List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House, and is simultaneously the body's presiding officer, the de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head.^[1] Speakers also perform various administrative and procedural functions, all in addition to representing their own congressional district. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates. That duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party. Neither does the speaker regularly participate in floor debates. Additionally, the speaker is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president and ahead of the president pro tempore of the Senate.^[2]

The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. A majority of votes cast (as opposed to a majority of the full membership of the House) is necessary to elect a speaker.^[1] If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected.^[3] The Constitution does not require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House, although every speaker thus far has been.^[4] Altogether, 56 individuals, from 24 states, have served as speaker of the House.

List of speakers

The House has elected a speaker 128 times since 1789:^[3] at the start of each of the 118 congresses, plus on 10 occasions when a vacancy arose during a Congress via death, resignation, or motion to vacate. Of the 56 people who have served as speaker of the House over the past 235 years, 32 served multiple terms; seven of them served nonconsecutive terms: Frederick Muhlenberg, Henry Clay, John W. Taylor, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joseph W. Martin Jr., Sam Rayburn, and Nancy Pelosi. Altogether, there have been 65 occasions on which a new speaker took office. Every speaker of the House has been a member of a political party or faction; the number affiliated with each is:

  Democratic – 22;^[a]   Republican – 18;   Democratic-Republican – 6;^[b]   Jacksonian – 3;^[a]   Whig – 3;   Federalist – 2;   Pro-Administration – 2;^[c]   National Republican – 1;^[b]   American – 1;   Anti-Administration – 1.^[c]

