Seven Notable Speakers and Their Legacies The New York Times

Table Of Content

• December 1931
• House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will push for aid to Israel and Ukraine this week
• Holding It Together: Sam Rayburn Of Texas
• House Republicans spar over Speaker decision as McCarthy fights to secure votes
• List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections
• Explainer: How the House of Representatives Elects a Speaker

In that case, even though the 26th United States Congress convened on December 2, the House could not begin the speakership election until December 14 because of an election dispute in New Jersey known as the "Broad Seal War". Two rival delegations, one Whig and the other Democrat, had been certified as elected by different branches of the New Jersey government. The problem was compounded by the fact that the result of the dispute would determine whether the Whigs or the Democrats held the majority. Neither party agreed to permit a speakership election with the opposite party's delegation participating.

December 1931

But deep divisions between the parties and the separate organization of the Free Soil Party led to a split ballot on the first round, according to "Fighting for the Speakership." John W. Bell of Tennessee, although initially a supporter of President Andrew Jackson, accepted support from Jackson's opposition in the race for House speaker in 1833. In Oct. 1820, Henry Clay resigned as speaker after shepherding through the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slavery in Missouri but made Maine a free state and established the 36°30′ parallel as the boundary determining where slavery would be allowed in the U.S. Lawmakers call out the name of their choice for speaker from the floor, a rare and time-consuming roll call that heightens the drama on the floor.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will push for aid to Israel and Ukraine this week

When the House returns from its recess next week, Speaker Mike Johnson is now widely expected to resume his duties without immediately facing a motion to oust him. McCarthy’s ouster from a job he long coveted was induced by far-right Republicans with the support of vengeance-minded Democrats. Gaetz had said he would try to dethrone McCarthy if the GOP leader worked with Democrats to pass a stopgap government funding bill. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is no longer speaker of the House, following a revolt led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the vice conference chair and Judiciary member, is making calls for speaker, according to a source.

Holding It Together: Sam Rayburn Of Texas

An election for speaker took place on January 5, 1993, on the opening day of the 103rd Congress, two months after the 1992 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1991, on the opening day of the 102nd Congress, two months after the 1990 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1989, on the opening day of the 101st Congress, two months after the 1988 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats.

House Republicans spar over Speaker decision as McCarthy fights to secure votes

His rank and file demanded confrontation with Clinton, which resulted in government shutdowns in late 1995 and early 1996. These backfired, helping Clinton revive his own popularity and win a second term, while Republicans saw their margin of control narrow in the House. In 1997, several members of Gingrich's leadership team were involved in an abortive coup d'etat against him. Weakened, Gingrich nonetheless remained as speaker through the 105th Congress, presiding as the House impeached Clinton late in 1998. But impeachment was not popular, and the Republicans lost seats in the midterms that same fall.

Mace of the U.S. House of Represen- tatives

As Representative Paul D. Ryan prepares to take the helm, here is a look back at how some speakers fulfilled their charge as dictated by House rules, years of tradition and changing political realities. One of the most influential speakers in history was Democrat Sam Rayburn.[48] Rayburn had the most cumulative time as speaker in history, holding office from 1940 to 1947, 1949 to 1953, and 1955 to 1961. He helped shape many bills, working quietly in the background with House committees.

Mike Johnson elected House speaker with broad Republican support - The Associated Press

Mike Johnson elected House speaker with broad Republican support.

Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

January 1814

Party leaders have said their support for sidelining Greene’s resolution is not the same as a vote for Johnson. Prior to the GOP's 40-year sentence as the minority party, several of its speakers had risen to the top rung largely on their personal popularity among their colleagues. One was Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, who led the party in the House during two brief interludes of majority status after World War II. Both lasted only the minimum two years, the first ending with Democratic Harry S. Truman's surprise White House win in 1948. Martin was back four years later when Eisenhower was first elected president in 1952, but that tour at the top was cut short by his party's sharp losses two years later.

List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections

Rayburn was a dedicated lawmaker who wrote or co-wrote landmark legislation contributing to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. He also served as chair of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and proved himself a skillful navigator of inter-party politics. The speaker's gavel was first made his in 1939, and except for two brief interruptions, he would hold it until 1963. When Cannon's high-handed practices had become intolerable, a coalition of Democratic members and Republican progressives put together the bipartisan majority needed to "vacate the chair." Cannon remained Speaker but lost most of his powers. For some of McCarthy's critics, a major motivation has been the decentralization of authority in the chamber. They want less reliance on the leadership and more empowerment of the committee chairs.

This time around, that will be Pelosi, the California Democrat who held the gavel for the last four years. Historically, the magical number has been 218 out of the 435 members of the House. But many previous speakers, including outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have ascended to the dais with fewer votes than that, as some members voted present instead of calling out a name. Every lawmaker voting "present" lowers the overall tally needed to reach a majority.

The list of the 10 speakers who served in the job longest includes just one Republican (and in the ninth slot at that). That speaker was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, notorious as the autocratic "Czar Cannon" during three two-year tours as speaker that ended with his party's historic defeat in 1910. Republicans hope to hold a candidate forum next Tuesday and an election next Wednesday, Punchbowl News reported.

An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1945, on the opening day of the 79th Congress, two months after the 1944 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 6, 1943, on the opening day of the 78th Congress, two months after the 1942 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on January 3, 1941, on the opening day of the 77th Congress, two months after the 1940 elections in which Democrats won a majority of the seats.

How much power and control is vested in the speaker of the House can be in large measure determined by the personality of the speaker, and one speaker's grip was so exacting that his colleagues dubbed him "czar." House Speaker Jim Wright holds a news conference on Capitol Hill on Aug. 6, 1987, commenting that "he earnestly hoped" President Reagan's cease-fire proposal to the Nicaraguan government succeeded. (We have a look at the rise of power in the House here, including why some earlier speakers were called czars). At the height of his power, Cannon not only chose all the committee chairs, he chose all the members of all the committees.

Though it holds immense power, the House speakership seems like the worst job in Washington these days. Current Speaker John Boehner wants to leave, but after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly dropped out of the contest, it could be anybody's race. Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't want to do it, though he's been prodded, and it's not clear any other candidate has enough consensus to win on the House floor. The House now plans to choose a new speaker at the end of this month, if it can. On the floor of the House, the presiding officer is always addressed as "Mister Speaker" or "Madam Speaker", even if that person is serving as speaker pro tempore.

Rachel Paine Caufield is a professor of political science at Drake University. Third, the speaker oversees everything from accounting to procurement for the House. House Speaker-to-be Dennis Hastert holds a news conference on Jan. 4, 1999, in Washington. Rep. Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, takes his position in the speaker's chair of the House of Representatives in 1941.

The most recent Democrat, however, is Nancy Pelosi, still a House member and the House speaker emerita. She comes in at fifth on the longevity roster, having served one day shy of eight years from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. Prior to that, the last Republican speaker had been Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, who died in 1931. Technically, he died as speaker, but his party lost its majority before the next Congress convened and elected a Democrat to the job.