Tip O'Neill
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Tip O'Neill
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| In office January 4, 1977 – January 3, 1987 |
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| President | Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Carl Albert |
| Succeeded by | Jim Wright |
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| In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1977 |
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| Deputy | John J. McFall |
| Preceded by | Hale Boggs |
| Succeeded by | Jim Wright |
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| In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973 |
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| Leader | Hale Boggs |
| Preceded by | Hale Boggs |
| Succeeded by | John J. McFall |
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| In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1963 |
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| Preceded by | John F. Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | James A. Burke |
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| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1987 |
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| Preceded by | Torbert Macdonald |
| Succeeded by | Joseph P. Kennedy |
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| Born | December 9, 1912 Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Died | January 5, 1994 (age 81) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Millie O'Neill |
| Alma mater | Boston College |
Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician. O'Neill was an outspoken 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 and the longest-serving Speaker without a break. He was also the last power broker of the FDR New Deal wing of the Democratic Party.
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[edit] 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.[1] 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.
[edit] Congressman O'Neill
[edit] 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. 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, 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. While O'Neill lost the support of some components of his political base, he benefited from the support of the many students and faculty on the many colleges and universities within his district. Within the House itself, O'Neill became more popular in part due to his stance on the war, particularly after leading an effort to reform unrecorded "teller" voting on amendments in the House. 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.
[edit] 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.
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[edit] Speaker of the House
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. In addition to this, O'Neill was put-off by Carter's frugal behavior. In early 1977 Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill were invited to the White House for a breakfast with the new President, where Carter served them sugar cookies and coffee. O'Neill, a man of appetite, expected something more traditional such as eggs and sausage. He looked across the table at Carter and said, "Mr. President...we won the election." Carter was a reform minded executive who often clashed with O'Neill on many pieces of legislation. The Speaker wanted to award loyal Democrats with pork barrel projects at a time when Carter was wanting to reduce the size of government spending. 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] O'Neill at odds with President Ronald Reagan
O'Neill became a leading opponent of the Reagan administration's domestic and defense policies. With no Democratic leadership of the U.S. Senate, then in Republican hands at the time, O'Neill became, in effect, leader of the opposition. At the height of Reagan's popularity upon his arrival in Washington in 1981, O'Neill became the target of Reagan supporters. 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.[citation needed] O'Neill also said that Reagan was "Herbert Hoover with a smile" and "a cheerleader for selfishness" and "am amiable dunce." He also said that Reagan's policies meant that his presidency 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 friends "after 5PM".[2] Reagan once compared the man to Pac-Man in a speech, saying that he was "a round thing that gobbles up money".
[edit] 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.[citation needed]
[edit] After Congress
After retiring from Congress in 1987, O'Neill's autobiography, Man of the House was published. Co-written with author William Novak, it was well reviewed and a best-seller, though some of people mentioned in his book denied O'Neill's stories and assertions. The book also helped turn the former speaker into a national icon, and O'Neill starred in a number of commercials, including ones for Quality International Budget Hotels, Trump Shuttle, Commodore Computers, and one with Bob Uecker for Miller Lite. Yet he told a friend that he had made a mistake by retiring, as he missed the excitement of politics.[3]
O'Neill's emergence as a cultural figure was not restricted to commercials. He had a cameo role in the February 17th, 1983 episode of Cheers entitled "No Contest", four 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. He also made a brief appearance in the 1993 film Dave (as himself) assessing the work of the fictional American President in the movie, and he did a voice-over for a segment of the Ken Burns series Baseball in which the lifelong Red Sox fan read the Boston Globe from the day the Red Sox won the 1918 World Series.
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.
[edit] Death and legacy
O'Neill died on January 5, 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 deceased. 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 after him. Other structures named after him include a federal office building in Boston, a golf course in Cambridge, and the main library at his alma mater, Boston College.
On June 22, 2008, the play "According to Tip" debuted in Watertown, Mass., produced by the New Repertory Theatre. The one-man biographical play, written by longtime Boston sportswriter Dick Flavin, features O'Neill telling stories of his life, from his childhood to after his retirement in politics. Tony-Award winner Ken Howard played the title role in the premiere production.[4]
[edit] Notes
- 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
[edit] References
- ^ Hodgson, G. (1994, January 7). Obituary: Thomas P. O'neill. The Independent (London), pp. 14.
- ^ 2008 May Test Clinton's Bond With McCain - New York Times
- ^ Farrell, 679-682
- ^ ""According to Tip"". New Repertory Theatre. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.
[edit] Further reading
- Tip O'Neill at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Farrell, John A. (2001). Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-26049-5.
- O'Neill, Thomas P.; with William Novak (1987). Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill. ISBN 0-394-56505-3.
- Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., a Democratic Power in the House for Decades, Dies at 81 obituary
[edit] External links
- Tip O'Neill at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- 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
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hale Boggs |
House Majority Whip House Democratic Whip 1971 – 1972 |
Succeeded by John J. McFall |
| House Majority Leader House Democratic Leader 1973 – 1977 |
Succeeded by Jim Wright |
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| Preceded by Carl Albert |
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives January 4, 1977 – January 3, 1979; January 15, 1979 – January 3, 1981; January 5, 1981 – January 3, 1987 |
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| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by John F. Kennedy |
Member from Massachusetts's 11th congressional district 1953 – 1963 |
Succeeded by James A. Burke |
| Preceded by Torbert H. Macdonald |
Member from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district 1963 – 1987 |
Succeeded by Joseph Patrick Kennedy II |
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