3 of 3 Parts: Thomas Philip (Tip) O’Neill, Jr. (1912-94), Congressman; Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives (1977-86), by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Tip O’Neill’s Last Years
A familiar sight on C-SPAN, whose televised House coverage he helped initiate, he became a big hit in TV commercials. His tall rumpled heavy-set figure with bulbous nose and white thatched hair made him instantly recognizable as he popped out of a suitcase in one TV ad and plugged Federal Express in another TV ad.
He joked about his girth, long since expanded to some 260 pounds, saying that he had lost thousands of pounds over the years on various diets.
O’Neill kept a busy pace in retirement, despite some illness in 1987: colostomy surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to remove a cancerous tumor on November 18, 1987. Twelve days later he had another operation for an enlarged prostrate. He was later hospitalized for pneumonia and other ailments.
Tip O’Neill’s Honors
When Harvard University gave him an honorary degree in June 1987, he was touched less by the degree than by students’ long sustained applause. Over a long political career, Harvard scholars had largely dismissed him as a machine politician. He had never sought to curry their favor. Time passed. Attitudes changed. The North Cambridge man who as a l4-year-old had cut Harvard lawns for seventeen cents an hour, had moist eyes when Harvard students gave him thunderous applause.
He received other honorary degrees, including one from Boston College, his alma mater. Boston College also named the main library on the Chestnut Hill campus for him and endowed a chair in political science in his name. Gifts for the latter totaled $l.3 million from alumni and others. (Nolan 1994)
At a November 18, 1991, White House ceremony President George Bush awarded O’Neill the Medal of Freedom. The citation ended: “The United States honors this distinguished legislator for his leadership, amity, good humor and commitment to service and freedom.” (Nolan 1994)
Ten years earlier, in February 1981, O’Neill had privately teased George Bush when the new Republican Pres. Reagan gave his economic views before a televised joint session of Congress. Speaker O’Neill and Vice President Bush sat on the dais in full public view behind Reagan.
Retaining their public smiles, O’Neill, during applause, whispered to Bush, “Voodoo economics, George; Voodoo economics.” It was the phrase Bush had used publicly about Reagan when they competed as Republican presidential rivals. Bush, embarrassed but smiling, whispered back, “Quiet, Tip, quiet.”
Tip O’Neill’s Death
Wednesday night, January 5, 1994, Tommy (Thomas P. O’Neill, 3rd, former Massachusetts lieutenant governor) sat with his father in Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Tip was there for tests, having recently felt unusually tired. They ate coffee ice cream and talked about how well the Boston College football team had done that season, especially quarterback Foley. You know, he’s a North Cambridge boy, said Tip. You know who his grandmother was? Verna, who used to run Verna’s Dough Nut Shop, across the street from the church (St. John’s, North Cambridge). It was a landmark in the neighborhood for years. “Remember Verna’s honey dipped doughnuts? Gee, those were great doughnuts.”
Tip grew quiet, said he felt tired and went to bed.
Tip O’Neill died that night (January 5, 1994), age 81, of cardiac arrest, the last Democratic leader of the old school, a familiar congressional figure and easily the most beloved. Pres. Bill Clinton, whose own mother died within an hour of O’Neill’s death, said: “Tip O’Neill was the nation’s most prominent, powerful and loyal champion of working people.” (O’Neill 1994)
Tip O’Neill’s Funeral
Funeral events for Tip O’Neill, held in bone-chilling cold weather during January 8-11, 1994, was by any measure one of the grandest in recent New England memory. A snow storm which had closed Logan Airport subsided, allowing dignitaries to land from all over the United States and abroad. Not since James Michael Curley died in 1958 had a Bay State dignitary lain in state in the Massachusetts State Capitol, Beacon Hill, Boston.
The O’Neill family came to the lying in state early Saturday, January 8, 1994. By one estimate, some 7,000 visitors braved the outside cold (22 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of three below zero), climbed the steep outdoor steps of the state capitol, entered the impressively domed and bedecked Hall of Flags, and filed solemnly past O’Neill’s flag-draped open casket.
Eyes were moist, journalists noted, when U. S. Representative from Boston J. J. Moakley knelt and touched O’Neill’s shoulder in the casket. Others were moved when one of Tip O’Neill’s grandsons reached into the casket and put a fresh cigar in the Speaker’s coat pocket.
