Background
C. William O'Neill was born on February 14, 1916, in Marietta, Ohio, the second son of Charles T. O'Neill, a lawyer, and Jessie Arnold.
C. William O'Neill was born on February 14, 1916, in Marietta, Ohio, the second son of Charles T. O'Neill, a lawyer, and Jessie Arnold.
C. William O'Neill studied economics and sociology at Marietta College, from which he graduated in 1938. Later he studied at Ohio State University Law School, from which he earned an LL. B. in 1942.
O'Neill began his political career when he was elected to the Ohio state legislature at the age of twenty-two, while he was a student at Marietta College. He was reelected in 1940 while at Ohio State University Law School, and again while serving in Europe with General George Patton's Third Army. After serving as Republican state convention chairman in 1948, O'Neill was elected Ohio's youngest attorney general in 1950. Reelected twice, he initiated federal-state cooperation in drug treatment services and refused to finance segregated public school districts. He started one of the first efforts to end pollution of Ohio's rivers, prosecuting some cities for municipal environmental waste.
When he was elected governor of Ohio by a landslide victory in 1956 over Democrat Michael V. DiSalle, O'Neill already had eighteen years of state government experience. He enjoyed a legislative majority and, initially, a friendly press. Governor O'Neill got his entire legislative package passed: expansion of public education, reorganization of courts, and increases in public employees' salaries based on efficiency. Of his other initiatives, the emergency interstate highway construction program (insisted on by him after so many years of commuting from Marietta to Columbus) was the most successful. His administration introduced the safety painting of white lines on the sides as well as the center of highways.
Upon taking office, he had to deal with a six-month-old telephone strike rife with sabotage. He called in the National Guard to restore service and threatened to expand its deployment if an agreement was not soon reached. It was. To attract top talent, O'Neill increased state salaries (but not fringe benefits) for key cabinet posts; when he realized that the state would nevertheless be uncompetitive, he persuaded the legislature to nullify the increases. Public opinion polls rated him "indecisive. "
In 1958 he lost his reelection bid to his 1956 opponent, DiSalle, who ran on a right-to-work platform. O'Neill resumed teaching law and political science at Bethany College in West Virginia and practicing law with his brother in Marietta, Ohio, as he had done while a state legislator. Out of political office only two years of his adult life, he was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1960. Governor James A. Rhodes appointed him chief justice in 1970, calling him "a man of trust. "
O'Neill had a history of heart attacks, one while governor, in 1958, and another, in 1970, at a judicial conference in Tennessee. Finally, in 1978, after complaining of chest pains, he was admitted to a hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he died.
Being Governor of Ohio, O'Neill's most successful initiative was the emergency interstate highway construction program. His administration introduced the safety painting of white lines on the sides and the center of highways. In 1974, he was voted the outstanding appellate court judge by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. In 1975, the American Judicature Society honored him for "being a prime mover in reforming Ohio's judicial system; and a catalyst to bring about improvements. " C. William O'Neill was the only Ohioan to serve in top leadership positions in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of Ohio. The O'Neill Building at the Ohio Expo Center, State Fair in Columbus, Ohio, and the C. William O'Neill Senior Citizens Center in Mariettais are named in honor of O'Neill.
O'Neill firmly believed in the separation of powers and dissented when the court modified drug sentences as a "usurpation of the executive pardoning power. " His decisions were balanced. He voted to overturn the conviction of a homicide defendant who was forced into a police lineup despite his request for his lawyer. But it was in the free press-trial arena that O'Neill most eloquently drew on his political experiences. He had long been a friend of the press; twice the Ohio Newspaper Correspondents Association voted him "Outstanding State Legislator. " However, when press-trial conflicts emerged, his approach most often was first to require exhaustion of all procedures designed to ensure fair play, including careful jury selection and sequestration, adjournments, and change of venue. He unequivocally adjudged that all pretrial hearings were to be open to the press to benefit both the crime victim and defendant: "The issues in such hearings are often the competence, efficiency, judgment, courage and behavior of the police, the prosecutor, the defense counsel, the court employees and the judge. Because of corruption or malice, a secret judicial proceeding may be and has been used to railroad accused persons charged with crimes. The victims of crime are entitled to know what is going on. "
C. William O'Neill was a member of the Republican party and a chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices
O'Neil was described by the New York Times as "a short, stocky man with sharp blue eyes and a friendly smile a sort of boy-wonder in Republican politics. " Through all his elective and legislative victories, his opinions as attorney general, and judicial decisions, O'Neill remained primarily a modest person of few pretensions.
C. William O'Neil married Betty Hewson on July 29, 1945; they had two children.