List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives

Congress	Term	Portrait	Name	Party		District[d]
1st	April 1, 1789 – March 4, 1791		Frederick Muhlenberg		Pro-Administration	Pennsylvania at-large
2nd	October 24, 1791 – March 4, 1793		Jonathan Trumbull Jr.			Connecticut at-large
3rd	December 2, 1793[e] – March 4, 1795		Frederick Muhlenberg		Anti-Administration	Pennsylvania at-large
4th	December 7, 1795 – March 4, 1797		Jonathan Dayton		Federalist	New Jersey at-large
5th	May 15, 1797 – March 4, 1799
6th	December 2, 1799[e] – March 4, 1801		Theodore Sedgwick			Massachusetts 1
7th	December 7, 1801 – March 4, 1803		Nathaniel Macon		Democratic- Republican	North Carolina 5
8th	October 17, 1803 – March 4, 1805					North Carolina 6
9th	December 2, 1805[e] – March 4, 1807
10th	October 26, 1807 – March 4, 1809		Joseph Bradley Varnum			Massachusetts 4
11th	May 22, 1809[e] – March 4, 1811
12th	November 4, 1811 – March 4, 1813		Henry Clay			Kentucky 5
13th	May 24, 1813 – January 19, 1814[f]					Kentucky 2
	January 19, 1814[g] – March 4, 1815		Langdon Cheves			South Carolina 1
14th	December 4, 1815 – March 4, 1817		Henry Clay			Kentucky 2
15th	December 1, 1817 – March 4, 1819
16th	December 6, 1819 – October 28, 1820[f]
	November 15, 1820[e][g] – March 4, 1821		John W. Taylor			New York 11
17th	December 4, 1821[e] – March 4, 1823		Philip P. Barbour			Virginia 11
18th	December 1, 1823 – March 6, 1825[f]		Henry Clay			Kentucky 3
19th	December 5, 1825[e] – March 4, 1827		John W. Taylor		National Republican (Pro-Adams)	New York 17
20th	December 3, 1827 – March 4, 1829		Andrew Stevenson		Jacksonian	Virginia 9
21st	December 7, 1829 – March 4, 1831
22nd	December 5, 1831 – March 4, 1833
23rd	December 2, 1833 – June 2, 1834[f]					Virginia 11
	June 2, 1834[e][g] – March 4, 1835		John Bell			Tennessee 7
24th	December 7, 1835 – March 4, 1837		James K. Polk			Tennessee 9
25th	September 4, 1837 – March 4, 1839				Democratic
26th	December 16, 1839[e] – March 4, 1841		Robert M. T. Hunter		Whig	Virginia 9
27th	May 31, 1841 – March 4, 1843		John White			Kentucky 9
28th	December 4, 1843 – March 4, 1845		John Winston Jones		Democratic	Virginia 6
29th	December 1, 1845 – March 4, 1847		John Wesley Davis			Indiana 6
30th	December 6, 1847[e] – March 4, 1849		Robert Charles Winthrop		Whig	Massachusetts 1
31st	December 22, 1849[e] – March 4, 1851		Howell Cobb		Democratic	Georgia 6
32nd	December 1, 1851 – March 4, 1853		Linn Boyd			Kentucky 1
33rd	December 5, 1853 – March 4, 1855
34th	February 2, 1856[e] – March 4, 1857		Nathaniel P. Banks		American	Massachusetts 7
35th	December 7, 1857 – March 4, 1859		James Lawrence Orr		Democratic	South Carolina 5
36th	February 1, 1860[e] – March 4, 1861		William Pennington		Republican	New Jersey 5
37th	July 4, 1861 – March 4, 1863		Galusha A. Grow			Pennsylvania 14
38th	December 7, 1863 – March 4, 1865		Schuyler Colfax			Indiana 9
39th	December 4, 1865 – March 4, 1867
40th	March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1869[f]
	March 3, 1869[g] – March 4, 1869		Theodore M. Pomeroy			New York 24
41st	March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1871		James G. Blaine			Maine 3
42nd	March 4, 1871 – March 4, 1873
43rd	March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1875
44th	December 6, 1875 – August 19, 1876[h]		Michael C. Kerr		Democratic	Indiana 3
	December 4, 1876[g] – March 4, 1877		Samuel J. Randall			Pennsylvania 3
45th	October 15, 1877 – March 4, 1879
46th	March 18, 1879 – March 4, 1881
47th	December 5, 1881 – March 4, 1883		J. Warren Keifer		Republican	Ohio 8
48th	December 3, 1883 – March 4, 1885		John G. Carlisle		Democratic	Kentucky 6
49th	December 7, 1885 – March 4, 1887
50th	December 5, 1887 – March 4, 1889
51st	December 2, 1889 – March 4, 1891		Thomas Brackett Reed		Republican	Maine 1
52nd	December 8, 1891 – March 4, 1893		Charles Frederick Crisp		Democratic	Georgia 3
53rd	August 7, 1893 – March 4, 1895
54th	December 2, 1895 – March 4, 1897		Thomas Brackett Reed		Republican	Maine 1
55th	March 15, 1897 – March 4, 1899
56th	December 4, 1899 – March 4, 1901		David B. Henderson			Iowa 3
