List_of_speakers_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives

List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives

List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives

Add article description

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House, and is simultaneously the body's presiding officer, the de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head.[1] Speakers also perform various administrative and procedural functions, all in addition to representing their own congressional district. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates. That duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party. Neither does the speaker regularly participate in floor debates. Additionally, the speaker is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president and ahead of the president pro tempore of the Senate.[2]

The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. A majority of votes cast (as opposed to a majority of the full membership of the House) is necessary to elect a speaker.[1] If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected.[3] The Constitution does not require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House, although every speaker thus far has been.[4] Altogether, 56 individuals, from 24 states, have served as speaker of the House.

List of speakers

The House has elected a speaker 128 times since 1789:[3] at the start of each of the 118 congresses, plus on 10 occasions when a vacancy arose during a Congress via death, resignation, or motion to vacate. Of the 56 people who have served as speaker of the House over the past 235 years, 32 served multiple terms; seven of them served nonconsecutive terms: Frederick Muhlenberg, Henry Clay, John W. Taylor, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joseph W. Martin Jr., Sam Rayburn, and Nancy Pelosi. Altogether, there have been 65 occasions on which a new speaker took office. Every speaker of the House has been a member of a political party or faction; the number affiliated with each is:

  Democratic – 22;[lower-alpha 1]   Republican – 18;   Democratic-Republican – 6;[lower-alpha 2]   Jacksonian – 3;[lower-alpha 1]   Whig – 3;   Federalist – 2;   Pro-Administration – 2;[lower-alpha 3]   National Republican – 1;[lower-alpha 2]   American – 1;   Anti-Administration – 1.[lower-alpha 3]


More information Congress, Term ...

Speakers by time in office

The durations mentioned below are calculated based on date differences; if one were to count by the number of calendar days, all the values would be one day longer.

Additionally, since many speakers held office for multiple terms, often with non-consecutive periods, the time listed for each speaker represents the total length of their time as speaker. It is important to note that the period between the adjournment of one Congress and the convening of the next Congress is not included in the calculations. For instance, Nathaniel Macon served as speaker during both the 8th and 9th Congresses, but the eight-month gap between the two Congresses is not included in his service duration. The exact dates of service for each individual speaker is shown in the Term of service column of the above table.

Official seal of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Sam Rayburn, longest serving speaker of the House, 17 years, 53 days (cumulative)
Tip O'Neill, longest uninterrupted tenure of office, 9 years, 350 days
Theodore M. Pomeroy, shortest tenure of office, 1 day
More information Rank, Name ...

Timeline

Mike Johnson (Louisiana politician)Kevin McCarthyPaul RyanJohn BoehnerNancy PelosiDennis HastertNewt GingrichTom FoleyJim WrightTip O'NeillCarl AlbertJohn W. McCormackJoseph W. Martin Jr.Sam RayburnWilliam B. BankheadJo ByrnsHenry Thomas RaineyJohn Nance GarnerNicholas LongworthFrederick H. GillettChamp ClarkJoseph Gurney CannonDavid B. HendersonCharles Frederick CrispThomas Brackett ReedJohn G. CarlisleJ. Warren KeiferSamuel J. RandallMichael C. KerrJames G. BlaineTheodore M. PomeroySchuyler ColfaxGalusha A. GrowWilliam PenningtonJames Lawrence OrrNathaniel P. BanksLinn BoydHowell CobbRobert Charles WinthropJohn Wesley DavisJohn Winston JonesJohn White (Kentucky politician)Robert M. T. HunterJames K. PolkJohn BellAndrew StevensonPhilip P. BarbourJohn W. Taylor (politician)Langdon ChevesHenry ClayJoseph Bradley VarnumNathaniel MaconTheodore SedgwickJonathan DaytonJonathan Trumbull Jr.Frederick Muhlenberg

Notes

  1. During James K. Polk's tenure as Speaker, the Jacksonian bloc amalgamated into the modern Democratic Party.
  2. John Taylor served as speaker twice in the 1820s; initially he was as a member of the Democratic–Republican Party, and later, when the party began to fracture, he sided with its pro–Adams faction.
  3. Frederick Muhlenberg served as speaker twice in the 1790s, before political factions coalesced into formal parties; initially he identified with the pro–administration faction, but later he aligned himself with the anti–administration faction.
  4. The district listed is the district the speaker represented at the time they were in office, which may be different in different Congresses due to redistricting.
  5. Multi-ballot election.
  6. Resigned from office and from Congress.
  7. Intra-term special election.
  8. Died in office.
  9. Resigned from Congress and declined re-election for speaker.
  10. Vacated by a vote of the House

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Forte, David F. "Essays on Article I: Speaker of the House". Heritage Guide to The Constitution. Heritage Foundation. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  2. [2]
    Relyea, Harold C. (August 5, 2005). "Continuity of Government: Current Federal Arrangements and the Future" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress. pp. 2–4. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  3. [3]
    "Speaker Elections Decided by Multiple Ballots". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  4. [4]
    Heitshusen, Valerie; Beth, Richard S. (January 4, 2019). "Speakers of the House: Elections, 1913–2019" (PDF). RL30857. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  5. [5]
    "List of Speakers of the House". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  6. [6]
    Speakers of the House of Representatives, 1789-2021. Amenia, New York: Grey House Publishing. 2021. ISBN 978-1-64265-834-7.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Federal government of the United States.

Further reading
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_speakers_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.