Politics positively saturates the life of Tip O'Neill's family. His five children ranging in age from 22 to 30can remember running for the swimming pool as youngsters and shouting: "Last one in is a Republican!"
Growing up in a solidly Irish-American district of North Cambridge, O'Neill developed a fiercely partisan love for Democratic politics. His stern, teetotaling father, the son of a bricklayer who came over from County Cork, was a local political power. For 35 years he was head of the city's water system, with 1,700 men on his payroll and access...
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