57th	December 2, 1901 – March 4, 1903
58th	November 9, 1903 – March 4, 1905		Joseph Gurney Cannon			Illinois 18
59th	December 4, 1905 – March 4, 1907
60th	December 2, 1907 – March 4, 1909
61st	March 15, 1909 – March 4, 1911
62nd	April 4, 1911 – March 4, 1913		Champ Clark		Democratic	Missouri 9
63rd	April 7, 1913 – March 4, 1915
64th	December 6, 1915 – March 4, 1917
65th	April 2, 1917 – March 4, 1919
66th	May 19, 1919 – March 4, 1921		Frederick H. Gillett		Republican	Massachusetts 2
67th	April 11, 1921 – March 4, 1923
68th	December 5, 1923[e] – March 4, 1925
69th	December 7, 1925 – March 4, 1927		Nicholas Longworth			Ohio 1
70th	December 5, 1927 – March 4, 1929
71st	April 15, 1929 – March 4, 1931
72nd	December 7, 1931 – March 4, 1933		John Nance Garner		Democratic	Texas 15
73rd	March 9, 1933 – August 19, 1934[h]		Henry Thomas Rainey			Illinois 20
74th	January 3, 1935 – June 4, 1936[h]		Jo Byrns			Tennessee 5
	June 4, 1936[g] – January 3, 1937		William B. Bankhead			Alabama 7
75th	January 5, 1937 – January 3, 1939
76th	January 3, 1939 – September 15, 1940[h]
	September 16, 1940[g] – January 3, 1941		Sam Rayburn			Texas 4
77th	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943
78th	January 6, 1943 – January 3, 1945
79th	January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947
80th	January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949		Joseph W. Martin Jr.		Republican	Massachusetts 14
81st	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951		Sam Rayburn		Democratic	Texas 4
82nd	January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953
83rd	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955		Joseph W. Martin Jr.		Republican	Massachusetts 14
84th	January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1957		Sam Rayburn		Democratic	Texas 4
85th	January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1959
86th	January 7, 1959 – January 3, 1961
87th	January 3, 1961 – November 16, 1961[h]
	January 10, 1962[g] – January 3, 1963		John W. McCormack			Massachusetts 12
88th	January 9, 1963 – January 3, 1965					Massachusetts 9
89th	January 4, 1965 – January 3, 1967
90th	January 10, 1967 – January 3, 1969
91st	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1971
92nd	January 21, 1971 – January 3, 1973		Carl Albert			Oklahoma 3
93rd	January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975
94th	January 14, 1975 – January 3, 1977
95th	January 4, 1977 – January 3, 1979		Tip O'Neill			Massachusetts 8
96th	January 15, 1979 – January 3, 1981
97th	January 5, 1981 – January 3, 1983
98th	January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985
99th	January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987
100th	January 6, 1987 – January 3, 1989		Jim Wright			Texas 12
101st	January 3, 1989 – June 6, 1989[f]
	June 6, 1989[g] – January 3, 1991		Tom Foley			Washington 5
102nd	January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993
103rd	January 5, 1993 – January 3, 1995
104th	January 4, 1995 – January 3, 1997		Newt Gingrich		Republican	Georgia 6
105th	January 7, 1997 – January 3, 1999[i]
106th	January 6, 1999 – January 3, 2001		Dennis Hastert			Illinois 14
107th	January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2003
108th	January 7, 2003 – January 3, 2005
109th	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
110th	January 4, 2007 – January 3, 2009		Nancy Pelosi		Democratic	California 8
111th	January 6, 2009 – January 3, 2011
112th	January 5, 2011 – January 3, 2013		John Boehner		Republican	Ohio 8
113th	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015
114th	January 6, 2015 – October 29, 2015[f]
	October 29, 2015[g] – January 3, 2017		Paul Ryan			Wisconsin 1
115th	January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2019
116th	January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021		Nancy Pelosi		Democratic	California 12
117th	January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023
118th	January 7, 2023[e] – October 3, 2023[j]		Kevin McCarthy		Republican	California 20
	October 25, 2023[g][e] – Incumbent		Mike Johnson			Louisiana 4
References:[5][6]

