Speaker of the House

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• SOURCE: WGBH
  1/10/2022
  

  Historian Joanne Freeman on What Follows Speaker Battle

  "It would be hard to exaggerate the degree to which rules can be weapons in Congress if they're deployed the right way." 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  1/9/2023
  

  What Can We Learn from the 1923 Speaker Fight?

  by Christopher McKnight Nichols and Maxine Wagenhoffer

  Intraparty factionalism was prevalent then as now, but the most recent speaker battle shows that the forces of party discipline that could moderate factional strife have fallen away, making bomb-throwing and grandstanding politically rewarding. 

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• 1/6/2023
  

  "You Don't Have the Votes": The House Speaker Fight Echoes 1839

  by Michael Trapani

  With multiple votes, partisan hostility, and charges of an electoral "steal" in the air, the House Speaker battle of 1839 offers a compelling comparison to today. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/3/2022
  

  The Constitution Won't Be Much Help Resolving the Speaker Mess

  While the Constitution requires the House to choose it's speaker, it gives no guidance how. Usually custom and party discipline are sufficient to accomplish the task, but not always. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/11/20
  

  Trump says Pelosi is worst House speaker in history. Twitter remembers Dennis Hastert.

  Disgraced former House speaker Dennis Hastert’s name was trending on Twitter Saturday morning after President Trump suggested “Nancy Pelosi will go down as the absolute worst Speaker of the House in U.S. History!”

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• SOURCE: Politico
  10-25-15
  

  Paul Ryan’s Haunted House

  by Josh Zeitz

  What can he learn from the ghosts of speakers past?

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• SOURCE: NPR
  10-16-15
  

  Czars And Firebrands: A Brief History Of Power In The House

  by Ron Elving

  The speaker has far more power in the House than any one senator has in the Senate. And at times in our history, the speaker's power has rivaled that of the president himself.

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10-13-15
  

  What the Fight for the Speakership Is Actually About

  by John Lawrence

  Republicans are split on how to balance broad participation against the efficient functioning of the institution.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10-19-13
  

  Thomas Foley, former House Speaker, dies at 84

  Foley presided over the House from 1989 to 1994.