Tip O’Neill’s Funeral Mass
The Rev. John P. Carroll, O’Neill’s grammar school friend, presided at the funeral mass, Sunday, January 9, 1994, at St. John the Evangelist Church, North Cambridge. Boys from the St. Paul Choir School of Boston filled the church with music, ending with “America the Beautiful.” The casket was wheeled to the front of the church.
On the front pews near the casket sat Millie O’Neill, son Tommy, U.S. Vice Pres. Al Gore and Tipper Gore, former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld, and U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy, 2nd (D. Mass.).
Frank Minelli, O’Neill’s barber, sat near former U.S. House Speaker Thomas Foley. John Gimigliano, O’Neill’s shoe cobbler friend, sat alongside retired Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski. Lenny Lamkin, who had managed O’Neill’s district office, sat near Vice President Al Gore.
Minelli, Gimigliano, Lamkin, Russ Cutter, and others were Barry’s Corner regulars, one of whom reminded the others that Tip O’Neill had said he’d rather be a lamppost on Barry’s Corner than be with any of the important people he’d ever met around the world.
Another of the Barry’s Corner regulars recalled that some 500 had attended the June 1986 Barry’s Corner reunion when they heard Tip O’Neill would not run for the House again. Hearing this, Russ Cutter, a Barry’s Corner original, wept. (Buckley 1994)
Prominent Republicans present were, besides former Pres. Ford, U.S. Sen Howard Baker (R. Tenn.), Bush’s deputy chief of staff Andrew Card, Representative Robert Michel (R. Ill.), and U.S. Sen. Robert Dole (R. Kan.).
The many Democrats included Representative Dan Rostenkowski (D. Ill.), former Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. Mass.), Senator Joseph Biden (D. Del.), and Senator Christopher Dodd (D. Conn.), former U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright (D. Texas), Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, Democratic White House Budget Director Leon Panetta, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and other state officials and legislators.
Over 150 members of Congress had come for the funeral, along with a delegation from Ireland led by Minister for Justice Maire Geoghegan Quinn. Cardinal Bernard Law delivered the final blessing.
First to speak after the Mass was granddaughter Catlin, who read “The Sermon on the Mount,” which Tip O’Neill once called the greatest political speech of all time.
Daughter Rosemary read an Irish poem, “Lament for the Death of Owen Rowe O’Neill” by Thomas Davis. The last three lines of this lament for a fallen l7th century Irish hero at the massacre of Drogheda, Ireland (1649), reads:
“Oh! why did you leave us Owen, why did you die?
Your troubles are all over, you rest with God on high
But we’re slaves and we’re orphans, Owen!
Oh! why did you die?”
U.S. Representative J.J. Moakley of Boston recalled humorous incidents in the 40 years he had been with O’Neill. Once, they were together when Moakley spotted Warren Beatty heading toward them. Knowing that O’Neill seldom went to the movies, Moakley said, “Mr. Speaker, you know Warren Beatty.”
O’Neill said, “Warren, ol’ buddy.” They talked for awhile. O’Neill gazed into Beatty’s eyes and said, “Gee, you’re a good looking bum. You oughta be a movie star.” Warren Beatty laughed, patted O’Neill’s shoulder, and said, “Tip, you’re always kidding,” and walked away. Moakley asked, “Tip, you know who that was?” O’Neill said, “Yeah, the lion tamer Clyde Beatty’s son.”
Tip O’Neill’s Son Remembers
Tommy O’Neill, smiling, eyes glistening, told of being with his father the night he died, of their eating coffee ice cream, talking about football and quarterback Foley and about Foley’s grandmother, Verna, and her wonderful honey dipped doughnuts. Tommy listed other things his father loved, including Boston College, America, Congress, Democrats of course, and even Republicans. Being Catholic and a joker, Tommy smiled, my father always said about Republicans, “Hate the sin but love the sinner,” even President Reagan, his beloved nemesis, whom he loved to call “Reegan.”
Tommy told how, to family and intimates, when Reagan’s name came up, his Dad would laugh and say, “Ballyporeen!,” the name of the Irish village where President Reagan’s family came from. “Know what it means?” he’d ask. “Valley of the small potatoes,” he’d answer and roar with laughter.
