Speakers Of The House Of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi Will Be Ranked One Of All Time Greatest Speakers Of The House, As Well As Most Powerful Woman In American History

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is assured a ranking as one of the all time greatest Speakers of the House, as well as the most powerful woman in American history.

She will rank in the category of Sam Rayburn, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Henry Clay, John W. McCormack, Nicholas Longworth, Champ Clark, Thomas Reed, Thomas Foley, James K. Polk, and Joseph Cannon. She is already 11th longest serving, and if she remains as Speaker through 2022, her planned date for retirement, she will be 5th longest serving, only behind Sam Rayburn, Henry Clay, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, and John W. McCormack.

At the age of 79, with her birthday being March 26, she will become the oldest Speaker in American history on February 5, 2020, when she surpasses Sam Rayburn, who died 51 days before his 80th birthday. So she will reach 80 in March, very alert, competent, and totally in charge, and President Donald Trump is very much afraid of her, like he has never been of any other woman.

Understand that Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American history in her position, two heartbeats away from the Presidency. The highest ranking women otherwise have been multiple Secretaries of State–Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton, all four heartbeats away from the Presidency. There has also been four Supreme Court Justices—Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Additionally, there were two prospective Vice Presidents–Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin. But that is the list, a short list, and only Nancy Pelosi has reached the pinnacle of power, and at a time of a challenge of a corrupt President, who would love to have absolute power, but has been stopped dead in his tracks by the woman from San Francisco!

Two Speakers Of The House Who Could Have Become President Due To Presidential Assassination Issues

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In 1947, the Presidential Succession Act was changed from cabinet members to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate being right behind the Vice President of the United States.

Since then, as a result of the change of the law, there have been two circumstances involving Presidential assassinations and threats, which provided for the possibility of the Speaker of the House of Representatives becoming President.

The first was Republican Speaker Joseph W. Martin, Jr of Massachusetts in late 1947.  The Zionist Stern Gang group, terrorists fighting for the creation of an Israeli nation, had been engaged in violence and assassinations against the British and their control of Palestine.

Margaret Truman, the President’s daughter, claimed her father, President Harry Truman, was threatened with death by letter bombs sent by the Stern Gang to Washington, DC, which were intercepted without harm by the Postal Service, with the assistance of the Secret Service.  Had Truman been harmed, however, we would have a switch of parties in the White House, and the second Speaker to become President, with the first being President James K. Polk in the Presidential Election of 1844.

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963,  Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had suffered a massive heart attack in 1955, became President, and had he died in office over the next 14 months, Democratic Speaker of the House John W. McCormack of Massachusetts, who was 73 years old, would have become President.

A Secret Service revelation in recent years was that President Johnson was in danger of being shot by an agent overnight after the Kennedy assassination, when he walked out of his home after midnight, leading to an agent, who thought there was an intruder on the property, to withdraw his firearm and aim it until he realized it was the President.  The story is that Johnson backed up in shock, but imagine if he had been killed about ten hours after becoming President!  And then we would have had the oldest President in American history, Speaker McCormack, an unwilling heir apparent!

These incidents make one wish that the Presidential Succession Act  be returned to the 1886 law, making the cabinet members of the President, starting with the Secretary of State, next in line after the Vice President.  But that is unlikely to happen, particularly while the Republican Party controls Congress!

The Ten Longest Serving Speakers Of The House Of Representatives

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Paul Ryan is the 54th Speaker of the House, but the top ten longest serving have dominated in the 226 years of history of Congress.

The ten longest serving have been in the Speakership for 81 of the 226 years, more than one third of the time!

They are, in order,with time rounded off:

Sam Rayburn  17 years

Thomas “Tip” O’Neill   10 years

John W. McCormack  9 years

Dennis Hastert  8 years

Champ Clark  7 years

Henry Clay  7 years

Carl Albert   6 years

Joseph Cannon  6 years

Thomas Foley   6 years

James G. Blaine  5 years

Six of these ten (Rayburn, O’Neill, McCormack, Clark, Albert, and Foley) were Democrats for a total of 55 years.

Three of these ten (Hastert, Cannon, and Blaine) were Republicans for a total of 19 years.

One of these ten (Henry Clay) was a Democratic Republican for a total of 7 years, later becoming a Whig as a United States Senator.

Clay, Blaine and Cannon were in the years from 1811-1911; Clark and Rayburn were in the years from 1911-1961, and McCormack, Albert, O’Neill, Foley and Hastert in the years from 1962-2007!

So modern Speakers on the average have served much longer periods than earlier Speakers!

Paul Ryan At Age 45 Nowhere Near The Youngest Speaker Of The House Of Representatives

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Paul Ryan at age 45 is a young man to be a Speaker of the House of Representatives, but not the youngest.

That distinction belongs to Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia, age 30 when elected in 1839.

Howell Cobb was 34 when elected Speaker in 1849.

Henry Clay, three time Presidential candidate, was elected Speaker in 1811 also at age 34.

Jonathan Dayton was elected Speaker in 1795 at age 35.

John W. Taylor was elected Speaker in 1819 also at age 35.

Langdon Cheves was 37 when elected Speaker in 1813.

James Orr was also 37 when elected Speaker in 1857.

John Bell was 38 when elected Speaker in 1834, and later tried to prevent the Civil War by running as a Constitutional Union Presidential candidate in 1860.

Robert Winthrop was also 38 when elected Speaker in 1847.

Philip Barbour was elected Speaker in 1821 also at age 38.

Galusha Grow was also 38 when elected Speaker in 1861.

John White was 39 when elected Speaker in 1841.

Future Presidential candidate James G. Blaine in 1884  was also 39 when elected Speaker in 1869.

Future President James K. Polk, the only Speaker to be elected President,  was only 40 when elected in 1835.

Andrew Stevenson was elected Speaker at age 43 in 1827.

Theodore Pomeroy was also 43 when elected Speaker in 1867.

Nathaniel Macon was 44 when elected Speaker in 1801.

So Ryan is 18th youngest of 54 who have held the Speakership!

 

 

Newt Gingrich And Former Speakers Of The House Of Representatives: No Love Lost Either Way!

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, now seeking the Presidency, has had a confrontational relationship with many people in his career, among them all living former Speakers of the House.

Three Democratic Speakers, Jim Wright (1987-1989), Tom Foley (1989-1995), and Nancy Pelosi (2007-2011) have crossed paths in difficult ways with Gingrich. Wright was brought up on ethics charges by Gingrich in 1989, and forced out of the Speakership on grounds far less than Gingrich, who himself was involved in ethics violations pursued by Nancy Pelosi in 1997-1998, and pushed out of the Speakership by his own party at the end of 1998. Foley was the Speaker facing the attacks of Gingrich as he built the GOP majority that finally ousted Foley in the 1994 Congressional elections.

But even the two GOP Speakers have no love lost regarding Gingrich. Dennis Hastert (1999-2007) was picked to get away from the theatrics of Gingrich, and Hastert now supports Mitt Romney for President. And the present Speaker, John Boehner, is known privately to oppose Gingrich, who he helped to push out of the Speakership in 1998. It is believed he will make his view public IF Gingrich continues to surge, to attempt to prevent what he and many other Republicans believe would be suicide to have Gingrich heading their ticket in 2012 against Barack Obama.