NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Honorable Sean O'Keefe
NASA Administrator
Alexandria St. Patrick's Day Parade
Alexandria, Virginia

Everyone says the Irish are special—a people with enough laughter and good humor to meet almost any situation. This certainly applies to my family. The original O'Keefe family coat of arms is said to be unique… family folklore has it that there is a horse on one side and a noose on the other…which leads some to suggest –that the family was run out of town as horse thieves. In fact, one O'Keefe back in County Cork said about a relative who was hanged that "he died during a tightrope performance." Our family sense of humor has stood me in good stead—and God knows you need one in Washington, where we walk a tightrope every day—often with similar results.

But tonight I wanted to spend a little time reflecting on the great contributions of the Irish – and Irish Americans particularly to the spirit of adventure and display of gallantry that so uniquely defines Americans as explorers. Virtually every ethnic group in the vast melting pot on America can point with pride to the contributions made by their sons and daughters to the American achievements in exploration….. and the Irish may very well lead the way.

Now, owing to my bias derived as a former Navy Secretary and presently a NASA Administrator, there is a decidedly naval and space exploration bent to my view. Indeed, there is a strong influence of both communities in our culture -- and besides, right or wrong, that's my view and that's my theme tonight!

There are two famous Irish-American figures I'd like to tell you about tonight who best personify the explorer's spirit and, as you might have derived, are naval officers.

The first is Commodore John Barry, who many historians think was the real father of the American Navy -- my cultural bias has certainly led me to the same conclusion -- although Scotsman John Paul Jones rightly deserves a share of the title by virtue of his articulation of the standards expected of those tasked with the sea service responsibilities.

Born in County Wexford about 1745, Barry went to sea at an early age. By the time of the Revolutionary War, he had become a successful merchant Captain residing in Philadelphia. An ardent patriot, Barry was commissioned as a Captain in the Continental Navy in March 1776 and immediately took command of the Lexington. A month later, he captured the British sloop Edward in the first American naval victory of the Revolution. When he died in 1803, he was the senior officer of the Navy.

One of the early traditions of John Barry's Revolutionary War Navy is pretty well illustrated the USS Constitution's famous war cruise. On the 23rd of August, Constitution set sail from Boston with 476 officers and men, 48,000 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shots, 11,000 pounds of black powder, and 79,400 gallons of rum.

Upon arriving in Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 69,300 gallons of rum, then headed for the Azores, where she took on 550 tons of beef and 64,00 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 13 November, she set sail for England. In the ensuing days, she defeated 5 British men of war and sank 12 British merchant ships, salvaging only their rum. By 27 January, her powder and shots were exhausted. Nonetheless, she made a raid on the Firth of Clyde. Her landing party captured a whiskey distillery transferring about 40,000 gallons. She then headed home.

The Constitution made port at Boston harbor on the 23rd of February with no cannon shot, no powder, no food, no rum, no whiskey, and no wine—but with 48,000 gallons of stagnant water. The tradition of "a shot at sea" as it were is a tradition we've left behind us, but I'm proud to say we've kept the traditions of valor and heroism—personified by Commodore Barry—alive to this day.

Now let me talk about the adventurer spirit framing early Marine Corps traditions that have come to us from another heroic Irish-American. This man who personifies all the daring and skill that the wearers of Green have brought to the American exploration soul is Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon, whose people came from County Tipperary.

Universally revered throughout the Marine Corps, O'Bannon is most famous as the Hero of Derna for his daring raid in Tripoli during the Barbary wars—where he won the famous Mameluke sword –and today every officer in the Marine Corps wears a model of that sword. In fact, in the first verse of the Marine Corps hymn—"From the Halls of Montezuma, To the Shores of Tripoli"—Presley O'Bannon's exploits are the basis of the "Shores of Tripoli."

Fittingly, both Commodore Barry and Lieutenant O'Bannon—but two of thousands of Irish-Americans who have served heroically in the Navy and Marine Corps—have given their name to Destroyers serving today in the U.S. Navy…Commodore Barry is honored by the second Aegis Destroyer, the Barry; and Lieutenant O'Bannon by the 25th Spruance Destroyer, O'Bannon.

Indeed, from the opening salvo of the American Revolution through the present, the battle reports of the Navy and Marine Corps sparkle with Irish names. Some, like Admiral William Leahy, may be familiar because he was the first Irish-American five star Admiral -- one of only four in the history of the republic. My father is a retired Naval Officer, and I wish he could be here tonight, for he is yet another link in the long blue and green lines that pass from Commodore Barry and Lieutenant O'Bannon to our Navy and Marine Corps today.

