Tip O'Neill

(b. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 9 Dec. 1912; d. 5 Jan. 1994) US; representative in the Massachusetts State Legislature 1936 – 52, member of the US House of Representatives 1952 – 86, Speaker of the House 1977 – 86

The son of a bricklayer, O'Neill was educated in parochial schools and St John's High School, and graduated from Boston College in 1936. Thereafter he combined a career in politics with business interests in insurance and real estate. At the age of 21 he became a member of the State Legislature, serving as minority leader between 1947 and 1948 and Speaker 1949 – 52. In 1952 he succeeded to John F. Kennedy's district in the US House of Representatives, when Kennedy moved to the Senate.

O'Neill, on the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, was more a pragmatist and political fixer, a representative of the old-style Tammany Hall politics, than a politician of philosophical convictions. His entry to Congress coincided with a temporary break in the dominance the Democrats had enjoyed since 1932. They regained their former ascendancy in 1955 and with it came promotion for O'Neill, who was appointed to the powerful House Rules Committee. In 1977, amid allegations of having accepted bribes from the South Koreans, he became Speaker of the House. He held this powerful and partisan office for the next ten years: longer than any previous one.

In the position of Speaker O'Neill displayed inspired and effective leadership in a decade of political upheaval. During his period in office the House adopted a new code of ethics, placed limits on outside income and introduced television coverage of its sessions. A charismatic and shrewd politician, O'Neill was careful never to neglect the needs of his constituents or forget his Irish working-class roots. He popularized the phrase "all politics is local". In 1987 he published a best-seller memoir: Man of the House.

After a 16-year career in the Massachusetts legislature, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (1912-1994) won election as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952. He was easily re-elected thereafter, rising to majority whip, then majority leader, and finally to Speaker of the House, 1977-1987.

Thomas Philip O'Neill, Jr., was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 9, 1912, the third child of Thomas P. and Rose Ann Tolan O'Neill. His father was a bricklayer and a professional politician, serving on the Cambridge City Council and then as sewer commissioner for that city. Young O'Neill, a rabid baseball fan, acquired the nickname "Tip" after a major league ballplayer also named O'Neill.

His mother having died within nine months of his birth, "Tip" was raised by his father with the help of a housekeeper before his father remarried. A mediocre student at the St. John's parochial school but a social leader, "Tip" dreamed of becoming mayor of Cambridge (a goal befitting his father's oft-repeated maxim, "all politics is local"). At 15 O'Neill worked locally in the presidential campaign of fellow Irish Catholic Al Smith.

After brief experience as a truck driver, O'Neill enrolled in 1933 at Boston College, where he pursued a liberal arts education while continuing to drive a truck and supplementing his income by skillful poker-playing. Following graduation in 1936 he found law school not to his liking and embarked directly on a political career.

Professional Politician

After experiencing the only electoral defeat he would ever suffer (for Cambridge City Council, while a college senior), O'Neill won election to the Massachusetts State House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1936. With his party vastly outnumbered, he could do little but concentrate on patronage - which he did, arranging for the hiring of hundreds of his constituents for public service work. In these early years O'Neill worked between legislative sessions in the Cambridge city treasurer's office.

In June 1941 he married former schoolmate Mildred Anne Miller, with whom he had five children: Rosemary, Thomas P. III (later lieutenant governor of Massachusetts), Susan, Christopher, and Michael. He improved his financial situation in the 1940s when, evicted from his city job by political rivals, he entered into the insurance business - an enterprise he continued for over two decades. He did not serve in the military during World War II, originally receiving exemption to serve in the legislature and then receiving a physical deferment due to mild diabetes.

