John O'Neill (Vietnam veteran)
John Ellis O'Neill (born 1946) is a lawyer and a spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
John O'Neill grew up in San Antonio, Texas, the son of an admiral. His grandfather taught at the United States Naval Academy, and his father had been a navy pilot and fought at Iwo Jima. He followed his two brothers into the Naval Academy, graduating in 1967. He spent a year aboard a minesweeper, USS Woodpecker, before serving in Vietnam Coastal Division 11 from 1969 to 1971, during which time he spent eighteen months on board swift boats and was awarded two Bronze Stars. He spent some time in hospital with a leg injury before returning home.
Shortly after O'Neill was demobilisied in 1971, Richard Nixon's special counsel Charles Colson recruited him to be a "counterfoil" to John Kerry. Kerry had come to prominence as part of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and had become a particular target for the White House since his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. O'Neill's was at the centre of a new organisation, Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, and he became a media figure defending the Vietnam war and criticising opponents of the war. O'Neill first met Kerry during a debate on the Dick Cavett Show on June 20 1971.
O'Neill defended American incursions in Laos and Cambodia, and worked hard to oppose anti-war veterans and was particularly critical of claims by veterans that war crimes were committed in Vietnam. However, he soon moved out of the media spotlight. He studied law at the University of Texas, graduating in 1973 and being admitted to the bar in 1974. He spent one years serving the Nixon adminstration again, on the Advisory Counsel on Supplemental Services and Centers, and then one year as clerk to Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist. He then returned to Texas to practice law, specializing in commercial litigation and representing oil and gas corporations. He later co-founded the law firm Clements, O'Neill, Pierce, Wilson and Fulkerson in Houston. His partners include Margaret Wilson, who served as general counsel for George W. Bush during his time as governor of Texas. In 1991, O'Neill was considered by President George H. W. Bush for appointment as a federal judge in Texas.
O'Neill describes himself as a "political independent", although he has been active in Republican politics and has regularly donated to Republican election campaigns. Over the years he has turned down many requests, including some from John Kerry's political opponents, to resume his attacks upon Kerry. However, he returned to the fore in 2004 as a founder of a new organistion, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. He is the author, with Jerome Corsi, of the organisation's book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry . O'Neill has stated that his main reason for resuming these activities now is that Kerry is running to be commander in chief.
