Description
Tip O'Neill, one of America's most colorful public figures, is a master politician-and a master storyteller, a man of wit and wisdom.
First elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1936, O'Neill has had an extraordinary political career spanning fifty years, including a decade as Speaker of the House. These memoirs feature everyone from Boston politicos-unforgettable characters like Ralph Granara, Paddy Hynes, and Up-Up Kelly-to America's biggest political names-the Kennedys, every president since FDR, greats in Congress like Sam Ray- burn, and legendary personalities like James Michael Curley, the mayor of Boston immortalized in The Last Hurrah.
The narrative stretches from O'Neill's humble background in Cambridge (where the closest he got to Harvard was a summer job mowing the lawn) to his tenure as the nation's top- ranking Democrat. He describes his complex ties with the Kennedys-his early encounters with old Joe Kennedy, whose formidable political machine bought a congressional seat for JFK, then a "pasty-faced kid," whom Tip later replaced in the House. He confides his dislike for Bobby Kennedy ("a self-important upstart") and his doubts about the Kennedy assassination and the Warren Commission's conclusions.
Never one to hold back, O'Neill is remarkably candid as he assesses our leaders, and his final portraits of Carter and Reagan are as blunt and vivid as any ever offered about our chief executives.
O'Neill's story ends with a moving affirma- tion of his faith in old-fashioned liberalism, par- ticularly the need to help those less fortunate. As one of America's most distinguished politicians -and one who knows the back rooms of power as well as anyone could-he remains in voice and values both a Man of the House and a man of the people.
Man of the House was written in collaboration with William Novak, coauthor of Iacocca and Mayflower Madam.
ISBN:9780394552019
