List of German Americans

An incomplete list of German Americans:

Politicians

• John Peter Altgeld, governor of Illinois
• Philip Becker, mayor of buffalo New York
• Pat Buchanan, 2000 Reform Party candidate (German-American mother)
• Warren E. Burger, Supreme Court Chief Justice (Swiss German parents)
• Everett McKinley Dirksen, US Senator from Illinois
• Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and General
• Richard Gephardt, U.S. Representative Missouri (German American father)
• Michael Hillegas, First Treasurer of the United States
• Daniel Webster Hoan, Socialist mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• John Jacob, U.S. administrator
• Joseph McCarthy, Staunch anti-Communist senator McCarthyism (German grandparent)
• Hans Joachim Morgenthau, US diplomat
• John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, United States Senator Pennsylvania
• Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
• John Andrew Shulze, Governor of Pennsylvania
• Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior
• Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana (half German from both parents)
• Al Smith, Governor of New York (German grandmother)
• Jesse Ventura, wrestler & Governor of Minnesota (German-American mother)
• Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Robert Ferdinand Wagner, US Senator New York
• Robert F. Wagner, Jr., New York mayor (German father)
• John Wanamaker, Businessman and Postmaster General
• Robert Zoellick, U.S. Secretary of State

Entrepreneurs

• John Jacob Astor
• William Backhouse Astor, Sr.
• Maximilian Berlitz, Berlitz Language School
• Adolphus Busch, founded the Anheuser-Busch brewing company
• Walter Percy Chrysler, developed Chrysler automobile
• Adolph Coors III, founder Coors beer empire
• Henry Clay Frick, industrialist
• Henry J. Heinz, founder of Heinz ketchup
• Milton S. Hershey, founder of Hershey chocolate
• Conrad Hilton, found of "Hilton" hotel chain (German mother)
• Max Kade
• Otto Kahn, Investment banker
• Henry J. Kaiser, founder of Kaiser permanente
• John Kluge
• George von Lengerke Meyer
• Frederick Miller, brewer Miller beer
• Eric E. Schmidt, CEO of Google
• August Schrader, Rubber pioneer
• Claus Spreckels, Industrialist
• Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, piano manufacturer
• John Augustus Sutter
• Donald Trump, real estate developer (German American father)
• George Westinghouse, engineer and electricity pioneer

Authors

• L. Frank Baum, author The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Charles Bukowski, poet (born in Germany; German mother)
• Theodore Dreiser
• Karl Follen
• Friedrich Hirth
• Eric Hoffer
• Henry Miller
• Thomas Nast
• Sylvia Plath
• Erich Maria Remarque
• Charles Sealsfield
• John Steinbeck (German American father)
• Dr. Seuss
• Kurt Vonnegut
• August Wilson, playwright (German father)

Inventors

• William Backhouse Astor, Sr.
• Wernher von Braun
• Emile Berliner inventor disc record gramophone
• Ottmar Mergenthaler inventor linotype
• August Schrader
• George Schlukbier (German father)
• Gustave Whitehead, aviation pioneer

Historical figures

• Charles Bendire, Army Captain
• August Kautz
• Fritz Kuhn (Nazi)
• Jacob Leisler, colonist
• Clara Maass, nurse
• Tom Metzger
• Charles Mohr, pharmacist
• Chester Nimitz
• Pat Nixon, wife of Richard Nixon (German mother)
• Bernard Adolph Schriever
• Carl Schurz
• Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr.
• H. Norman Schwarzkopf (German-American father)
• Franz Sigel
• Baron von Steuben
• Paul Warburg, banker

