Dinner Honoring Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Remarks at the Fundraising Dinner for the O'Neill Chair at Boston College

Mr. Speaker, Millie O'Neill, sons and daughters, who're brought grandchildren and who have blessed this marriage of 38 years, and friends of Tip O'Neill from all over this Nation:

Thank you, Father Monan, president of Boston College, for your kind introduction.

Many people have asked why I'm here tonight in the midst of some very important business in Iran. When I was presented with my schedule for this month, my immediate and firm Presidential response was, "I am not going to any fundraising events for the time being." And Frank Moore, my congressional liaison chief, said, "Mr. President, the Speaker thinks you ought to be there." [Laughter] So, it is a real pleasure for me to be- [laughter] —it's a real pleasure for me to be here with a thousand other close friends— [laughter] —of Tip O'Neill's to honor Boston College and its most distinguished graduate.

Tip is a man of great achievement. Tip is a man of great caution. He roomed with [Representative] Eddie Boland here for more than 23 years before he decided that his seat was safe enough to bring Millie down from Boston— [laughter] —and I guarantee you it was a great boon to our Nation when he finally decided to do so. Tip, you don't need to worry. The voters of the Eighth District of Massachusetts know the value, which I cherish along with you, of reelecting the incumbent. [Laughter]

Tip O'Neill is a wonderful political' analyst, philosopher, and adviser. He told me that the key to his own success in politics-and I've made the same point recently-is to wait your turn. [Laughter]

We have a very serious purpose tonight. It's to honor a man who, for 27 years, has served his entire country with distinction and greatness, which is good training for an even greater career, Tip, in the future. We are also here to support and to honor Boston College, whose contributions to our entire Nation have become more evident with each passing year. I understand that this dinner has raised a record figure of $1.2 million, and I hope that this is only the beginning of generous, ever more generous support for Boston College of those who love it and who honor it and who recognize its great contribution.

By naming an endowed chair for him, the college is indeed honoring a rare man. I could take up the entire evening listing for you his qualities and his accomplishments. But just let me say that in this last 3 years he's become for me a great personal friend—and a President needs all the friends he can get. [Laughter] I turn to him constantly for advice, as he knows; for his knowledge, most of which comes from Millie, which I appreciate- [laughter] —for his instincts in politics, in times of trial and tribulation, of hopes and dreams and frustrations and desires; and for his support, which has been unwavering.

When I took office and this country faced more than 8-percent unemployment, Tip made sure that the Congress of the United States passed the most ambitious jobs programs since the New Deal, the Great Depression. He's often said that work and wages are what the Democratic Party is all about.

I remember those depression years, Tip, when you were in college and I was a farmboy. The day's wages for a grown, able man was a dollar; for a woman working alongside of him, 50 cents; for a child less than 16 years old, 25 cents a day. And the Democratic Party was struggling with a minimum wage law, opposed by some who called it the verge of socialism, to guarantee factory workers 25 cents an hour.

Today, after 3 years, there are 8 million more Americans on the job with work and wages, earning their own way, living in dignity because of that belief. This past month we added hundreds of thousands of new jobs and brought the unemployment rate down again. Now, that's Tip O'Neill, Democratic Party government, and I am proud to be part of it.

He's long believed in giving our young people the best education that this country can offer. This affair tonight is a vivid demonstration of that commitment. In the last 3 years since Tip O'Neill has been Speaker, Federal aid to education has increased by 60 percent, and now we have a new Department of Education to focus ever more attention on this integral part of America's present and its future. And Tip O'Neill deserves much of the credit. That's Tip O'Neill, Democratic Party government, and I'm proud to be part of it.

When it became imperative to act with our national security at stake, he led the House to enact without delay the most farreaching energy program our country has ever seen. Victory is now in sight for both Houses of the Congress if we work together. That's Tip O'Neill, Democratic Party government, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Tip has never been afraid to stand up and to speak up for what he believes and to work for what he knows is right. At a time when people have hungered for leaders who tell the truth, the unvarnished truth, he has spoken the truth, unafraid of the consequences.

Most of all, however, I admire Tip O'Neill's undiluted patriotism. It's a patriotism that seeks to build on the greatness of America. It's a patriotism that never changes. It's a patriotism deep within his heart. It's a patriotism he's not embarrassed to express. It's a patriotism that preserves the enduring values that founded our country: a commitment to peace, the freedom, and the opportunity of our land, the compassion and the generosity of our people that seeks to harness change, never afraid of it, and to build an even greater future for our children and our grandchildren. That's the patriotism of Tip O'Neill, and that is the root of the strength of America.

The events in Iran remind us that our basic values mean as much today as at any time in our Nation's history. Now those qualities are being severely tested, not just by a mob in Iran, who hold hostage innocent Americans, but by the changing nature of the entire world. I have no doubt that we in America will prevail, because we are right, because we are strong, because we are united.

Our form of government has endured every test. Americans have never found a question that we could not answer if we were united. Americans have never found an obstacle that we could not overcome if we were united. Americans have never found a challenge we could not meet if we were united. Our form of government has endured, and it has grown. It has improved itself in quality for two centuries. And long after the mobs have gone home in Iran, long after there have been many changes of government and constitutions and ideologies elsewhere in the world, American democracy and the ideal of America will stand as they do today-the brightest and the best hope of mankind, a clear, undimmed beacon of fundamental human rights and human values.

Tonight America stands as the greatest nation on Earth. Boston College stands as a great and a fortunate institution. Tip O'Neill has enhanced the greatness of both, and we are all grateful to him.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the Speaker of the House of the United States of America, Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.