Popular among party colleagues in the state legislature, in 1946 O'Neill was elected House minority leader. (That same year he unsuccessfully supported a friend against young John F. Kennedy for the Democratic House nomination in his home congressional district.) As minority leader O'Neill's greatest achievement was helping to organize a successful strategy in 1948 to elect a Democratic majority to the Massachusetts lower house. The Democrats' narrow victory made O'Neill the youngest Speaker in the history of the Massachusetts legislature. He was a highly effective Speaker, proving adept at "headcounting," producing strong party unity, and helping ensure passage of the new Democratic governor's so-called "Little New Deal." Respected for his fairness, the affable O'Neill was willing to apply pressure, when necessary, to keep his troops in line. In 1950 he again masterminded the Democrats' statewide victory. Both he and other Democrats expected he would ultimately become governor.

A Long-time Congressman

In 1952 O'Neill succeeded to John Kennedy's House seat (as Kennedy advanced to the Senate) after winning a hard-fought primary - the last close electoral contest he would face. As a protege of House Majority Leader John McCormack, also of Massachusetts, he rapidly gained access to the inner circle of power in the House. Through the sponsorship of McCormack and powerful Speaker Sam Rayburn, O'Neill was placed in 1955 on the important Rules Committee - as a "loyalist" of the House Democratic leadership. Over the next several years he attained little national visibility but gained a reputation as a shrewd and helpful master of internal House process and a staunch party regular - a "politician's politician."

Democratic control of the White House in the 1960s enabled O'Neill to play a constructive role as he helped to pass the New Frontier and Great Society legislative programs. His only significant rebellion against the Democratic administrations was on the federal school-aid bill, which he opposed.

In 1967 O'Neill revised his image as an unwavering party loyalist by becoming the first "establishment" Democrat to break with President Johnson over the Vietnam War, even backing the anti-war candidacy of Senator Eugene McCarthy for the 1968 presidential nomination. By the early 1970s this stance, combined with his support for a number of House procedural reforms, won him a unique reputation as an old-style politician with reform sympathies. He was thus a popular choice when selected in 1971 by a new Democratic House leadership team to be majority whip.

In less than two years O'Neill rose to the post of majority leader, after the incumbent (Representative Hale Boggs) disappeared and was presumed dead in an airplane crash. As he had done as majority whip, O'Neill brought energy to this new post, eclipsing the indecisive Carl Albert, Speaker of the House during much of the 1970s. Remaining a strong partisan, O'Neill took a cautious line during the Watergate crisis. Still, he was a powerful force in urging his colleagues to prepare for impeachment proceedings against President Nixon in early 1974. After Nixon's resignation O'Neill actively supported legislative initiatives to limit the budget and war-making powers of the presidency. Toward Nixon's successor, his old friend Gerald Ford, O'Neill was personally cordial but politically uncompromising. His deep instinct for the underdog, however, led him to avoid criticizing Ford when the latter gave Nixon a full pardon.

Speaker of the House

When O'Neill succeeded Albert as Speaker in 1977 (without opposition), a new president of his own party moved into the White House: Jimmy Carter. Opposites in personality and divided over the necessity of compromise between Congress and the White House (O'Neill had always thought compromise the essence of politics), O'Neill and Carter nevertheless developed a friendly relationship. The Speaker loyally backed Carter's policies in the House, helping to pass both the president's energy package and a bill creating a Department of Education. O'Neill advised Carter to pay more attention to the domestic problems of inflation and energy shortages and believed, with other traditional liberals, that the president was too conservative in his policies. Yet when Edward Kennedy challenged Carter for the 1980 Democratic nomination, O'Neill remained neutral and eventually served as chairman of the 1980 convention controlled by the president's supporters. During his first years as Speaker one of O'Neill's most notable achievements was passage of a strong code of ethics for House members.

Republican successes in the 1980 elections greatly altered O'Neill's situation. With Ronald Reagan in the White House and the Senate under Republican Party control, the Speaker stood as the top-ranking elected leader of his party. Never a television personality, he made himself very accessible to the press and increasingly spoke out on the major issues. It was as party strategist, however, that he had greatest impact. Unsuccessful in his efforts to block Reagan's sharp reductions in domestic spending and "supply side" tax reductions in 1981, O'Neill kept fellow Democrats from agreeing to a bipartisan compromise on the troubled Social Security System, thereby keeping the subject alive as an issue (along with the 1981 tax measure) for the upcoming congressional elections. The Democrats' strong showing in 1982 vindicated the strategy.