Entertainment

• Eddie Albert, actor
• Edward Albert, actor (German-American father)
• Jane Alexander, actress (German paternal grandmother)
• Mike Altman, musician (German-American paternal grandfather)
• Robert Altman, director (German-American father)
• Madchen Amick, actress (German father)
• James Arness, actor (part German)
• Edward Arnold, actor
• Mary Astor, actress (German father)
• Catherine Bach, actress (German-American father)
• John Beal, actor
• Eric Braeden, actor
• Sandra Bullock, actress (German mother)
• Nicolas Cage, actor (German-American mother)
• Linda Lee Cadwell, wife of Bruce Lee
• Emma Caulfield, actress (German father)
• Kevin Costner, actor (German-American father)
• Doris Day, actress
• Leonardo DiCaprio, actor (German-American paternal grandmother and German mother)
• Marlene Dietrich, actress
• Haylie Duff, actress (German ancestry from both parents)
• Hilary Duff, actress (German ancestry from both parents)
• Kirsten Dunst, actress (German father)
• Roger Ebert, film critic (German-American father)
• Carmen Electra, actress (part German)
• Megan Ewing, model (German-American father)
• Alice Faye, actress (German-American father)
• William Fichtner, actor (part German)
• Robert J. Flaherty, director (German-American mother)
• Edwin Forrest, actor (half German)
• Dennis Franz, actor
• Clark Gable, actor (German maternal grandfather; some German ancestry on father's side)
• Peter Graves, actor (part German)
• Uta Hagen, acting teacher
• Angie Harmon, actress (German-American father)
• Phil Hartman, comedian (Canadian-born)
• Tippi Hedren, actress
• Katherine Heigl, actress (German-American father)
• Marg Helgenberger, actress (German-American father)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, actor (German-American father)
• Ub Iwerks, cartoonist Mickey Mouse
• Helen Kane, singer (German father)
• Grace Kelly, actress (German-American mother)
• Jimmy Kimmel, comedian (German-American father)
• Marta Kristen, actress
• Cyndi Lauper, singer (Swiss German American father)
• Lila Lee, actress
• Brandon Lee, actor (German mother)
• Shannon Lee, actress (German mother)
• Angélica María, actress/singer (German-American mother)
• E. G. Marshall, actor (German-American father)
• Conrad Nagel, actor
• Nick Nolte, actor
• William Petersen, actor (half German)
• George Raft, actor (German father)
• Andy Richter, comedian
• Paul Schrader, director
• Charles Schultz, cartoonist Charlie Brown
• Rick Schroder, actor
• Siegfried & Roy, entertainers
• Rod Steiger, actor
• Charlize Theron, actress (German mother)
• Tiffani Thiessen, actress (German-American father)
• Theodore Thomas, musician
• Christopher Walken, actor (German father)
• Lawrence Welk, musician
• Bruce Willis, actor (German mother; Willis was born in Germany)
• Rumer Willis, actress (German paternal grandmother; daughter of Bruce Willis)
• Steve Zahn, actor

People with distant German ancestry

• Benjamin Bratt, actor (German-American paternal grandmother)
• Carol Channing, actress (German-American paternal grandparent)
• Rosemary Clooney, singer & actress (German paternal grandmother)
• Tom Cruise, actor (German-American paternal grandmother)
• Ellen DeGeneres, comedian (German-American maternal grandparent)
• Robert De Niro, actor (German maternal grandparent)
• Johnny Depp, actor
• Robert Downey, Jr., actor (German maternal grandparent)
• Patty Duke, actress (German maternal grandmother)
• Tina Fey, comedian & actress (German paternal grandparent)
• Betty Grable, actress (German paternal grandparent)
• Paris Hilton, actress (German paternal great-great grandparent)
• Herbert Hoover, President of the United States
• Jessica Lange, actress (German paternal grandfather)
• Carole Lombard, actres (German paternal grandfather)
• Linda Ronstadt, musician (German paternal grandfather)
• Shirley Temple, actress (German grandparent)
• Uma Thurman, actress (German maternal grandfather)

Artists

• Albert Bierstadt painter
• Rudolf Carnap, painter
• George Grosz, artist
• Emanuel Leutze, painter
• Erwin Panofsky, art historian
• Severin Roesen, painter
• Karl Ferdinand Wimar, painter

