Speakers of the House

Mike Johnson was born on 30 January 1972 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. He has been married to Kelly Johnson since 1 May 1999. They have five children.

Kevin McCarthy was born on 26 January 1965 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He has been married to Judy Wages since 29 August 1992. They have two children.

Nancy Pelosi is an American Democratic Party politician serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since January 2019. She is the first woman in U.S. history to hold this position. As such, and having first been elected to Congress in 1987, Pelosi is the highest-ranking female elected official in United States history. As Speaker of the House, she is second in the presidential line of succession, immediately after the vice president.

As of 2019, Pelosi is in her 17th term as a congresswoman. She represents California's 12th congressional district, which consists of four fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. She initially represented the 5th district (1987-1993), and then, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 Census, the 8th district (1993-2013).

Paul Ryan was born on 29 January 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, USA. He is a producer, known for Dateline Originals (2023), Murder in the Hollywood Hills (2024) and The Man in the Black Mask (2024). He has been married to Janna Christine Little since 2 December 2000. They have three children.

John Boehner is an American politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015.

A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 8th congressional district from 1991 to 2015. The district included several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton. Boehner previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007. Boehner resigned from the House of Representatives in October 2015 due to opposition from within the Republican caucus.

Dennis Hastert is a former American politician who represented Illinois's 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history.

From 1965 to 1981, Dennis Hastert was a high school teacher and coach at Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Illinois. He lost a 1980 bid for the Illinois House of Representatives, but ran again and won a seat in 1981. He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1986, and was re-elected every two years until he retired in 2007. Hastert rose through the Republican ranks in the House, becoming chief deputy whip in 1995 and Speaker in 1999. As Speaker of the House, Hastert supported the George W. Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies.

Newt Gingrich is an American politician, author, and historian who served as the 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. In 2012, Gingrich was a candidate for the presidential nomination of his party.

A professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s, Gingrich won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1978, the first Republican in the history of Georgia's 6th congressional district to do so. He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995. A co-author and architect of the "Contract with America", Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election. In 1995, Time named him "Man of the Year" for "his role in ending the four-decades-long Democratic majority in the House".

As House Speaker, Newt Gingrich oversaw passage by the House of welfare reform and a capital gains tax cut in 1997. Gingrich played a key role in several government shutdowns. He resigned altogether from the House on January 3, 1999.

Since leaving the House, Newt Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. He ran for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election, but ultimately endorsed front runner Mitt Romney, who won the nomination.

Tom Foley was born on 6 March 1929 in Spokane, Washington, USA. He was married to Heather Strachan. He died on 18 October 2013 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Jim Wright was born on 22 December 1922 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Rayburn: Mr. Speaker, The Seventh Brother (1991) and Frontline (1983). He was married to Betty Jean Hay and Mary (Mab) Ethelyn Lemons. He died on 6 May 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.

Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. (December 9, 1912 - January 5, 1994) was a Massachusetts politician who won the House seat vacated by John F. Kennedy when he ran for the Senate in 1952. An outspoken liberal Democrat, O'Neill became one of the most influential members of the House of Representatives, rising to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives in 1977. He held the post until his retirement from Congress in 1987, after 34 years in the House. He was the second longest serving Speaker in history after Sam Rayburn.

During the Presidential administration of Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill, whose nickname was that of a famous baseball player of the 19th Century, as well as a reference to his first two initials, "TP", was the face of the Democratic Party and of liberalism. He was beloved in his district and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will long be remembered for his commitment to the liberal welfare state championed by Democratic Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson, a commitment that frequently caused clashes with Democratic President Jimmy Carter, a fiscal conservative.

Carl Albert was born on 10 May 1908 in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA. He died on 4 February 2000 in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA.

John W. McCormack was born on 21 December 1891 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 22 November 1980 in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA.

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn was the last great Speaker of the House of Representatives, a man who exercised great power in his three terms as Speaker (1940-1947; 1949-1953; and 1955-1961). When Mr. Sam was Speaker, Congress was not afraid to legislate on major issues, and the "Imperial Presidency" that evolved during the Cold War was not as strongly rooted.

Sam Rayburn served as a Congressman from Texas for 48 years, after first being elected in 1912. He served in Congress under Presidents William Howard Taft (back when the president was inaugurated on March 4th) through John F. Kennedy. Born into poverty, Rayburn champion the interests of the disenfranchised in office. He became a close friend of and mentor to LBJ, a former Congressman whose rapid rise in the Senate was due to Rayburn's clout. (Rayburn and LBJ's father Sam Ealy Johnson has served together in the Texas State Legislature). Rayburn was a life-long bachelor except for a brief marriage to the sister of a fellow Congressman. (The marriage likely was derailed by Rayburn being a workaholic and because of his well-known fondness for the bottle.) Mr. Sam was quite enchanted by LBJ's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, and often dined with the Johnsons.

Sam Rayburn died of cancer on November 16, 1961, in the middle of his 25th term, at the age of 79. His funeral was attended by President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, a sign of the great esteem in which he was held. His presence was sorely missed, as he was a master of working behind the scenes to craft and pass legislation. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award which may be bestowed by the U.S. Congress.

Joseph W. Martin Jr. was born on 3 November 1884 in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 6 March 1968 in Hollywood, Florida, USA.

John Nance Garner was born on 22 November 1868 in Detroit, Texas, USA. He was married to Ettie Rheiner. He died on 7 November 1967 in Uvalde, Texas, USA.

Nicholas Longworth was born on 5 November 1869 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was married to Alice Roosevelt Longworth. He died on 9 April 1931 in Aiken, South Carolina, USA.

James Beauchamp Clark was born on 7 March 1850 in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for The Million Dollar Mystery (1914), Pathé's Weekly, No. 17 (1912) and Pathé's Weekly, No. 32 (1913). He died on 2 March 1921 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Joseph Gurney Cannon was born on 7 May 1836 in Guilford, North Carolina, USA. He died on 12 November 1926 in Danville, Illinois, USA.