“Our Dad, said Tommy, loved North Cambridge, Barry’s Corner, St. John’s Parish, and his family:
You, Kip. You, Michael. You, Susan. You, Rosemary. You, Chip. You, Jo-Ann. You, Jackie. All you grandchildren. And, Mommy, the world knows he loved you. {He] always said that if he hadn’t met Millie, he’d have gone into the Church, to be a priest….And he loved God, who has called him home.” (McGrory 1994)
Eyes misted as Tommy ended with a poem Jim Curley once gave Tip O’Neill to memorize, a poem Tip O’Neill often recited for departed friends at Barry’s Corner reunions and at wakes:
“Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end;
Yet days go by, and weeks rush on,
And I never see my old friend’s face,
For life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine. We were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men;
Tired with playing a foolish game,
Tired with trying to make a name.
‘Tomorrow,’ I say, ‘I will call on Jim,
Just to show that I’m thinking of him.’
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner-yet miles away..
‘Here’s a telegram, Sir…’
‘Jim died today.’
And that’s what we get, and deserve in the end;
Around the corner, a vanished friend.”
So Long, Mr. Speaker
Journalists, out in force, eagerly collected remembrances about O’Neill which filled Boston newspapers, some of which follow:
•Former U.S. Representative Brian Donnelly from Dorchester told how O’Neill saved homes in his district from the wrecking ball. State officials pored over plans for a tunnel, part of the Central Artery project, which called for tearing down East Boston homes. “Over my dead body,” O’Neill growled, lumbering to the blueprints, flicking ashes from his cigar over them, frightening state Transportation Secretary Fred Salucci, who yelled: O.K., O.K., we don’t knock down Eastie houses. (Miga 1994)
•Donnelly also told of an immigrant family from Brockton who came to him seeking U.S. citizenship for their son just killed in Vietnam. Donnelly found himself so snarled in red tape that in desperation he took the family to O’Neill. Tip listened patiently, rang up U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, explained, and when Rodino balked, O’Neill roared, “Peter, you didn’t here me. This kid’s gonna be an American before the day is over.” That day the dead soldier became an American citizen by vote of Congress. (Miga 1994).
•Gene Hurley of Needham told how O’Neill helped him receive his veteran’s disability benefits. “He always had a minute for you. And he never promised anything he couldn’t deliver.”
•Eva S. Dspanos of Cambridge remembered how the Speaker filed legislation to allow her and her brother, both from Greece, to remain in America.
•U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy 2nd (Robert Kennedy’s son) recalled how he asked for and got retiring O’Neill’s endorsement to run for Congress from his (O’Neill’s) district.
•Neither Art Bardige nor his wife Betty ever met O’Neill but said that they felt he fought for average people, for fairness and justice and that it was important for their kids to see the funeral of this man.
•Linda and John Norton came to the funeral because O’Neill, a family friend, attended all their family wakes. We last “saw him at my wife’s uncle’s funeral,” said John Norton. “He just stood quietly in the back. He was a special guy.”
•Golf caddy Frank Doherty of Waltham said that being on the golf course with him was nonstop entertainment. “He didn’t care where the ball went; he only cared about finishing the story.”
•”Without [O’Neill], I wouldn’t have made it,” said blue blood Yankee and former Governor Endicott “Chub” Peabody. O’Neill had introduced him in working-class Irish wards by saying, “His name may not be O’Peabody, but he’ll make a good Democratic governor.” (Woodlief and Crittenden 1994)
References
[The main source for this paper is O’Neill and Novak’s 1987 Man of the House, Farrell, J.A.’s 2001 Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Century, with other references listed in the text].
“Around the Corner, A Vanished Friend…” (February 1994). Boston Irish Reporter, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. l.
Asci, Sue. (February 1994). “Remembering Tip,” Boston Irish Reporter, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 2.
Barnicle, Mike. (January 6, 1994). “Compassion Was His Way of Life,” Boston Globe, pp. 1, 18.
Barnicle, Mike. (January 9, 1994). “The Best: That Was Mr. O’Neill,” Boston Sunday Globe, p. 25.
Borger, Gloria. (January 17, 1994). “Epitaphs: A Politician Who Was the Genuine Article,” U.S. News and World Report, Vol. 116, No. 2 , p. 18.
Brownstone, David, and Irene Franck. (1995). “O’Neill, Thomas Philip (Tip), Jr., 1912-94,” People in the News. New York: Macmillan Library Reference U.S.A., pp. 272-273.