Religious

• Thomas R. Ahlersmeyer, Lutheran minister
• Gerald B. Kieschnick, president of the Lutheran church
• Anthony Maas, Catholic exegete
• Albert Cardinal Meyer, Roman Catholic cardinal
• Henry Muhlenberg, Lutheran clergyman
• Reinhold Niebuhr, theologian
• George Hugh Niederauer, Roman Catholic bishop
• Philip William Otterbein, clergyman
• Lester Roloff, Baptist storyteller
• George Schoener, Roman Catholic priest
• Paul Johannes Tillich, theologian

Other

• George Atzerodt, assassin
• Walter Baade, astronomer
• Hans Albrecht Bethe, physicist
• Adolf Cluss, architect
• Walter Johannes Damrosch, conductor
• Dale Earnhardt, race car driver
• George Engelmann, botanist
• Lukas Foss, conductor
• James Franck, physicist
• Henry Louis Gehrig, baseball player
• Maria Goeppert-Mayer, physicist Nobel Prize
• Walter Gropius, architect
• Bruno Hauptmann, criminal
• Friedrich Hecker, revolutionary
• Paul Hindemith, composer
• Herman Hollerith, statistician
• Hanya Holm, choreographer
• Karen Horney, psychoanalyst
• Horst P. Horst, photographer
• Kurt Koffka, psychologist
• Wolfgang Kohler, psychologist
• John Lederer, explorer
• Francis Lieber
• Charles Martin Loeffler, composer
• Thomas Mann, novelist
• Louis Maurer, lithographer
• H. L. Mencken, journalist
• Peter Minuit
• Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg
• Frederick Traugott Pursh, botanist
• Walter Reuther
• Ingrid Rimland, Neo-Nazi
• David Rittenhouse
• John Augustus Roebling, architect
• George Herman "Babe" Ruth, baseball player (German-American father)
• Marty Schottenheimer, football coach
• George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees owner
• Charles Proteus Steinmetz, mathematician
• Otto Stern, physicist
• Studebaker, family
• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect
• Henry Villard, journalist
• Günther F. Wendt, engineer
• John Peter Zenger, journalist

German Jewish Americans

• Felix Adler, rationalist intellectual
• Anni Albers, Printmaker
• Hannah Arendt, political theorist
• Max Baer, boxer
• Ralph Baer, video game developer
• Franz Boas, anthropology pioneer
• Ernst Bloch, Marxist philosopher
• Jerry Bruckheimer, television producer
• Barney Dreyfuss, baseball executive
• Albert Einstein physicist
• James Ingo Freed, architecht
• Erich Fromm, humanistic philosopher
• Richard Goldschmidt, geneticist
• Dolly Haas, entertainer
• Oscar Hammerstein I, theater impersario
• Abraham Jacobi, the father of pediatrics.
• Joseph Kesselring, writer
• Henry Kissinger diplomat
• Fritz Lang, film director
• Kurt Lewin, psychologist
• Ernst Lubitsch, film director
• Herbert Marcuse, sociologst
• Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist
• Henry Morgenthau, Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
• Mike Nichols, film director
• Robert Oppenheimer physicist
• Pink (musician), musician (Jewish Mother)
• Abraham Robinson, mathematician
• Jacob Schiff, philanthropist
• Liev Schreiber, actor (German-American paternal ancestry)
• Elisabeth Schumacher, red orchestra resistance fighter
• Jerry Springer, talk show host
• Alfred Stieglitz, photographer
• Gloria Steinem, feminist (German-American mother)
• Isidor Straus, Macy's department store
• Nathan Straus, merchant
• Leo Strauss, political philosopher
• Levi Strauss, clothing manufacturer
• Samuel Ullman, humanitarian
• Lillian D. Wald, social worker
• Bruno Walter, conductor
• Kurt Weill, composer
• Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist