Speaker of the House: Two Heartbeats from the White House

While the marathon vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives went 15 rounds, akin to a good prize fight, and was the first multi-ballot vote in a century, those 15 rounds merely constituted the fifth longest in American Congressional history. For more on the election of Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as Speaker of the 118th Congress, please check out the following.

Imagine if C-SPAN, FOX News, CNN, Newsmax, or even MSNBC existed prior to the War Between the States, when the four longest votes for Speaker occurred. Imagine how apoplectically the populace might have reacted, had the reporting from virtually all sides been as in the first week of January.

Having alluded to the last multi-ballot Speaker vote from a century ago, exactly 100 years ago, in 1923, entering the 68th Congress, nine ballots were required to reelect Frederick Huntington Gillett (R-MA) to his third term as Speaker. Born in Westfield, Massachusetts on October 16, 1851, having attended public schools, and Amherst College, Gillett served 16 terms in Congress, 1893-1925, the 53rd to the 68th Congresses, the last three terms as Speaker, 1919-25. Gillett won election to the Senate in 1924, served one term, 1925-31, and did not seek reelection. Gillett died July 31, 1935.

Of the four Speaker votes leaving 2023 in a cloud of dust, the fourth longest balloting occurred in November 1820, during the 16th Congress of 1819-21. John W. Taylor (NY), who twice served as Speaker, succeeded Henry Clay (KY-Democratic-Republican) in both instances. The first time, Taylor, a Republican, needed 22 ballots to become Speaker, where he served 13 months. Taylor, born in Charlton, New York on March 26, 1784, required but a single ballot to secure the Speakership entering the 19th Congress as an Adams Candidate (1825-27). Clay (1777-1852), a six term speaker, resigned from the House to become Secretary of State in the John Quincy Adams administration. Taylor, an abolitionist, served 10 terms, 1813-33, the 13th to 22nd Congresses. He lost reelection in 1832, returned to his Ballston Spa, New York law practice, and died on September 18, 1854.

The Speaker upon the outset of the War Between the States, William Pennington (R-NJ), required 44 ballots to secure that post, the third longest in Congressional history. Pennington, born May 4, 1796 in Newark, New Jersey, and educated at Princeton University, won the election of 1858 to his one and only term in Congress, and elected Speaker February 1, 1860 for that same term, on the 44th ballot. Prior to that election, Pennington served as Governor of New Jersey, from 1837-43. Pennington declined appointment by President Millard Fillmore to serve as Territorial Governor of Minnesota. He also lost his bid for reelection in 1860. Pennington died on February 16, 1862.

Cobbs seem to have a history of finishing second. Howell Cobb (D-GA) required 63 ballots before he became Speaker – the second most needed to secure the post. (Distant relative, and Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb is second on the all time list of base hits in Major League Baseball behind Pete Rose.) Cobb, born September 7, 1815 in Jefferson County, Georgia, served just one term as Speaker, elected December 22, 1849, in the 31st Congress, 1849-51. In total, Cobb served five terms in Congress. The first four – 1843-1851, the 28th through the 31st Congresses, and in the 34th Congress, 1855-57. In the interim, Cobb served as Georgia governor 1851-53. Following his fifth term in the House, Cobb served in the Cabinet as Secretary of Treasury in the James Buchanan administration. Cobb, a secessionist, resigned that post on December 10, 1860. On February 13, 1862 Cobb was named Brigadier General in the Confederate army, and promoted to Major General on September 9, 1863. Cobb died on October 9, 1868. Cobb’s speakership succeeded that of Robert Charles Winthrop.

Before revealing the highest number of ballots required for a Speaker candidate to secure that position, a note about Winthrop. Born May 12, 1809 in Boston, Winthrop won election to six terms in the House, the 26th to 31st Congresses, serving as Speaker during the 30th, 1847-49. Winthrop served six months as a United States Senator, July 30, 1850 – February 1, 1851, upon the resignation of Daniel Webster (1782-1852). Involved in literary, historical, and philanthropic pursuits, Winthrop is the namesake of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Founded as a training school for women teachers in 1886, Winthrop University received $1,500 in seed money from the Peabody Education Board headed by Robert Charles Winthrop. Winthrop died on November 16, 1894.