O'Neill enjoyed greater power and prestige in dealing with the Reagan administration after 1982. The president then lacked the working majority of Republicans and conservative Democrats that he had relied on previously and thus had to be more accommodating towards the Speaker and his followers. In early 1984, however, O'Neill announced he would seek only one more House term. Winning re-election easily (as he had for 30 years), he resumed his role as leader of the opposition as Reagan began his second term. Truly a transitional figure between the old politics and the new, he was rated among the strongest House Speakers in history upon his retirement in 1987.

O'Neill's memoirs, Man of the House (1987), written with William Novak, became a best-seller. He also wrote All Politics is Local, with Gary Hymel. (1994) Tip O'Neill died in Boston, at the age of 82.

Further Reading

The only book-length treatment of O'Neill's life was Paul Clancy and Shirley Elder, Tip: A Biography of Thomas P. O'Neill, Speaker of the House (1980). Jimmy Breslin's How the Good Guys Finally Won (1975) discussed at length O'Neill's role in House activities related to Watergate. In 1987 O'Neill with William Novak wrote Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill.

• Born: Dec. 9, 1912, Cambridge, Mass.
• Political party: Democrat
• Education: Boston College, graduated, 1936
• Representative from Massachusetts: 1953–87
• House majority whip: 1971–73
• House majority leader: 1973–77
• Speaker of the House: 1977–87
• Died: Jan. 5, 1994, Boston, Mass.

When he first ran for public office, Tip O'Neill received some shrewd advice from his father, who said: “All politics is local.” During his long career in the House of Representatives, O'Neill would repeat that advice to new members. What he meant was that regardless of the issue, representatives must consider the interests, needs, and opinions of their own local district. “You can be the most important congressman in the country, but you had better not forget the people back home,” he would tell them. When members become so involved in national issues that they lose connection with their own constituents, then the next election might send them packing. Keeping his father's advice in mind, O'Neill won reelection repeatedly. He served for 34 years in the House, becoming Democratic whip, majority leader, and Speaker of the House. From 1981 through 1986, when the Republicans held the majority in the Senate and Ronald Reagan was President, Speaker O'Neill found himself the highest-ranking Democrat in the federal government. Although O'Neill had little success in opposing Reagan's conservative economic program, he was able to marshal House Democrats to prevent the dismantling of federal health, education, and social welfare programs.

Sources

• Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., and William Novak, Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill (New York: Random House, 1987)

In many ways, Democrat Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill, Jr., epitomized the cigar-smoking, deal-making American politician of a bygone era. A tough, gregarious leader, O'Neill was the formidable Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1986. He was a die-hard liberal whose commitment to America's poor and working class remained undiminished throughout his thirty-five years in Washington, D.C. When O'Neill died of cardiac arrest at age eighty-one on January 5, 1994, President Bill Clinton eulogized him as one of the nation's most prominent and loyal champions of American workers and as a man who genuinely loved politics and people.

O'Neill was born December 9, 1912, in a working-class section of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His Irish Catholic father, Thomas O'Neill, Sr., was a bricklayer and member of the Cambridge City Council. His mother, Rose Tolan O'Neill, died when O'Neill was just one year old.

At an early age, O'Neill developed a passion for politics. When he was fifteen years old, he spent hours working on Democrat Alfred E. Smith's unsuccessful presidential campaign against Herbert Hoover. During his senior year at Boston College, O'Neill ran for public office for the first time. He entered the race for the Cambridge City Council and lost by a mere 150 votes.

This early defeat taught the young candidate a valuable lesson about politics. Taking his local support for granted, O'Neill had failed to campaign in his own North Cambridge neighborhood. The voters from his district resented his neglect and did not back him as strongly as expected. O'Neill never repeated this tactical error. After the city council loss, O'Neill's father reportedly observed, "All politics is local." For years, O'Neill quoted his father's maxim and applied it to his work.

