of their computerized health records from their doctors in the electronic format. (Globe Staff, 6/23/09)
archives