Tip O'Neill

Thomas Phillip "Tip " O'Neill Junior ( born December 9, 1912 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, † January 5, 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Massachusetts and Speaker of the house of Representatives.

Biography

MP and climb to the Majority Leader of the Democrats

After attending St. John's High School, he studied 1931-1936 at Boston College. He then worked as a real estate and insurance broker. At the same time he also began his political career with election to the House of Representatives of Massachusetts (Massachusetts House of Representatives ), where he served from 1936 to 1952. Most recently, he was 1949-1952 and its spokesperson (Speaker ) and thus the Speaker of Parliament. In the meantime, he was from 1946 to 1947 and the School Committee ( School Committee) of Cambridge as a member.

After his retirement from the House of Representatives from Massachusetts Tip O'Neill began his long-standing federal political career with the first election as the candidate of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. There he took after 16 subsequent re- elections of January 3, 1953 to January 3, 1987, first the interests of the 11th and then since January 3, 1963 the 8th Congressional District of Massachusetts. Between January 1965 and January 1973, he was Chairman of the Special Committee on campaign spending ( House Select Committee on Campaign Expenditures ).

At the same time he took between January 1971 and January 1973, the Office of the Parliamentary manager ( Majority Whip ) and making it the second most important office within the Democratic majority faction true, before he was then from January 1973 to January 1977 Leader of the Democratic Party ( Majority Leader ) and thus the policy the Democrats drew against the government of Republican U.S. President Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the House of Representatives.

Longtime Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Subsequently, he was on January 4, 1977 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and held this post until his retirement from the House of Representatives on January 3, 1987. O'Neill, who had previously waived a bid again for the 100th U.S. Congress, was ten years tenure as speaker so after Sam Rayburn, whose total of seventeen year tenure was interrupted twice, the speaker has the second longest tenure.

In 1991 it was not only the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded in addition to the peer Golden Congressional Medal of Honor one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States, but also the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service.

After his death he was buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Harwichport. His son, Thomas, born 1944, also suggested a political career and was among others Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.