In 1936, the year he graduated from college, O'Neill enjoyed his first victory at the polls. Using the political leverage of jobs and favors, he won a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, from the North Cambridge district. O'Neill served in the state legislature for sixteen years. In 1952, he launched into national politics and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning a congressional career that included an appointment as majority whip in 1971 and election as majority leader in 1972. He reached the pinnacle of legislative power in 1976 when he rose to the House speakership.

Outgoing and outspoken, O'Neill was known for his partisanship and for his skillful use of power. He embodied the liberal politics of the Democratic party during the late twentieth century. His support of federal social programs was unbending. As the political right grew in power, O'Neill fought conservative proposals such as a balanced budget because they threatened the education, housing, and welfare programs he cherished.

As Speaker of the House, O'Neill led Congress during the administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and Ronald Reagan, a Republican. O'Neill did not respect Reagan's intellectual capabilities or his conservative policies. After clashing repeatedly with Reagan during his two terms in the White House, O'Neill called his fellow Irishman the least knowledgeable president he had ever worked with in thirty-five years in the nation's capitol. The two were polar opposites on nearly every political issue, particularly the government's role in American life.

O'Neill's legislative legacy includes a code of ethics for House members and a drive to impeach President Richard M. Nixon. O'Neill also was among the first Democrats to speak out against the Vietnam War during the 1960s. He once told an interviewer that the only vote in his congressional career that he regretted was his affirmative vote on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. (The resolution increased American troop involvement in Southeast Asia.) Partisan to a fault, O'Neill had voted for the measure because he felt duty bound to support the Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson.

While in office, O'Neill shared a bachelor apartment in Washington, D.C. with Representative Edward Boland of Massachusetts. His wife, Mildred ("Millie"), and their five children stayed in the home district. According to Capitol Hill legend, the refrigerator in the men's apartment was stocked mostly with diet soft drinks, beer, and cigars.

O'Neill did not survive more than a quarter century in Washington, D.C., without some tarnish to his reputation. In 1978, he was criticized for accepting favors from Tongsun Park, an influence-peddling rice merchant from South Korea. An ethics committee investigation concluded that O'Neill had shown bad judgment in allowing Park to throw parties for him. The committee cleared O'Neill of any illegalities.

O'Neill retired from Congress in 1987. He subsequently spent most of his time in Washington, D.C., or at Cape Cod with his wife. O'Neill wrote a best-selling book about his experiences in Washington, entitled Man of the House, and starred in popular commercials for credit cards. He died January 5, 1994, in Boston, Massachusetts.

O'Neill was a throwback to an earlier era of backroom politics on Capitol Hill. The colorful Massachusetts congressman was a master at pressuring representatives to pass or block key legislation. O'Neill enjoyed a national reputation but remained loyal to the constituents back home. He is remembered as an unapologetic liberal, proud of his role in assisting the poor, the unemployed, and the least privileged Americans. He was one of the last and most highly regarded of the old-style American politicians.

This article is about the politician. For the baseball player, see Tip O'Neill (baseball).

For other persons named Thomas O'Neill, see Thomas O'Neill (disambiguation).

Tip O'Neill
55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office January 4, 1977 – January 3, 1987
President	Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Carl Albert
Succeeded by	Jim Wright
18th Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1977
Deputy	John J. McFall
Preceded by	Hale Boggs
Succeeded by	Jim Wright
17th Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973
Leader	Hale Boggs
Preceded by	Hale Boggs
Succeeded by	John J. McFall
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 11th district
In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1963
Preceded by	John F. Kennedy
Succeeded by	James A. Burke
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 8th district
In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	Torbert Macdonald
Succeeded by	Joseph P. Kennedy
Born	December 9, 1912(1912-12-09) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Died	January 5, 1994 (aged 81) Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Millie O'Neill
Alma mater	Boston College
Religion	Roman Catholic

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 consecutive serving Speaker.

