The most influential ‘Kiwi’ politician you’ve never heard of
Time has a funny way of amplifying simple, straightforward moments. Crossroads can be created where they were never expected to exist, changing the trajectories of more than just the parties involved – and sometimes altering history itself.
Such a turning point occurred in the early 1930s when Auckland publican Daniel McCarthy had a falling-out with an associate over a business deal.
A series of dominoes started to tumble that would eventually see the Irish immigrant move his young family to San Francisco, where his Aucklandborn son Leo Tarcissus McCarthy would thrive in Californian state politics – and later serve as a “purposeful mentor” of one of the most powerful women in US political history, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
As Speaker, Pelosi is just two steps removed
