John Ellis O'Neill is aVietnam War veteran andlawyer who was the spokesman forSwift Boat Veterans for Truth.
O'Neill is fromSan Antonio, Texas.[1] His grandfather was Superintendent of the Chemistry Department at the Naval Experiment Station across the Severn River from theUnited States Naval Academy and his father was arear admiral. He said he followed his two brothers into the Naval Academy, graduating in 1967.[2]
O'Neill married Anne Bradley (1947–2006) in 1976, and the couple had two children. His bookUnfit for Command is dedicated to her.[3]
O'Neill served in theUnited States Navy during theVietnam War. He commanded PCF-94, aswift boat that had previously been commanded byJohn Kerry,[4] and returned from his tour of duty in June 1970.[5] He was awarded twoBronze Stars during his service.[1]
In 1971, Kerry, representingVietnam Veterans Against the War,[6] testified to theSenate Foreign Relations Committee that American soldiers were committing war crimes in Vietnam.[1] Resentful of the allegations,[1] O'Neill began giving television interviews opposing Kerry, supporting PresidentRichard Nixon's Vietnam policies, and representing the newly-formedVietnam Veterans for a Just Peace.[5][a] According to a White House memo, O'Neill was disappointed with the negative reactions to his speaking appointments and was considering ending his advocacy by June 1971.[5]
The Nixon White House responded to Kerry's critical testimony by searching for and recruiting veterans who could counter Kerry's narrative. Impressed with one of O'Neill's appearances, Nixon's special counselCharles Colson arranged for O'Neill and Nixon to meet on June 16.[5] They spent almost an hour in theOval Office, strategizing about how to stop Kerry.[1] After the meeting, Colson and O'Neill began challenging Kerry to debate O'Neill on live television. Kerry agreed to a June 30 debate on theDick Cavett Show onABC.[7]
O'Neill strongly defended American incursions inLaos andCambodia, and opposed anti-war veterans. He was particularly critical of claims regarding the commission ofwar crimes by US military personnel in Vietnam.
After 1971, O'Neill moved out of the media spotlight. He studied law at theUniversity of Texas, graduating first in his class in 1973 and being admitted to the bar in 1974. Appointed to the President's National Advisory Counsel on Supplemental Services and Centers, he served from 1973 to 1974. He was a law clerk toSupreme Court JusticeWilliam H. Rehnquist from 1974 to 1975.[8]
O'Neill subsequently returned to Texas to practice law, specializing in commercial litigation. He later co-founded the law firm Clements, O'Neill, Pierce, Wilson, and Fulkerson in Houston. His partners at that firm included, among others,Margaret Wilson, who once served as general counsel forGeorge W. Bush during his time as governor of Texas, and the lateTex Lazar, who once ran for lieutenant governor on the same ticket with Bush and who died in 2003. The firm was recently subsumed into the largerHowrey LLP.[9]
According to his most recent firm resume, in addition to practicing oil and gas litigation, O'Neill obtained one of the largest securities arbitration judgments in history representing a small-time investor who had been defrauded by a large securities company, and also successfully represented a class of immigrants in a suit against Fiesta Savings & Loan, allowing them to recover their money when the savings and loan went under.[10]
Texas Lawyer magazine reported on February 19 and 26, 1990, that O'Neill, who was representing the plaintiffs in a securities fraud class action underlying a malpractice suit, and two other lawyers, were threatened with sanctions for allegedly violating the Texas Code of Professional Responsibility by the judge in the case,United States District Judge David Hittner, who declined to pursue the matter after the trial was completed.
In 1991, O'Neill was considered by PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush for nomination as a federal judge in Texas, but was passed over.[1]
O'Neill stated that he turned down several requests over the years, including some from Kerry's electoral opponents, to resume his attacks upon Kerry. However, he returned to the fore in 2004 as a cofounder of a new organization,Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, later known asSwift Vets and POWs for Truth, and he is listed as the co-author, with conservativeJerome Corsi, of the bookUnfit For Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Due to the baseless and false accusations included in the book and many of his public speaking events, the term "swiftboating" entered the public lexicon as an Americanneologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack.[11][12] O'Neill stated that his main reason for resuming the activities was that Kerry was running for the office ofPresident of the United States, theCommander in Chief of the US armed forces. After Kerry lost the election, O'Neill stated that he planned to return to private life. However, he continues to make some public appearances and give public interviews.[13][14]
O'Neill has stated that he considers himself a "political independent."[15] He has stated that he voted forAl Gore in 2000, andRoss Perot in 1996 and also in 1992, but records indicate he donated to the 1992 Bush-Quayle primary campaign.[1][16] He has stated that he admired DemocratJohn Edwards during the 2004 Democratic primary but did not claim to have voted for him in that primary. However, with the exception of the 2000 election, he has not claimed to have voted for any Democratic presidential candidate since Hubert Humphrey in 1968. While he told Nixon in 1971 that he had not voted for him in the 1968 election, he seconded Nixon's nomination at the 1972 Republican National Convention.[17] Available records indicate he voted in the Republican state primary in 1998 and has regularly contributed to the Texas Republican Party and to Republican candidates for federal office.[18] None of the available records indicates donations to the state Democratic Party or to any Democratic candidate for federal office. However, O'Neill has claimed to have made large contributions to local Democratic candidates and supportedBill White and Ron Green for the nonpartisan positions of mayor and city councilmember, respectively, of the City of Houston.[19] In this connection, O'Neill's name appears on an endorsement for Bill White.[20]
O'Neill is a director of the conservativeDavid Horowitz Freedom Center (formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture), co-founded byDavid Horowitz.[21]
O'Neill sent a letter supportingGreg Parke, an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Vermont in 2006.[22] He has also endorsed the presidential campaign ofDuncan Hunter.[23]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