Contents 1 Early life and Education 2 Entry into politics 3 Congressman O'Neill 3.1 Quick rise in the House leadership 3.2 House Majority Whip and Majority Leader 4 Speaker of the House 4.1 O'Neill replaces Carl Albert 4.2 O'Neill's work with President Jimmy Carter 4.3 Republicans target O'Neill in 1980 4.4 O'Neill at odds with President Ronald Reagan 4.5 Working for peace in Northern Ireland 5 After Congress 6 Death and legacy 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

Early life and Education

O'Neill was born to Thomas Phillip O'Neill, Sr., and Rose Ann (Tolan) O'Neill near Barry's Corner in the Irish middle-class area of North Cambridge, Massachusetts, known at the time as "Old Dublin." The third of three children, his mother died when he was 9 months old, and he was largely raised by a French-Canadian housekeeper until his father remarried when he was 8. O'Neill senior had started out as a bricklayer, later winning a seat on the Cambridge City Council and an appointment as Superintendent of Sewers. During his childhood, O'Neill received the nickname "Tip" after the baseball player James "Tip" O'Neill.^[1] He was educated in Roman Catholic schools, graduating from St. John's High School in 1931, where he was captain of the basketball team. From there he went to Boston College, from which he graduated in 1936. He lived on Orchard St. In Cambridge.^[2]

Entry into politics

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 ran for a seat on the Cambridge City Council and lost, his first and only electoral defeat. This campaign taught him the lesson that became his best known quote: "All politics is local."^[3]

After graduating in 1936, O'Neill was elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, aided by tough economic times among his constituents, an experience that made him a strong advocate of the New Deal policies of Roosevelt, which were just then coming to an end. His biographer John Aloysius Farrell said his background in Depression-era working class Boston and his interpretation of his Catholic faith led O'Neill to view the role of government as intervening to cure social ills. O'Neill was "an absolute, unrepentant, unreconstructed New Deal Democrat," Farrell wrote.^[4]

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 his home district.

Congressman O'Neill

Quick rise in the House leadership

O'Neill was elected to the congressional seat vacated by Senator-elect John F. Kennedy in 1952. During his second term in the House, O'Neill was selected to the House Rules Committee where he proved a crucial soldier for the Democratic leadership, particularly his mentor House Majority Leader, fellow Boston congressman and later Speaker John William McCormack.^[5] After wrestling with the issues surrounding the Vietnam War, in 1967 O'Neill broke with President Lyndon B. Johnson and came out in opposition to America's involvement.^[6] O'Neill wrote in his autobiography that he also became convinced that conflict in Vietnam was a civil war and that US involvement was morally wrong. While the decision cost O'Neill some support among older voters in his home district, he benefited from new support among students and faculty members at the many colleges and universities there. In the House of Representatives itself, O'Neill also picked up the trust and support of younger House members who shared his anti-war views, and they became important friends who contributed to O'Neill's rise through the ranks in the House.^[7]

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, following the presumed death of Congressman Hale Boggs (D-LA) in a plane crash in Alaska. As Majority Leader, O'Neill was the most prominent Democrat in the House to call for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon because of the Watergate scandal.

