Tip: All Politics is Local

Tip O’Neill (D-MA) lost the first race he ever ran – for the Cambridge City Council – by 160 votes because he took his neighborhood for granted. 

His father pulled him aside after the election and told him, “All politics is local. Don’t forget it.” 

He never did forget and worked hard to get elected, eventually serving as an influential Representative for the Bay State for 24 years before his rise to the Speakership of the House for an additional 10 years of service to the country.

The Empathetic Leadership of Straight Shooter Harry Reid

Harry Reid (D-NV) has been a U.S. Senator since 1987 and is currently the Senate Majority Leader. Throughout his 30+ years on the Hill, Reid has worked with countless individuals in his office but one particular story stands out:

"Once, a young communications adviser, Rebecca Kirszner, who had just started working in Reid's Senate office, kept misreading a phone number that Reid had been trying to dial for a radio interview. In his straight-to-the-point manner, Reid asked her, 'Do you have a learning disability?' Embarassed, she quietly said yes. Reid looked Kirszner in the eye and said, 'You must have worked twice as hard to have gotten where you are.' No one had ever said this before to Kirszner, who was taken aback, and moved. 'I did,' she whispered" (p. 79).

This approach by Senator Reid was, in so few words, classy. Being a straightforward person with empathy makes for a remarkable leader.

-Excerpt from "This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral - plus plenty of valet parking - in America's Gilded Capital" by Mark Leibovich (2013).

Bayard Rustin's Pocket Watch & Blank Paper

The March on Washington was a large-scale event in the works for months and months. Civil rights leaders worked hours on end to plan and organize this important event, which took place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington DC Mall on August 28, 1963. On the morning of the event, there was some trepidation regarding turnout:

"A few hours later, the march's organizer, Bayard Rustin, wandered onto the Mall with some of his assistants to find security personnel and journalists outnumbering demonstrators. That morning a television news reporter in DC announced: 'Not many people seem to be showing up. It doesn't look as if it's going to be very much.' The movement had high hopes for a large turnout and had originally set a goal of 100,000. From the reservations on coaches and trains alone, they guessed they should be at least close to that figure. But when the actual morning came, that did little to calm their nerves. Reporters badgered Rustin about the ramifications for both the event and the movement if the crowd turned out to be smaller than anticipated. Rustin, forever theatrical, took a round pocket watch from his trousers and some paper from his jacket. Examining first the paper and then the watch, he turned to the reporters and said: 'Everything is right on schedule.' The piece of paper was blank." 

By the day's end, there were approximately 250,000 people in attendance for the monumental civil rights movement event which eventually led to the successful passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and later the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

-Excerpt from "The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream" by Gary Younge (2013).