Buckley, Steve. (June 1994). “Barry’s Corner Forever,” Yankee, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 82-86, 108-111.
“Bush Honored O’Neill in 91,” (January 6, 1994). Boston Globe, p. 19.
Carroll, James. (January 11, 1994). “Tip’s Exalted Place in History Turns on a Decision he Made on September 14, 1967,” Boston Globe, p. 15.
Clancy, Paul, and Shirley Elder. (1980). A Biography of Thomas P. Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. Has useful Chapter Notes and Sources.
Clift, Eleanor. (January 17, 1994). “The Last Hurrah for Tip O’Neill, 1912-1994,” Newsweek, Vol. 123, No. 3, p. 22.
Congressional Record. (October 17, 1986). “A Tribute to the Honorable Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House,”
Congressional Record-House, pp. H 11573-H 11575.
Congressional Record. (October 17, 1986). “Farewell Address of the Honorable Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr., Speaker of the House.”
Congressional Record-House, pp. H 11575-H 11576.
Davis, Thomas Osborne, as recited by Rosemary O’Neill at her father’s funeral. (January 11, 1994). “Lament for the Death of Owen Rowe O’Neill,” Boston Globe, p. 18.
Editorial. (January 7, 1994). “Tip: All Politics Was Local,” Boston Herald, p. 28.
Edwards. Mickey. (January 11, 1994). “Let’s Hope Tip Wasn’t the Last of His Kind,” Boston Herald, p. 25.
Farrell, John Aloysius. (2001). Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Century. Boston: Little, Brown.
Farrell, John Aloysius. (January 7, 1994). “Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. 1912-1994: A Man of History Whom Caricature Cannot Define: O’Neill Recalled as Insider and Rebel,” Boston Globe, p. 21.
Farrell, John Aloysius, and Michael Grunwald. (January 6, 1994). “Colleagues Recall a Man Whose Politics Was Heart,” Boston Globe, p. 19.
Fitzgerald, Joe. (January 7, 1994). “Good Tip: O’Neill Was Just Grand,” Boston Herald, pp. back page, 78.
Frank, Barney. (January 7, 1994). “Tip Upheld Good Values in Tough Times,” Boston Globe, p. 15.
Gelzinis, Peter. (January 11, 1994). “So Long, Mr. Speaker: Despite the Pomp, He was a Family Man,” Boston Herald, p. 6.
Gelzinis, Peter. (January 9, 1994). “What We’ll Miss Most is His Politics of Caring,” Boston Sunday Herald, pp. 1, 4.
“He Cared…About Everyone,” (January 11, 1994). Boston Herald, p. l.
Hess, John L. (January 31, 1994). “Tip O’ the Iceberg,” Nation, Vol. 258, pp. 112-113.
“In His Own Words: O’Neill the Speaker,” (January 7, 1994). Boston Globe, p. 20.
“In Losing Tip, Boston’s Irish Have Lost a Great One,” (February 1994). Boston Irish Reporter, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 6.
“Ireland Makes Him a Citizen,” (January 7, 1994). Boston Globe, p. 20.
Kahn, Joseph P. (January 7, 1994). “Tip: A Brick,” Boston Globe, p. 68.
Katz, Frances. (January 11, 1994). “Funeral Coverage Earns Tip of the Hat,” Boston Herald, p. 6.
Kranish, Michael. (January 7, 1994). “A Neighborhood Tips Its Cap to O’Neill,” Boston Globe, pp. 1, 20.
“Leaders Mourn o”Neill,” (January 11, 1994). Boston Globe, p. 1.
Matthews, Chris. (January 7, 1994). “Why the Speaker of the House Will Go Down as the Speaker of the Century,” Boston Globe, p. 15.
McGrory, Brian. (January 9, 1994). “Farewell to an Old Friend: O’Neill Honored by All: Celebrities, Constituents Line Up to Pay Their Final Respects,” Boston Sunday Globe, pp. 1, 10.
McGrory, Brian. (January 11, 1994). “Final Words for the Speaker. The Mighty and the Meek Gather at Rites for O’Neill,” Boston Globe, pp. 17-18.
McLaughlin, Jeff. (January 9, 1994). “Cape Cod: Tip’s Generosity: His Cape Legacy: Former Speaker Left Tradition of Giving to Help Area’s Needy,” Boston Sunday Globe, pp. 30, 32.