O'Neill with President Ford, 1976

Speaker of the House

O'Neill replaces Carl Albert

As a result of the Tongsun Park influence peddling scandal, House Speaker Carl Albert retired from Congress and 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 both houses of Congress and control of the White House, O'Neill hoped that the Democrats would be able to implement Democratic-favored legislation, including universal health care and jobs programs. The Democrats, however, lacked party discipline, and while the Carter administration and O'Neill began strong with passage of ethics and energy packages in 1977, there were major stumbles. Troubles began with Carter's threats to veto a water projects bill, a pet project of many members of Congress. O'Neill and other powerful Democrats were also irked by Carter's appointments of a number of his fellow Georgians, whom O'Neill considered arrogant and parochial, to federal offices and White House staff. In addition, O'Neill was put-off by Carter's frugal behavior in cutting executive staff and reducing the scale of White House entertaining. Carter, who is a Southern Baptist, even ended the practice of serving alcohol at the White House. As Carter's term began 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 expansive appetite, expected the until-then-traditional eggs and sausage. He looked across the table at Carter and said, "Mr. President... you know, we won the election." Carter was a reform-minded executive who often clashed with O'Neill on legislation. The Speaker wanted to reward loyal Democrats with pork barrel projects at a time when Carter wanted to reduce government spending. A continuing weak economy and the Iran hostage crisis made prospects bleak for Carter and the Democrats in the 1980 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 was a leading opponent of the Reagan administration's domestic and defense policies. Following the 1980 election, with the U.S. Senate in Republican hands, O'Neill became the leader of the congressional opposition. This rivalry between O'Neill and Reagan was comparable to that of President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 1990s. O'Neill called Reagan the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House.^[8] O'Neill also said that Reagan was "Herbert Hoover with a smile" and "a cheerleader for selfishness" and "an 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 6PM." O'Neill in that same memoir when questioned by Reagan regarding a personal attack against the President that made the paper, explained that "before 6PM it's all politics."^[9] Reagan once compared O'Neill to the then-popular arcade game Pac-Man in a speech, saying that he was "a round thing that gobbles up money". He also once joked he had received a valentine card from O'Neill: "I knew it was from Tip, because the heart was bleeding."

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 to craft a peace accord between the warring factions. 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" as they were called convinced both Carter and Reagan to press the British government on the subject.^{[citation needed]}

After Congress

Congresswoman (and future Speaker) Nancy Pelosi with Speaker O'Neill

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 became 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. He confided to friends, however, that he missed the excitement of politics.

O'Neill's emergence as a cultural figure was not restricted to commercials. Four years before his retirement he had a cameo role in the February 17th, 1983 episode of Cheers entitled "No Contest," which featured him ducking into the bar to escape a woman who pestered him on the street about his political ideals. The show, which was ranked 60th in the Nielsen Ratings at that time jumped 20 places the following week. O'Neill also made a brief appearance in the 1993 film Dave (as himself) assessing the work of the fictional American President in the movie. He also did narration for a segment of the Ken Burns series Baseball in which O'Neill, a lifelong Red Sox fan, read the Boston Globe from the day the Red Sox won the 1918 World Series.

On November 18, 1991, O'Neill was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by president George H. W. Bush.

Later on in retirement, O'Neill, who 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 on January 5, 1994, survived by his wife, Millie, and their children. At his passing, 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 that 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, works in public relations in Boston. Another son, Christopher, is a Washington lawyer, the third son, Michael, is deceased. One daughter, Susan, has her own business in Washington, the other, Rosemary, is a political officer for the U.S. State Department.

Milldred O'Neill 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.^[10]

References

1. ^ Hodgson, G. (1994, January 7). Obituary: Thomas P. O'Neill. The Independent (London), pp. 14.
2. ^ Biographical Note | Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Papergs | John J. Burns Library, Boston College
3. ^ Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Papers Biographical Note | John J. Burns Library, Boston College
4. ^ The Last Liberal | Mario Cuomo | NYT
5. ^ O'Neill Obituary | NYT
6. ^ The Last Liberal | Mario Cuomo | NYT, March 11, 2001
7. ^ NYT Obit
8. ^ Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Dies at 81; A Power in the House for Decades
9. ^ 2008 May Test Clinton's Bond With McCain - New York Times
10. ^ ""According to Tip"". New Repertory Theatre. http://www.newrep.org/0708tip.php. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 

Further reading

• 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. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tip O'Neill

• Tip O'Neill at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2009-5-15
• George Bush Presidential Library and Museum - Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards

Party 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
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
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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v • d • e Majority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives Payne • Underwood • Kitchin • Mondell • Longworth • Tilson • Rainey • Byrns • Bankhead • Rayburn • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • Wright • Foley • Gephardt • Armey • DeLay • Blunt (acting) • Boehner • Hoyer

v • d • e Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn

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