J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Speaker 1999 Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Speaker 1995-1999 Tom Foley (D-WA), Speaker 1989-1995

Is it true that the Speaker of the House does not have to be a Member of Congress? Could a former President be chosen to fill the job? Gainesville, New York How long do Speakers usually serve? Has any other Speaker resigned from that post? Cranford, New Jersey Have any Speakers stayed in the House after losing as Speaker?Charlottesville, Virginia - 5/3/00 Yes, it's true. The Constitution stipulates only that the House shall choose its own Speaker, but places no conditions on the choice. However, all 50 Speakers of the House have also been Members of the House. The role of the Speaker is to be simultaneously the leader of the majority party and the chief presiding officer of the House. In recent decades, the Speaker has also assumed the responsibilities of the chief administrator of the House. All Speakers have balanced the inherent tensions among these political, procedural, and administrative roles differently, depending on their individual personalities and skills. While possible in theory, it is inconceivable that a non-Member of the House would be chosen Speaker in our time. Members have never seriously entertained the idea of electing anyone not intimately acquainted with the House of Representatives, its operations, and its procedures -- in other words, one of their own. The key components of the job all appear to require extensive House experience: to be leader and "speaker" for the majority party in the House to control the flow of legislation from the referral of bills to the scheduling of debate to preside over the House, recognizing Members in debate and deciding points of order to nominate and, in some cases appoint, majority Members to serve on committees, including important conference committees and select investigatory committees to broker compromises among committee chairmen to negotiate with the Senate and the White House to resolve legislative differences to supervise House officers, such as the Clerk, Parliamentarian, Sgt-at-Arms who administer security, financial accounts, legislative documents, and House rules and precedents. No Speaker has ever served for more than ten years, with the exception of Speaker Sam Rayburn who was Speaker for 17 years, off and on, beginning in 1940. House Republicans, when they assumed the majority in the 104th Congress (1995), changed their party rules to term limit any Member's service as Speaker to four terms, or 8 years. Speaker Newt Gingrich will have served two terms (1995-1999) as Speaker by the time he resigns from Congress. Only three Members have resigned the Speakership while still holding the office -- Speaker Henry Clay, Speaker Schuyler Colfax, and Speaker Jim Wright. Clay did so three times. Once in 1814 when President Madison named him as one of the ministers to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent to end the war with Britain. The second time was in 1820 when he dropped out for an entire Congress, citing personal reasons. The third time was in 1825 when President John Quincy Adams named him Secretary of State. Speaker Colfax resigned on his next to last day in office to become Vice-President. Speaker Wright resigned in 1989 due to a now ironic combination of ethics charges brought against him by Rep. Newt Gingrich and critical dissidents within his own party. Speaker Tom Foley (1989-1995) was the only 20th century Speaker to lose his position due to losing his re-election to the House. Speaker William Pennington was the first to lose his leadership post due to an election defeat, in 1860. Had Rep. Newt Gingrich stayed in the House while another majority party Member became Speaker, he would not have been alone in U.S. history. Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg (1789-1791), Jonathan Trumbell (1791-1793), Nathaniel Macon (1801-1807), Samuel Randall (1876-1881), and Joseph Cannon (1903-1911) all either declined or were refused re-nomination to the office, but remained in the House. To my knowledge, no former President has ever been considered for the role of Speaker. Former Presidents have returned to other positions of public service, however. For example, former President William Howard Taft was named to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding and served there from 1921 - 1930. Former President Andrew Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1874. Former President John Quincy Adams was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and represented Massachusetts from 1830-1848.