O’Neill, Thomas Philip (1912-1994), a Massachusetts Democrat, served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 until 1987, when he retired. His retirement ended a 34-year career in the House. O’Neill had served as majority whip (assistant leader) of the House from 1971 to 1973 and as majority leader from 1973 to 1977.
O’Neill was born on Dec. 9, 1912, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was given the nickname Tip as a boy, after baseball player James Edward (Tip) O’Neill. Thomas O’Neill graduated from Boston College in 1936 and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives that same year. He became minority leader in 1947 and speaker of the Massachusetts House in 1948.
O’Neill won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952. As a representative, he supported several changes in House rules. For example, he led a successful fight to record all votes in the House. Previously, representatives had voted on amendments to bills with no record of whether they favored or opposed the legislation. In 1967, O’Neill became one of the first House leaders to publicly oppose United States involvement in the Vietnam War. He died on Jan. 5, 1994.