And, indeed, the exploration and adventuring spirit of those early Irish-American naval officers are the lineage of the modern exploration conquests in space as well. The descendants of the Apollo legacy are present with us today in the space program – our leader of the space flight program is Bill Readdy, veteran astronaut commander of space shuttle flights, and retired Captain, United States Navy. Veteran astronaut and Marine Corps Colonel, Bryan O'Connor bears the enormous challenge of leading our safety and mission assurance effort. Jim Reilly, descended from County Cork lineage, and presently Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy is an active member of the astronaut corps, a veteran of prior missions and slated to serve of a future mission upon our return to flight; as are the Kelly twins, Mark and Scott, both Navy test pilots and veteran astronauts, and Douglas Hurley, a Navy test pilot, and a member of the most recently selected astronaut class.

But, of course, the pantheon of great space exploration veterans of Irish American descent is not exclusively restricted to naval service roots – Michael Collins, the command module pilot on Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the moon, served with great distinction in the Gemini and Apollo programs and clearly overcame his Air Force pedigree.

And that list of prominent Irish American goes on and on….

• Brian O'Leary was but one of only two astronaut scientists in the Apollo program;
  
• Kathryn Sullivan is the first woman astronaut to conduct a space walk, and included in the annals of the "Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th Century"
  
• Paul Haney joined NASA when the agency was formed in 1958 and through the Apollo era was known by Walter Cronkite as the "Voice of Mission Control"
  
• Catherine "Cady" Coleman, a veteran astronaut, will be Marshall of the Holyoke, Massachusetts St Patrick's parade in two weeks time and recipient of the John F. Kennedy National Award -- and her prime contribution, she's played the flute with the Chieftains along with Canadian astronaut Kris Hatfield.

And of course, our hopes and dreams for the future of the space exploration venture will ride on the next space shuttle flight STS-114 with the mission Commander, Eileen Collins whose Irish ancestors came to the United States two generations ago and who would never have imagined that a future family member would be among the 100 most influential Irish Americans of 2003.

I hope that the qualities of the Irish -- good humor, spirit, stubbornness in the right cause, and the ability to keep your head up when the going gets hard -- will continue to stand us in good stead in the space exploration community. We will need them in the days ahead as NASA goes through critically important changes -- mandated in part by the tragic loss of the shuttle Columbia a year ago, but reinvigorated by the President's direction to renew our exploration spirit.

These challenges call for bold innovation, and, in some cases, sweeping changes. Our goal is to reshape NASA into a tightly knit, highly efficient, focused community capable of regularly repeating the amazing achievements we see evident in the present Mars expedition. It is a vision expressed by President Bush -- a goal worth struggling for as the desire to explore is written in the human heart. I am here tonight as an Irish American proud to be part of the journey, and with the right determination, I firmly believe we will succeed.

Forty-one years ago in his last public speech President John F. Kennedy, another Irish-American of naval service lineage, spoke about his passion for the space program, at the dedication of San Antonio's Aerospace Medical Health Center. The date of this speech was November 21, 1963, the day before he was felled by an assassins' bullet.

Addressing the subject of our infant space program, the President who opened the door to our first great adventure beyond Earth, relayed a story told by the Irish writer Frank O'Connor. This story defines what NASA is all about.

"O'Connor wrote how as a boy he and his friends would make their way across the countryside," said Kennedy. "When they came to an orchard wall that seemed to high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall—and then they had no choice but to follow them."

The President concluded, "This Nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it. Whatever the difficulties, they will be overcome. Whatever the hazards, they must be guarded against. With the help of all those who labor in the space endeavor, with the help and support of all Americans, we will climb this wall with safety and with speed—and we shall then explore the wonders on the other side."

There's nothing particularly easy, I've come to find, about the challenges of exploration other than its wide appeal as a human instinctive desire. The "how-to" is debatable and after controversial. It is with that in mind that I see such profound linkages to our early naval traditions of tenacity and the ability to overcome adversity. Indeed President Kennedy expressed a quintessential Irish philosophy that "All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage."

Let me close with an Irish toast that often comes to mind at the end of a long day in Washington – "May the devil chase you every day of your life and never catch you." As I always mentally add to that toast, if the devil isn't at least chasing you, you're probably not doing it right… and you're probably not Irish. Thank you and Erin Go Braugh!