Speakers by time in office

The durations mentioned below are calculated based on date differences; if one were to count by the number of calendar days, all the values would be one day longer.

Additionally, since many speakers held office for multiple terms, often with non-consecutive periods, the time listed for each speaker represents the total length of their time as speaker. It is important to note that the period between the adjournment of one Congress and the convening of the next Congress is not included in the calculations. For instance, Nathaniel Macon served as speaker during both the 8th and 9th Congresses, but the eight-month gap between the two Congresses is not included in his service duration. The exact dates of service for each individual speaker is shown in the Term of service column of the above table.

Official seal of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Sam Rayburn, longest serving speaker of the House, 17 years, 53 days (cumulative)

Tip O'Neill, longest uninterrupted tenure of office, 9 years, 350 days

Theodore M. Pomeroy, shortest tenure of office, 1 day

Rank	Name	Time in office	TE	Year(s) in which elected
1	Sam Rayburn	17 years, 53 days	10	1940; 1941; 1943; 1945; 1949; 1951; 1955; 1957; 1959; 1961
2	Henry Clay	10 years, 196 days	6	1811; 1813; 1815; 1817; 1819; 1823
3	Tip O'Neill	9 years, 350 days	5	1977; 1979; 1981; 1983; 1985
4	John W. McCormack	8 years, 344 days	5	1962; 1963; 1965; 1967; 1969
5	Nancy Pelosi	7 years, 364 days	4	2007; 2009; 2019; 2021
6	Dennis Hastert	7 years, 359 days	4	1999; 2001; 2003; 2005
7	Champ Clark	6 years, 357 days	4	1911; 1913; 1915; 1917
8	Carl Albert	5 years, 337 days	3	1971; 1973; 1975
9	Joseph Gurney Cannon	5 years, 285 days	4	1903; 1905; 1907; 1909
10	Tom Foley	5 years, 209 days	3	1989; 1991; 1993
11	James G. Blaine	5 years, 93 days	3	1869; 1871; 1873
12	Frederick H. Gillett	4 years, 341 days	3	1919; 1921; 1923
13	John Boehner	4 years, 297 days	3	2011; 2013; 2015
14	Schuyler Colfax	4 years, 176 days	3	1863; 1865; 1867
15	Thomas Brackett Reed	4 years, 172 days	3	1889; 1895; 1897
16	Nicholas Longworth	4 years, 133 days	3	1925; 1927; 1929
17	William B. Bankhead	4 years, 102 days	3	1936; 1937; 1939
18	Andrew Stevenson	4 years, 83 days	4	1827; 1829; 1831; 1833
19	Joseph W. Martin Jr.	4 years	2	1947; 1953
20	Newt Gingrich	3 years, 361 days	2	1995; 1997
21	Nathaniel Macon	3 years, 317 days	3	1801; 1803; 1805
22	John G. Carlisle	3 years, 267 days	3	1883; 1885; 1887
23	Samuel J. Randall	3 years, 215 days	3	1876; 1877; 1879
24	Paul Ryan	3 years, 66 days	2	2015; 2017
25	Frederick Muhlenberg	3 years, 64 days	2	1789; 1793
26	Joseph Bradley Varnum	3 years, 49 days	2	1807; 1809
27	Jonathan Dayton	3 years, 14 days	2	1795; 1797
28	Charles Frederick Crisp	2 years, 295 days	2	1891; 1893
29	James K. Polk	2 years, 268 days	2	1835; 1837
30 (tie)	Linn Boyd	2 years, 182 days	2	1851; 1853
	David B. Henderson	2 years, 182 days	2	1899; 1901
32	Jim Wright	2 years, 151 days	2	1987; 1989
33	John White	1 year, 277 days	1	1841
34	Galusha A. Grow	1 year, 243 days	1	1861
35	John W. Taylor	1 year, 198 days	2	1820; 1825
36	Henry Thomas Rainey	1 year, 163 days	1	1933
37	Joseph W. Byrns Sr.	1 year, 153 days	1	1935
38	Jonathan Trumbull Jr.	1 year, 131 days	1	1791
39	John Wesley Davis	1 year, 93 days	1	1845
40	Theodore Sedgwick	1 year, 92 days	1	1799
41 (tie)	Philip P. Barbour	1 year, 90 days	1	1821
	John Winston Jones	1 year, 90 days	1	1843
43	J. Warren Keifer	1 year, 89 days	1	1881
44	Robert Charles Winthrop	1 year, 88 days	1	1847
45 (tie)	James Lawrence Orr	1 year, 87 days	1	1857
	John Nance Garner	1 year, 87 days	1	1931
47	Robert M. T. Hunter	1 year, 78 days	1	1839
48	Howell Cobb	1 year, 72 days	1	1849
49	Langdon Cheves	1 year, 44 days	1	1814
50	William Pennington	1 year, 31 days	1	1860
51	Nathaniel P. Banks	1 year, 30 days	1	1856
52	John Bell	275 days	1	1834
53	Kevin McCarthy	269 days	1	2023
54	Michael C. Kerr	257 days	1	1875
55	Mike Johnson	236 days	1	2023
56	Theodore M. Pomeroy	1 day	1	1869

Timeline

Notes

1. During James K. Polk's tenure as Speaker, the Jacksonian bloc amalgamated into the modern Democratic Party.
2. John Taylor served as speaker twice in the 1820s; initially he was as a member of the Democratic–Republican Party, and later, when the party began to fracture, he sided with its pro–Adams faction.
3. Frederick Muhlenberg served as speaker twice in the 1790s, before political factions coalesced into formal parties; initially he identified with the pro–administration faction, but later he aligned himself with the anti–administration faction.
4. The district listed is the district the speaker represented at the time they were in office, which may be different in different Congresses due to redistricting.
5. Multi-ballot election.
6. Resigned from office and from Congress.
7. Intra-term special election.
8. Died in office.
9. Resigned from Congress and declined re-election for speaker.
10. Vacated by a vote of the House

See also

• List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections
• Party leaders in the United States House of Representatives
• History of the United States House of Representatives
• List of current presidents of legislatures, presiding officers of legislative assemblies worldwide

References

1. Forte, David F. "Essays on Article I: Speaker of the House". Heritage Guide to The Constitution. Heritage Foundation. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
2. Relyea, Harold C. (August 5, 2005). "Continuity of Government: Current Federal Arrangements and the Future" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress. pp. 2–4. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
3. "Speaker Elections Decided by Multiple Ballots". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
4. Heitshusen, Valerie; Beth, Richard S. (January 4, 2019). "Speakers of the House: Elections, 1913–2019" (PDF). RL30857. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
5. "List of Speakers of the House". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
6. Speakers of the House of Representatives, 1789-2021. Amenia, New York: Grey House Publishing. 2021. ISBN 978-1-64265-834-7.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Federal government of the United States.

• "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875". memory.loc.gov. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.
• "Congressional Record (Bound Edition)". govinfo.gov. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office.
• "List of Speakers of the House". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives.

Further reading

• Follett, Mary Parker (1909) [First edition, 1896]. The speaker of the House of Representatives. New York, New York: Longmans, Greene, and Company. Retrieved March 18, 2019 – via Internet Archive, digitized in 2007.
• House Document 108–204 – The Cannon Centenary Conference: The Changing Nature of the Speakership

External links

• Official website