On the recordJanuary 25, 1994
I rise to pay tribute to the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Thomas ``Tip'' O'Neill. Without any doubt, Thomas ``Tip'' O'Neill will be written up in the history books as the one of the greatest Speakers we have ever known. Tip O'Neill was elected by his colleagues to be their Speaker in 1976. It has always been my great personal pleasure to have been sworn in as a Member of the House in 1976, and to have begun my public service under his tutelage. I had much to learn about the work of the People's House, and Tip O'Neill was a grand and excellent teacher. He served as Speaker for a decade, retiring in 1986. But his public service to the people of Massachusetts and this Nation began in 1936-- 40 years before his term as Speaker began, and 50 years before he retired from office. Throughout this half-century and more, he was a man of the times. He was as attuned to the needs of his country when Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office as President, as he was when Ronald Reagan took office--and he never gave up his principles no matter who was in the White House. From Roosevelt to Reagan, Tip O'Neill never forgot, and always practiced, his deep belief that ``all politics is local.'' While serving as a national leader in his own right as Speaker of the House, and in earlier leadership positions he held, he never for a minute forgot who sent him to Washington--the folks back home whom he loved and revered.
