MassMoments reminds us this morning that on this day – April 16, 1952 – Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill “threw his hat in the ring” announcing that he would run for Congress for the seat vacated by John F. Kennedy. A skilled politician and veteran of the Massachusetts Legislature, “Tip” served in the U.S. House of Representives for thirty-nine years – ten as Speaker  – making him the longest serving Speaker in history. He was a powerful voice with a powerful hand in late 20th Century American politics.

      …in 1952, ” Thomas P. (“Tip”) O’Neill of Cambridge announced that he would run for the Congressional seat being vacated by John F. Kennedy as Kennedy began a campaign for the Senate. O’Neill had already served seven terms in the state legislature. He would serve in the U.S. Congress for the next 39 years, the last ten as Speaker of the House. An affable man who believed “all politics is local,” O’Neill played an important role in national affairs —supporting civil rights, opposing the Vietnam War, and leading the fight for liberal causes. Although one of the most powerful men in the nation, at his death in 1994, O’Neill was remembered as a man who “never forgot where he came from.”