McNamara, Eileen. (January 7, 1994). “A Reporter’s Reunion with a Local Hero,” Boston Globe, p. 10.
“Memorials for O’Neill,” (January 7, 1994). Boston Globe, p. 21.
Miga, Andrew. (January 6, 1994). “So Long, Mister Speaker. Legendary Pol ‘Tip’ O’Neill Dead at 81,” Boston Herald, pp. 1-3.
Miga, Andrew. (January 9, 1994). “Off-the-Record: Pols Recall Moments of Vintage O’Neill,” Boston Sunday Herald, pp. 18-21.
Miga, Andrew, Ed Cafasso, and Joe Battenfeld. (January 6, 1994). “So Long, Mister Speaker. He Never Forgot Where He Came From. Pols Mourn Loss of a ‘Giant’,” Boston Herald, p. 5.
Nolan, Martin F. (January 6, 1994). “Ex-Speaker O’Neill Dies: Took Local View to National Stage,” Boston Globe, pp. 1, 18.
Nyhan, David. (January 9, 1994). “Focus on Politics: Who’ll Sit at the Head of the Table?”Boston Sunday Globe, p. 73.
O’Connor, Edwin.(1956). The Last Hurrah. Boston: Atlantic Monthly.
Oliphant, Thomas. (January 9, 1994). “O’Neill Was Much More Than a Great Politician; He Was a Great Leader,” Boston Sunday Globe, p. 75.
“O’Neill, Thomas P(hilip), Jr.” (1974). Current Biography. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., pp. 293-295.
“O’Neill, Thomas P(hilip), Jr.” (March 1994) [Obituary]. Current Biography. New York: H.W. Wilson Co.
O’Neill, Thomas P., Jr., with Gary Hymel. (1994). All Politics is Local and Other Rules of the Game. New York: Times Books.
O’Neill, Thomas P., Jr., with William Novak. (1987). Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill. New York: Random House.
O’Neill, Thomas, 3rd. (February 1994). “A Son Remembers His Father; Excerpts from the Eulogy,” Boston Irish Reporter, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 30.
“R.I.P., Tip.” (January 7, 1994), Boston Globe, p. 14.
Roberts, Steven V. (January 17, 1994). “Outlook: A Parting Cheer for the Wisdom of Elders,” U.S. News and World Report, Vol. 116, No. 2, p. 6.
Sennott, Charles M., and David Arnold. (January 11, 1994). “Mourning a Friend’s Warmth, Hundreds Brave Cold,” Boston Globe, p. 18.
Shribman, David. (January 7, 1994). “Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. 1912-1994: National Perspective: Amid Upstarts a Steady Old Oak,” Boston Globe, p. 20.
“So Long, Mister Speaker. Massachusetts Loses a Beloved Institution–’Tip’ O’Neill Dies,” (January 6, 1994). Boston Herald, p. l.
Sullivan, Paul. (January 7, 1994). “So Long, Mister Speaker: Cambridge Boy Never Forgot His Hometown Roots,” Boston Herald, p. 6.
“Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., R I P.” (February 7, 1994) National Review, Vol. 46, pp. 22-23.
Tolchin, Martin. (January 6, 1994). “Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Dies at 81; A Power in the House for Decades.” New York Times, pp. Al, D18.
Woodlief, Wayne. (January 6, 1994). “O’Neill Not Shy About Speaking His Mind.” Boston Herald, p. 4.
Woodlief, Wayne. (January 7, 1994). “Speaker Tipped Many Scales: During 50-Year Career, He Changed History,” Boston Herald, p. 5.
Woodlief, Wayne. (January 11, 1994). “So Long, Mr. Speaker. Family and Friends Say Final Farewells to Tip,” Boston Herald, pp. 4-5.
Woodlief, Wayne, and Joe Battenfeld. (January 7, 1994). “Friends and Foes of ‘Tip’ Mourn the Loss of a Legend,” Boston Herald, pp. 1, 4.
Woodlief, Wayne, and Joe Heany. (January 9, 1994). “Mass. Says So Long to Beloved Tip,” Boston Sunday Herald, pp. 1,4.
Woodlief, Wayne, and Jules Crittenden. (January 11, 1994). “Admiration for the Speaker Broke Party Lines,” Boston Herald, p. 6.
End of Part 3 of 3 Parts. End of Manuscript. Email corrections and questions to: bfparker@frontiernet.net