TIP O'NEILL'S LAST HURRAH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404760002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404760002-0
Y ldASHLNGTUNI AN
ARTICLE VTEA~FL May 1y85
ON PAGE
TipO'Neill!s Last Hurrah
By Vera Glaser
EXCERPTED
In the 85th Congress. when the Dem-
ocratic Study Group was organized in an
effort to break the hold of the coalition of
Republicans and southern Democrats
that then ruled Congress, O'Neill joined
but wasn't very active. He still preferred
to concentrate on his contacts and visi-
bility in Massachusetts in order to run
for governor. It was a goal, however.
that Millie discouraged, calling it a
"dead-end job. "
Gradually, O'Neill was being drawn
into the national mainstream and creat-
ing a new image that was to place him on
the leadership ladder. In late 1967 he
jolted the Democratic party and angered
President Lyndon Johnson by opposing
the Vietnam war. O'Neill's children had
expressed growing unhappiness with the
war. and his own talks with the military
and the CIA convinced him that it was
unwinnable. O'Neill called it "too high
a price to pay for an obscure and limited
objective." He thought his stand would
ruin him politically, but it appealed to
liberals.
EXCERPTED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404760002-0