More than double the number of ballots required to elect Cobb Speaker of the House, it took a whopping 133 ballots before Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts could call himself House Speaker of the 34th Congress. Serving but one term as Speaker, the voting commenced in December 1855 and finally concluded on February 2, 1856. Banks, born January 30, 1816 in Waltham, Massachusetts, won the speakership as a member of the American Party. Banks served 10 terms in Congress – the 33rd into the 35th – 1853 through 1857 when he resigned on December 24, 1857 to become Massachusetts governor, January 1858 to January 1861. Banks served in the Union Army as Major General of Volunteers from May 16, 1861 until honorably discharged on August 24, 1865. He returned to Congress for the 39th through 42nd terms from 1865 to 1873, again in the 44th and 45th Congresses, 1875-79, and finally, the 51st Congress, 1889-91 having served as a Democrat, an Independent, a Republican, and a member of the American Party. Banks died September 1, 1894.

A couple more speakers of interest. The first Speaker of the House also had a personal link to an institution of higher education. Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg was born on January 1, 1750 in Trappe, Pennsylvania and served as a minister in the Lutheran Church. Prior to serving in Congress, Muhlenberg served in the Continental Congress, the Pennsylvania State House, also as Speaker, a delegate to and president of the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention. Muhlenberg served in the first four Congresses, 1789-97, and as Speaker in the first and third Congresses. He also served as the first president of his namesake school Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. Muhlenberg died June 4, 1801.

Prior to serving as Speaker in the third and fourth Congresses, Jonathan Dayton served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, 1776-1783. Dayton, born October 16, 1760 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, served four terms in Congress – the second through the fifth, 1791-99, and as Speaker 1795-99. Dayton served one term in the United States Senate, 1799-1805 as a Federalist. He is the namesake of my high school, Jonathan Dayton Regional High School in New Jersey, as well as the city of Dayton, Ohio.

The Speaker of the House is second in line to the presidency behind the Vice President. Two speakers rose to the vice presidency, Schuyler Colfax (R-IN) and John Nance Garner (D-TX), while only one speaker ascended to the White House, James Knox Polk (D-TN).

Garner, born on November 22, 1868 in Red River County, Texas, served 15 terms in the House, 1903-33, the 58th through 72nd Congresses, his final term as Speaker, 1931-33, the 72nd Congress. Nance won reelection in 1932 to a 16th term on November 8, 1932 – the same day he won the vice presidency on the Democrat’s ticket with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The pair won reelection in 1936, but Garner was not on the ticket in 1940. He died on November 7, 1967.

Colfax, born in New York City on March 23, 1823, served seven terms in the 34th through the 40th Congresses, 1855-69, and Speaker the last three terms, the 38th through the 40th Congresses, 1863-69. In 1868 Colfax won the nomination for Vice President and did not seek reelection to Congress. With Ulysses Grant running for President, the Grant-Colfax GOP ticket won the White House. Inaugurated on March 4, 1869, Colfax served one term with Grant. Although Grant went on to win reelection in 1872, Colfax did not remain on the ticket due to his involvement with the Credit Mobilier of America scandal. Colfax died on January 13, 1885.

Polk, born on November 2, 1795 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina, served seven terms in Congress, the 19th through the 25th Congresses, 1825-1839, the last two as Speaker. Polk won election as a Jacksonian for the first six terms and as a Democrat the final term. He did not seek renomination in 1838 to Congress, but instead, ran for and won election as Governor of Tennessee, serving 1839-41. Polk won the presidency as a Democrat in 1844, serving March 4, 1845 through March 3, 1849 during which time he oversaw the winning of the Mexican-American War, 1846-48 following the annexation of Texas in 1845. Polk did not seek reelection for President in 1848 and died less than three and a half months after leaving the White House – the shortest tenure as a former president.

Kevin McCarthy is the 55th American to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The 11 discussed above represent a mere 20 percent. Others have served longer, some served with more distinction, others with less, and some more colorful than others. Hopefully all 55 have served and will serve with the best interests of the United States of America at heart.