Paul Ryan

==Early life and education==
Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970, in [[Janesville, Wisconsin]], the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Betty-Ryan/6000000017432723144|title=Elizabeth "Betty" Ann Ryan|year=1934 |publisher=Geni.com}}</ref> who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer.<ref name="mother_snowbird">{{cite web|last1=Barszewski|first1=Larry |title=Paul Ryan's mom a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea snowbird|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-08-13/news/fl-lbts-paul-ryan-mom-20120813_1_paul-ryan-lauderdale-by-the-sea-republican-caucus |publisher=Sun Sentinel|access-date=January 28, 2017|date=August 13, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2012-aug-25-la-na-ryan-assets-20120826-story.html|title=Despite working-class image, Ryan comes from family of wealth|date=August 25, 2012|via=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of [[Irish American|Irish]] ancestry and his mother of [[German American|German]] and [[English American|English]] descent.<ref name="tale"/> One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name="branches"/> His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an [[Heavy equipment (construction)|earthmoving]] company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central.<ref name="Auto2A-7"/><ref name="Auto2A-8"/> Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed [[United States Attorney]] for the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin|Western District of Wisconsin]].<ref name="LA Times family wealth"/><ref name="Journal Sentinel 2009"/> In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series ''[[Finding Your Roots]]'', Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent [[Ashkenazi Jew]]ish ancestry.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/house-speaker-paul-ryan-finds-out-he-s-3-jewish-1.6338184 |title=House Speaker Paul Ryan Finds Out He's 3% Jewish |date=August 1, 2018 |access-date=August 2, 2018 |newspaper=Haaretz |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended [[Joseph A. Craig High School]],<ref name="Auto2A-157"/> where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became [[prom]] king.<ref name="Auto2A-10"/> As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the [[school board]].<ref name="Fussbudget"/> Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at [[McDonald's]].<ref name=Fussbudget/> He was on his high school's [[Skiing|ski]], track, and [[varsity team|varsity]] soccer teams and played [[basketball]] in a Catholic recreational league.<ref name="semuels"/><ref name="Auto2A-11"/><ref name="Auto2A-12"/> He participated in several academic and social clubs including the [[Model United Nations]].<ref name=Fussbudget/><ref name=semuels/> Ryan and his family often went on hiking and [[skiing]] trips to the [[Colorado]] [[Rocky Mountains]].<ref name="milwaukeemagazine.com"/><ref name="Journal Sentinel 2009"/>

Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/paul-ryan-discusses-father-s-alcoholism |title=Paul Ryan Discusses Father's Death, Alcoholism |work=Talking Points Memo |access-date=September 16, 2018}}</ref> When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption.<ref name="Journal Sentinel 2009"/><ref name=Fussbudget/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/12/how-donald-trump-upended-paul-ryans-plans-217989 |title=The Tragedy of Paul Ryan |work=Politico |access-date=September 16, 2018}}</ref> Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had [[Alzheimer's disease|Alzheimer's]], Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin.<ref name=Fussbudget/> From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received [[Social Security (United States)#Children's benefits|Social Security survivors benefits]] which were saved for his college education.<ref name="USNews"/><ref name="who is"/><ref name="rollcallRyan"/> His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas.<ref name="mother_snowbird"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Bruce Douglas Obituary |url=http://www.schneiderfuneraldirectors.com/obituary/Bruce-Barlow-Douglas/Lauderdale-by-the-Sea/32135 |publisher=Schneider Funeral Directors |access-date=January 28, 2017}}</ref>

Ryan has a bachelor's degree in [[economics]] and [[political science]] from [[Miami University]] in [[Oxford, Ohio]],<ref name="miamiu"/> where he became interested in the writings of [[Friedrich Hayek]], [[Ludwig von Mises]], and [[Milton Friedman]].<ref name=Fussbudget/> He often visited the office of [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]] professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of [[Ayn Rand]].<ref name="Fussbudget" /><ref name="sewell"/> Hart introduced Ryan to ''[[National Review]]'',<ref name="Fussbudget"/> and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an [[internship]] in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator [[Bob Kasten]], where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser.<ref name="Fussbudget"/><ref name="Christian Schneider"/>

Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at [[American University]].<ref name="Auto2A-13"/> He worked summers as a salesman for [[Oscar Mayer]] and once got to drive the [[Wienermobile]].<ref name="Journal Sentinel 2009"/><ref name=sewell/><ref name="lineage"/> Ryan was a member of the [[College Republicans]],<ref name="Auto2A-14"/> and volunteered for the congressional campaign of [[John Boehner]].<ref name=sewell/> He was a member of the [[Delta Tau Delta]] social [[Fraternities and sororities in North America|fraternity]].<ref name="Auto2A-15"/>