Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00EA4CDVG | Format: EPUB
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked Description
From the author of the New York Times best seller Jack Kennedy - and Tip O'Neill's former chief-of-staff - comes the firsthand, one-of-a-kind story of the friendship between President Reagan and the Speaker of the House.
They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who, in author Chris Matthews' words, "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. Their philosophies were miles apart - Reagan intent on scaling back government, O'Neill fervent in defending it. Yet there was common ground too: long lunches shared on St. Patrick's Day and a mutual respect - political and personal. Three days after Reagan's shooting, Tip was the first outsider at the president's bedside.
Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice, rendering as lively and novelistic a listen as Jack Kennedy and a timely object lesson in how bipartisan cooperation can work.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 10 hours and 53 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: October 1, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EA4CDVG
Wow, could the timing be any better for this book from TV personality and "Hardball" host Chris Matthews? His book hit the store shelves on the first day of the 2013 "Government Shutdown", with our domestic politics dominated by the political impasse between our terminally dysfunctional Congress and White House. It offers us the stark contrast of a detailed look at how politics worked back in the 1980's, when the House of Representatives was led by Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-Mass), Ronald Reagan ("The Gipper" **) was our President, and the two parties could actually work together to get things done despite the vast differences in their views.
Tip O'Neill's service in the U.S. House of Representatives began in 1953 (he had been elected in 1952) representing Massachusetts's 11th district (succeeding John F. Kennedy who was newly Senator-elect). He became Majority Whip in 1971, was House Majority Leader from 1973 to 1977, and was Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987. To those of us who still remember those days, he is one of the most colorful and prominent leaders from late 20th century U.S. politics. Ideologically, he was strongly Liberal, with strong views against the war in Vietnam, and he favored Democratic proposed programs such as universal health care and jobs programs.
After serving in the House beginning with the Eisenhower administration, continuing through Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, and having held leadership positions in the House during the administrations of Nixon, Ford and Carter, Tip O'Neill was at the apex of his career, the most senior Congressional leader in Washington D.C., leading the Democrat-controlled House as Republican Ronald Reagan took office following the 1980 election.
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