 Madden alludes to his childhood in Yonkers, New York, when he describes himself as "A simple city boy – you might say a cockeyed optimist – mixed up in the high stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue..." "U.S. News" referred to Madden as "a Yankees fan" and an "Irishman"; his Galway-born father and Tyrone-born mother emigrated from Ireland in the early 1960s.Madden told the "Houston Chronicle" that his father, an auto mechanic, read three newspapers each Sunday and enjoyed discussing news and politics; he told "Politico", "I grew up in a household where it was a sin to sit in silence without an opinion... Makes sense that I went into politics, my sister chose journalism, and my brother is a lawyer.