Tip O?Neill Essay, Research Paper

There have been many great men involved in politics such as John Kennedy, Winston

Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. In an age of media savvy, blow dried pretty boys there

was a man who was a cigar smoking, card playing backroom kind of guy. This man was

genuinely one of the people. Tip O’Neill was an unabashed liberal, he was a

back-of-the-envelope man who trusted his instincs and didn’t need polls to tell him what

to do (Merry 1). He made a significant impact in the field of politics.

Tip O’Neill grew up never knowing his mother. When he was nine months old his

mother died of tuberculosis. Years later, one of the nuns at the local church he attended

told him how, when he was an infant, she had taken care of Tip when his family attended

his mothers funeral. All through his childhood, the nuns, knowing he didn’t have a

mother, kept watch over him (Novac 10). Tip ended up growing up close to his remaining

family which included his father, Thomas O’Neill and older siblings Bill and Mary O’Neill.

Tip’s father raised his children well and disciplined (Novac 9). After Tip’s mothers death,

his father hired a French-Canadian from Nova Scotia named Rose LeBlanc. Rose did

everything for Tips family and became a second mother to him. She stayed with them for

six years. At the age of eight, Tip’s father married a lady named Mary Cain. It wasn’t a

happy union, and Bill and Mary, who were teenagers, never really got along with her

(Novac 11).

When Tip O’Neill was seven years old he was sent to Gaelic School, which met on

Sunday afternoons. He learned a few Gaelic phrases and a couple of songs but his Irish

education didn’t last long. His teacher died of a hunger strike and his teacher’s

sister-in-law wouldn’t allow Tip back into the school (Novac 8). By the time Tip was

eight people started calling him “Tip”. That nickname came from a popular baseball

player of his fathers generation. Edward O’Neill ( no relation ) was a master at drawing

walks and he would foul off pitch after pitch. Because of his many foul tips, he became

known as “Tip” O’Neill (Novac 11). By the time Tip was old enough to get a job, Boston

had a rule in hiring businesses called NINA which standed for No Irish Need Apply. Tip

had a very big prejudice put upon him since he was born Irish-American (Novac 9).

In the 1930’s when Tip O’Neill first entered politics, all the financial institutions in

the city of Boston were closed to the Irish people. Tip O’Neill was proud to be one of the

many politicians who played a part in the process of changing the prejudice ways (Novac

9). Tip O’Neill loved to tell about the snow buttons. As a young ward leader in

Cambridge, Mass., long before he became Speaker of the House, Tip controlled 50 snow

buttons. Each snow button entitled the holder a days work shoveling snow for the city

just to earn 3 to 4 dollars for backbreaking toil. They reflected the New Deal tradition at

its best: government helping the needy worker. The Democratic party of Tip O’Neill’s

youth won the working classes allegiance by showing its devotion to the “little guy”. But

as the offspring of those desperate men waiting in the chill of Cambridge dawn moved up

and out to the suburbs, they also moved rightward politically. Government they feared,

would raise taxes not hopes as in the past (Roberts 1). During the time Tip O’Neill was

Cambridge district representative from 1953 to 1987, in politics and in policy, he was

among the last of the unreconstructed New Deal style liberals in the House of

Representatives (O’Neill 1).

Tip O’Neill decided to oppose President Johnson on the Vietnam War. Few

politicians spoke up in those early months but O’Neill, a long time Johnson ally, did speak

up, and with blunt candor. “We are dropping $20,000 bombs every time someone thinks

they see 4 Vietcong in a bush” Tip said. “And it isn’t working” (qtd in Merry 1).

Welcoming newly appointed President Reagan to his capitol office, O’Neill pointed out

that he had Grover Cleveland’s desk. Reagan brightened and said he had played the man

in the movies. O’Neill was talking about the democratic president; Reagan thought he

meant a baseball player. O’Neill swore this tale was true (Clift 1).

“Tip O’Neill bridges certain major Democratic elements in the House of

Representatives” a high ranking democrat said in 1976. “He draws his support from the

organization democrats that feel comfortable with his style and from the younger

democrats who like his early opposition to the Vietnam War and his support of House

reform moves” (qtd in Congressional 1). As legislative leader Tip O’Neill was described

as shrewd and an aggressive manipulator who preferred to work behind the scenes, in

committees, conferences, and congressional cloakrooms rather than on the House floor

(“O’Neill” 1). Tip O’Neill had spent 50 years at the craft of politics, including 16 in

Massachusetts legislator and 34 in the House of Representatives. For a decade he served

as speaker, becoming well known throughout the country as the lumbering human bear

with the unadorned straight talk (Merry 1). In 1994 Tip O’Neill died in Boston of cardiac

arrest at the age of 81 (Clift 1).

Tip O’Neill had many accomplishments in his lifetime such as being the longest

running Speaker of the House and having 34 years in congress. During Tip’s second term

in congress he began his rise to leadership position on House Rules Committee. In 1971

he became House majority whip and became majority leader in 1972. In 1977 Tip became

the Speaker of the House (“O’Neill” 1). He was one of the last of the democratic leaders

from the old school. Tip’s run as Speaker of the House ran from 1977 till 1986 (Clift 1).

During the Watergate scandal in 1973 and 1974, Tip O’Neill played an important role in

staving off impeachment proceedings while sanguinely calling for the for president Nixon’s

voluntary resignation (“O’Neill” 1).

When the 1982 recession hit, Tip O’Neill was ready to lead the democratic party.

When Reagan stumbled badly on the Social Security Issue, the speaker pounced with

awesome ferocity. Reagan had walked into the jaws of the issue as if blindfolded.

Greatness comes to those who fulfill their destiny. It was Tip O’Neill’s destiny to deflect

the Reagan onslaught, to serve as the last great defender of old-style democratic

liberalism. He took on the role with the courage and stealth of a cornered mountain lion

(Merry 1).

Tip O’Neill was one of politics greatest contributors. By the time of his 1986

retirement, Tip pushed his approval rating up to 68 percent. “I must have done something

right” said Tip (qtd. in Merry 2). In personality he was a gregariously happy warrior, a

big bear of a man who was privately benign and likable even to his political enemies

(“O’Neill” 1).

Bibliography

nil