Tip O'Neill

**Thomas Phillip** "**Tip**" **O'Neill, Jr. **(December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

O'Neill was an outspoken liberal Democrat and influential member of the House of Representatives, serving for 34 years and representing two congressional districts in Massachusetts.

He served as Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987, making him the only Speaker to serve for five complete consecutive Congresses, and the second longest-serving Speaker in U.S. history after Sam Rayburn. O'Neill retired from Congress in 1987 but remained active in public life.

O'Neill died of cardiac arrest on January 5, 1994.

## Other websites

- George Bush Presidential Library and Museum - _Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards_
- Biographer John A. Farrell's remarks on Tip O'Neill at congressional forum on the Speaker
- Links to searchable version and opening chapter on Tip's boyhood from _Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century_
- _Booknotes_ interview with Gary Hymel on _All Politics Is Local and Other Rules of the Game_, January 23, 1994.
- _Booknotes_ interview with John Farrell on _Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century_, May 20, 2001.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **birthname**: Thomas Phillip O'Neill
- **image**: Tip O'Neill 1978.jpg
- **order**: List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 55th
- **office**: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- **term start**: January 4, 1977
- **term end**: January 3, 1987
- **president**: Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
- **preceded**: Carl Albert
- **succeeded**: Jim Wright
- **order2**: Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, House Majority Leader
- **term start2**: January 3, 1973
- **term end2**: January 3, 1977
- **deputy2**: John J. McFall
- **preceded2**: Hale Boggs
- **succeeded2**: Jim Wright
- **order3**: Party whips of the United States House of Representatives, House Majority Whip
- **term start3**: January 3, 1971
- **term end3**: January 3, 1973
- **leader3**: Hale Boggs
- **preceded3**: Hale Boggs
- **succeeded3**: John J. McFall
- **state4**: Massachusetts
- **district4**: Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, 8th
- **term start4**: January 3, 1963
- **term end4**: January 3, 1987
- **preceded4**: Torbert Macdonald
- **successor4**: Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, Joseph P. Kennedy
- **state5**: Massachusetts
- **district5**: Massachusetts's 11th congressional district, 11th
- **term start5**: January 3, 1953
- **term end5**: January 3, 1963
- **preceded5**: John F. Kennedy
- **succeeded5**: James A. Burke
- **office6**: Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
- **predecessor6**: Frederick Willis
- **successor6**: Charles Gibbons
- **term start6**: 1949
- **term end6**: 1953
- **office7**: Minority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
- **predecessor7**: John E. Flaherty
- **successor7**: Charles Gibbons
- **term start7**: 1947
- **term end7**: 1949
- **birth place**: Cambridge, Massachusetts
- **death place**: Boston, Massachusetts
- **nationality**: United States, American
- **party**: Democratic Party (United States), Democratic
- **spouse**: Mildred Anne Miller
- **children**: Thomas P. O'Neill III, Thomas
Christopher
Susan
Rosemary
- **alma mater**: Boston College