'Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. '(
December 9,
1912 –
January 5,
1994) was an
American politician. O'Neill was an outspoken
liberal Democrat and
influential member of the
U.S. Congress, serving in the
House of Representatives for 34 years and representing two
congressional districts of
Massachusetts. He was the
Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987, making him the second longest-serving Speaker in
U.S. history after
Sam Rayburn.
Early life and political career
O'Neill was born to Thomas Phillip O'Neill, Sr., and Rose Ann (Tolan) O'Neill in what was known as the
Irish middle-class area of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his childhood, O'Neill received the nickname "Tip" after the baseball player
James "Tip" O'Neill. Educated in
Roman Catholic schools, O'Neill first became active in politics at 15, campaigning for
Al Smith in his
1928 presidential campaign against
Republican Herbert Hoover. Four years later, he helped get out the vote for
Franklin D. Roosevelt. As a senior at
Boston College, O'Neill lost his first campaign, which was for the
Cambridge City Council, by only 150 votes.
After graduating in 1936, O'Neill was elected as a Democrat to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1949, he became the first Democratic Speaker of the State House in Massachusetts history. He remained in that post until 1952, when he ran for the United States House of Representatives from a district in the
Boston suburbs.
Congressman O'Neill
Quick rise in the House leadership
O'Neill was elected to the
United States House of Representatives in 1952. The seat was being vacated by
Senator-elect John F. Kennedy (who had just been elected to serve his first term). During his second term in the House, he was selected to the
House Rules Committee where he proved a crucial soldier for the Democratic leadership, particularly Speaker
John W. McCormack. In 1967, as the chairman of the committee, O'Neill openly criticized
President Lyndon B. Johnson and the
Vietnam War. In a meeting at the
White House, O'Neill told the President: "In my heart and in my conscience I believe your policy is wrong." During the Vietnam era, many notable politicians that were opposed to the war were voted out of office because some viewed their stances as anti-American and labeled them as being soft on national defense. However, O'Neill became more popular in part due to his stance on the war. O'Neill won the trust and support of younger House members who also had the same stance on Vietnam, and they became important friends as O'Neill rose in power throughout the House.
House Majority Whip and Majority Leader
In 1971, O'Neill was appointed
Majority Whip in the House, the number three position for the Democratic Party in the House. In 1973, he was elected
House Majority Leader, after
Hale Boggs died in an
plane crash in
Alaska. As the majority leader, O'Neill was the most prominent Democrat in the House to call in 1973 for an investigation and possible
impeachment of President
Richard Nixon because of the
Watergate scandal.
O'Neill's association with Republican Leader Gerald Ford
O'Neill became friends with his counterpart on the Republican side,
House Minority Leader Gerald Ford, and had a hand in his nomination as
Vice President. However, O'Neill took many opportunities to criticize the
Ford administration. O'Neill said Ford was "a lovely guy but a lousy President" and "worse than
Harding and Hoover put together".
[ qtd. in Farrell, 438. ]
Speaker of the House
O'Neill replaces Carl Albert
As a result of the
Tongsun Park scandal in 1975,
House Speaker Carl Albert retired from Congress. O'Neill was elected Speaker in 1977, the same year Carter became
President.
O'Neill's work with President Jimmy Carter
With substantial majorities in each house of Congress and control of the White House, O'Neill had hoped that the Democrats would be able to implement many social programs, such as
universal health care and more jobs programs. Instead, the Democrats lacked
party discipline on such matters. While the Carter administration and O'Neill began strong with passage of the ethics and energy packages in 1977, it had some major stumbles. Troubles began with Carter's threats to
veto a water projects bill, a pet project of many members of Congress. O'Neill was also irked by some of Carter's appointments to federal offices as well as his staff. Due to a continuing weak economy and the
Iran hostage crisis, prospects looked bad for Carter and the Democrats in the upcoming
congressional and presidential election.
Republicans target O'Neill in 1980
Republicans made O'Neill a target of their 1980 campaign, portraying him as a washed-up old politician with
liberal ideas. The
National Republican Congressional Committee produced a television commercial that had an actor who resembled O'Neill laughing off warnings that his vehicle was low on fuel, until the vehicle finally ground to a halt. The announcer then proclaimed, "The Democrats have run out of gas." Although the Republicans made significant gains in the House in 1980, coinciding with the election of Republican
Ronald Reagan, similar efforts to target O'Neill in the 1982 elections backfired and the Democrats remained firmly in control of the House for more than a decade.
