Copyright The New York Times
Nancy Pelosi, who announced her retirement from Congress this week after 39 years, made history the moment she was elected speaker in 2007, as the first woman to hold the job. But her tenure also made history in other ways, placing Ms. Pelosi in the company of a small group of powerhouse speakers of the past who wielded outsize influence, bending Congress to their will and helping to accomplish major policy objectives. “The fact of the matter is no other speaker of the House in the modern era, Republican or Democrat, has wielded the gavel with such authority or with such consistent results,” former Speaker John A. Boehner, the Ohio Republican who dueled with Ms. Pelosi when he was minority leader and speaker, said of her during the dedication of her official portrait in 2022. As Congress has grown more polarized in recent decades and more power has shifted to the presidency, the role of the speaker — the second in line to the presidency under the Constitution — has diminished as well. Ms. Pelosi may be the last of the truly significant speakers in modern times. Mr. Cannon was known for exercising such an iron grip on the House that he earned the nickname “Czar Cannon.” He consolidated power by making himself chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, which determines which legislation can come to a vote and whether and how it can be amended. That, coupled with his role as speaker, effectively granted Mr. Cannon unilateral control of the House floor and its agenda. His autocratic style eventually prompted a political revolt inside his own party that presaged what would happen more than a century later to Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California. Mr. Cannon was the first speaker to face a motion to vacate aimed at ousting him from the speakership, after he effectively dared his opponents in 1910 to try to topple him. Unlike Mr. McCarthy, who in 2023 became the first speaker to be removed, Mr. Cannon survived, though his power was diminished. He would go on to lose the speakership the next year when his party lost the House. The oldest congressional office building, a Beaux-Arts-style building completed during his speakership that stands opposite the Capitol and is adorned with its own rotunda and dozens of columns, bears his name. Sam Rayburn, Democrat of Texas (1940-1947; 1949-1953; 1955-1961) 43rd speaker of the House. Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. The longest-serving House speaker, Mr. Rayburn was considered a master legislator, one to whom Ms. Pelosi is often compared. Among his memorable achievements was pushing through the House, with just one vote to spare, legislation to extend the military draft. It came just months before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Rayburn, who helped to push civil rights legislation through the House, also put his power and prestige on the line in 1961 to expand the powerful Rules Committee to give his party a large enough majority to clear the way for other important pieces of President John F. Kennedy’s domestic agenda, including housing and minimum-wage legislation. He is also memorialized with his name on an iconic House office building on Capitol Hill. Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., Democrat of Massachusetts (1977-1987) 47th speaker of the House. Presidents: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. When President Ronald Reagan was elected, the Republican who declared that “government is the problem” could not have had less in common politically with the Democratic speaker who made the preservation of safety net programs his top priority. But Mr. O’Neill’s name is often invoked when political veterans recall a bygone era when members of the two parties once treated each other with professionalism and respect. The two were known to get together over drinks at the White House at the end of the day, even as Mr. O’Neill worked tirelessly to derail Mr. Reagan’s agenda. Newt Gingrich, Republican of Georgia (1995-1999) 50th speaker of the House. President: Bill Clinton. Mr. Gingrich knew he wanted to be speaker of the House from the age of 14, and he achieved his life goal in 1995. He was the first Republican speaker after 40 years of Democratic control of the House, styling himself as a thought leader for his party when he wrote the conservative “Contract With America.” In an attempt to unite the G.O.P. after years of being in the minority, Mr. Gingrich wielded more power than any speaker since Mr. Cannon. (Both Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Cannon chose committee chairmen themselves.) He battled bitterly with President Bill Clinton over policy, ultimately managing to secure some of his priorities, such as tax cuts and a balanced budget, in a bipartisan budget agreement Mr. Clinton signed into law in 1997. Other pursuits were less successful. Some credit Mr. Gingrich’s decision to impeach Mr. Clinton for his affair with Monica S. Lewinsky, a White House intern, with the speaker’s own political demise. Mr. Gingrich also spearheaded the spending and budget fight with Mr. Clinton that led to a 21-day government shutdown in 1995-96, a closure that was widely seen as a political loser for Republicans that helped cost his party in the next election. Ms. Pelosi was the first and only woman to ever serve as speaker of the House. With her tight grip on her caucus and ability to corral votes, Ms. Pelosi played a crucial role in shepherding President Barack Obama’s agenda through the House. Most prominent was the Affordable Care Act, the landmark law that expanded access to health insurance, including for people with pre-existing health conditions. In her second term, she would push through many of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s domestic priorities, including his signature climate law and stimulus packages that helped the country emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. In between, she presided over two impeachments of President Trump, and became the most powerful and prominent woman in Washington willing to stand up to him. During her tenure, Republicans sought to make Ms. Pelosi, an avowed progressive, into a symbol of liberal radicalism, featuring her prominently in their campaign ads seeking to portray Democrats as unhinged and out of touch. That made her a particular target of threats. Rioters prowled through her office during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, some ominously chanting, “Nancy — where are you, Nancy?” The next year, a man broke into her San Francisco home looking to attack her, but assaulted her husband instead. Carl Hulse contributed reporting.
