O'Neill, Tip, 1912-1994

<p>Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., in full Thomas Phillip O’Neill, Jr., byname Tip O’Neill, (born December 19, 1912, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.—died January 5, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts), American politician who served as a Democratic representative from Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives (1953–87) and as speaker of the House (1977–86). He was a tireless advocate for social causes, and he frequently expressed his belief that it is the responsibility of the government to contribute to the good of society by helping the poor, the underprivileged, and the unemployed.</p>

<p>O’Neill grew up in a working-class section of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father served on the Cambridge City Council. As a teenager, he joined the 1928 presidential campaign of Democratic New York Gov. Al Smith after learning that Smith, like O’Neill, was an Irish Catholic. In 1932 he campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt. He graduated from Boston College in 1936, the same year he won election to the Massachusetts state House of Representatives, where he served until 1952. In 1953 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill the seat vacated by John F. Kennedy after Kennedy was elected to the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p>As a U.S. representative, O’Neill soon earned a reputation as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrat who was willing to speak his mind. He was a shrewd negotiator who marshaled support in the back rooms of the Capitol rather than on the House floor. In 1967 he became one of the first members of the House to oppose Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson vocally on the Vietnam War. O’Neill served as House majority whip in 1971 and as majority leader in 1972 before being elevated to speaker in 1977. He won favour with his younger colleagues for approving legislative reforms, including a new ethics code and a limit on outside income for House members. In 1974 he publicly called on Pres. Richard M. Nixon, who had been disgraced by the Watergate scandal, to resign. O’Neill later earned the respect of many Democrats for frequently opposing the conservative administration of Pres. Ronald Reagan; he often criticized Reagan publicly.</p>

<p>O’Neill remained a popular figure among Democrats throughout his career. In the early 1980s, Republican-sponsored television advertisements featuring an O’Neill look-alike who was meant to symbolize a bloated free-wheeling Congress not only failed to detract from O’Neill’s popularity but rather enhanced it. O’Neill himself appeared in television commercials for a credit card company and played a cameo role on the TV comedy <i>Cheers</i>.</p>

<p>O’Neill published his best-selling autobiography, <i>Man of the House</i>, in 1987. The publication of a book of his anecdotes and lore, <i>All Politics Is Local</i>, coincided with his death in 1994.</p>

<p>Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as a Democrat from 1953 to 1987. The only Speaker to serve for five complete consecutive Congresses, he is the third longest-serving Speaker in American history after Sam Rayburn and Henry Clay in terms of total tenure and longest-serving in terms of continuous tenure (Rayburn and Clay served multiple terms in the Speakership).</p>

<p>Born in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, O'Neill began campaigning at a young age, volunteering for Al Smith's campaign in the 1928 presidential election. After graduating from Boston College, O'Neill won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies. He became Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1949 and won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1952 to the seat vacated by John F. Kennedy.</p>

<p>In the House, O'Neill became a protege of fellow Massachusetts Representative John William McCormack. O'Neill broke with President Lyndon B. Johnson on the Vietnam War in 1967 and called for Richard Nixon's resignation in light of the Watergate scandal. He quickly moved up the leadership ranks in the 1970s, becoming House Majority Whip in 1971, House Majority Leader in 1973, and Speaker of the House in 1977. With the election of President Jimmy Carter, O'Neill hoped to establish a universal health care system and a guaranteed jobs program. However, relations between Carter and Congress collapsed, and the Democrats lost control of the presidency in the 1980 presidential election. O'Neill became a leading opponent of Republican President Ronald Reagan's conservative domestic policies. O'Neill and Reagan found more common ground in foreign policy, fostering the Anglo-Irish Agreement and implementing the Reagan Doctrine in the Soviet–Afghan War.</p>

<p>O'Neill retired from Congress in 1987 but remained active in public life. He published a best-selling autobiography and appeared in several commercials and other media. He died of cardiac arrest in 1994.</p>

<p>O'NEILL, THOMAS PHILIP, JR. (TIP), a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Mass., December 9, 1912; graduated from St. John's High School, 1931; graduated from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass., 1936; insurance agent; realtor; member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives, 1936-1952, and speaker, 1949-1952; member of school committee, Cambridge, Mass., 1946-1947; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-third and to the sixteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953-January 3, 1987); chair, Select Committee on Campaign Expenditures (Eighty-ninth through Ninety-second Congresses); majority whip (Ninety-second Congress), majority leader (Ninety-third and Ninety-fourth Congresses), Speaker of the House of Representatives (Ninety-fifth through Ninety-ninth Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection in 1986; died on January 5, 1994, in Boston, Mass.; interment in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Harwichport, Mass.</p>