O'Neill at odds with President Ronald Reagan
O'Neill became a leading opponent of the
Reagan administration's domestic and defense policies. This political rivalry was comparable to that of Speaker
Newt Gingrich and President
Bill Clinton in the 1990s. O'Neill called Reagan the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House. O'Neill also said that Reagan was "
Herbert Hoover with a smile" and "a cheerleader for selfishness". He also said that Reagan's policies meant that his presidency meant it was "One big Christmas party for the rich". Privately, O'Neill and Reagan were always on cordial terms, or as Reagan himself put it in his memoirs, they were only friends "after 5PM".
[1]
Working for peace in Northern Ireland
One of O'Neill's greatest accomplishments as Speaker involved
Northern Ireland. He worked with fellow Irish-American politicians
New York Governor Hugh Carey, Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy, D-
Massachusetts, and Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-
New York. They became known as the "Four Horsemen". Beginning with the "
St. Patrick's Day declaration" in 1977 denouncing violence in Northern Ireland and culminating with the Irish aid package upon the signing of the
Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the "Four Horsemen" convinced both Carter and Reagan to press the
British government on the subject.
After Congress
Congresswoman (and future Speaker)
Nancy Pelosi with Speaker O'Neill
O'Neill retired from his seat in 1987. That same year O'Neill wrote (with author William Novak) about his career in the best-selling book ''Man of the House''. During his retirement, O'Neill made commercials for a
credit card company, a
motel chain, and a
personal computer. He also made a brief appearance in the 1993 film ''
Dave'' (as himself) assessing the work of the fictional American President in the movie. He did a voiceover for a segment of the
Ken Burns series ''Baseball''. The lifelong
Red Sox fan read the ''
Boston Globe'' from the day the Red Sox won the first
World Series.
He also had a cameo role in a 1984 episode of ''
Cheers'' two years before his retirement when he ducked into the bar to escape a woman who pestered him on the street about his political ideals. She turned out to be
Diane Chambers. He later said that the show was ranked 60th in the
Nielsen Ratings at that time and that the week afterward it jumped some 20 places.
Later on in retirement, O'Neill, who had suffered from
colon cancer, made public service advertisements about cancer in which he joined athletes and movie stars in talking candidly about having the disease.
Death and legacy
O'Neill died in 1994, survived by his widow, Mildred, and their children. Upon his passing, then-President
Bill Clinton said: "Tip O'Neill was the nation's most prominent, powerful and loyal champion of working people... He loved politics and government because he saw politics and government could make a difference in people's lives. And he loved people most of all."
The Speaker's oldest son and namesake,
Thomas P. O'Neill III, a former lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, is in public relations in Boston. Another son, Christopher, is a
Washington lawyer, and a third, Michael, is in business in
Cambridge. One daughter, Susan, has her own business in Washington, and another, Rosemary, is a political officer for the State Department.
O'Neill's wife, Millie, died on
October 6,
2003. In addition to their children, they are survived by eight grandchildren.
The
Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel, built through downtown
Boston as part of the
Big Dig to carry
Interstate 93 under Boston, is named for him. Other structures named for him include a federal office building in Boston, a golf course in Cambridge, and the main library at his alma mater,
Boston College.
Notes
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/washington/29rivals.html?th&emc=th
★ The phrase "
All Politics Is Local" is attributed to Tip O'Neill.
★ Book: All Politics Is Local: And Other Rules of the Game (Paperback) by Tip O'Neill, Gary Hymel — ISBN 1-55850-470-2
References
★
★
Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, , John A., Farrell, Little, Brown & Co, 2001, ISBN 0-316-26049-5
★ Thomas P. O'Neill, '' Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill'' With William Novak (1987)
★
Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., a Democratic Power in the House for Decades, Dies at 81 obituary
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/washington/29rivals.html?th&emc=th
External links
★
★ http://www.jafarrell.com
★
in his 1987 autobiography, "Man of the House" (page 211), and 18:50 into this video documentary, "Beyond 'JFK' The Question of Conspiracy," O'Neill speaks about the two Kennedy friends/presidential aides/close witnesses to the assassination of President Kennedy stating that shots were fired from the grassy knoll
★
Obituary, NY Times, January 7, 1994 ''Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., a Democratic Power in the House for Decades, Dies at 81''
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