Sam Houston would qualify I suppose, and arguably Jefferson Davis (whether the CSA was a separate nation is more a Great Debate that I’d rather not go into here), but I was thinking more of ruling on what is now foreign soil. There have been U.S. natives who were the effective power in a country for a season (e.g. William Walker in Nicaragua), but have any been the actual head of state or prime minister or otherwise legitimately acknowledged “head honcho” of another nation?
I’ve read that Winston Churchill was an honorary U.S. citizen and even had an honorary U.S. passport. Was he considered a dual national when he was born by virtue of his American mother, and if so was he ever required to renounce U.S. citizenship to hold office in the U.K.?
If royalty counts, then Queen (Dowager) Noor of Jordan (nee Lisa Najeeb Halaby of D.C. [birthplace], L.A., MI, and other parts of the U.S.) would as well.
An Israeli prime minister is a head of government, not a head of state. Israel has a president, too.
Presidents Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania and Toomas Ilves of Estonia are both former U.S. citizens.
Churchill was a British subject at birth; he was named an honorary citizen of the U.S. by Act of Congress in 1963, after he was out of office. I saw the certificate and a small exhibit about the White House Rose Garden ceremony (which his son attended for him) when I visited Blenheim. Don’t think a U.S. passport was issued to him, though.
Would a UK prime minister be a head of government (not state) too? Since he was mentioned in the OP, I think prime ministers should be considered for our purposes.
Queen Liliuokalani was a U.S. citizen following her deposition, the Republic of Hawaii having been annexed to the U.S. as was intended by its founders. Kind of in the same situation as Sam Houston (didn’t the Republic of Texas have a couple of other presidents during its 15 years of existence?).
I believe that every president of the Philippines down to Corazon Aquino was a U.S. citizen prior to 1946; I’m unsure of who may have held office since.
Hawaii was a monarchy before becoming one of the United States. It’s the only State with a royal palace, I think. Did Hawaii have a monarch who personally became a citizen during this transition?
How about Liberia? It was started by freed slaves, so depending upon how you want to figure it, there might have been one US citizen leader of the country. One of the Somali warlords is from the US (not sure of his citizen status, however, but he did serve in the US Army prior to becoming a warlord).
> Ireland’s former President/Prime Minister Eamon Da Valera, was born in New
> York City to a Spanish father and an Irish mother.
For what it’s worth, recent research indicates that Juan de Valera, Eamon’s supposed father, didn’t exist:
It’s more likely that his mother became pregnant outside of marriage and made up a marriage to a non-existent person. There’s no proof in any records that Juan de Valera existed. Eamon was sent back to Ireland and was raised by relatives there. He never lived with his mother after that point. She married another man and had two children. She spent most of the rest of her life in Rochester, New York.
I do know that Vaira Freiberga, the former president of Latvia, was forced (by Latvia) to renounce her Canadian citizenship before becoming the president. Incidentally, the head of state of Canada (also of Australia, New Zealand, Barbados, and doubtless other places too) is not a Canadian citizen (nor Aussie, NZ, Bajan).