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 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. 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.
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 is necessary to elect a speaker. If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be an incumbent member of the House, although every Speaker thus far has been.
The current speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, was elected to the office on January 3, 2019, the first day of the 116th Congress. Pelosi, who previously led the House from January 4, 2007 to January 3, 2011, is the only female to have served as speaker, and also the highest-ranking elected woman in American political history. Altogether, 54 individuals, from 23 of the 50 states, have served as Speaker of the House. The quantity from each state are:
One speaker, James K. Polk, subsequently served as president of the United States, and two, Schuyler Colfax and John Nance Garner, later became vice president. The longest serving speaker was Sam Rayburn17 years, 53 days. Elected 10 times, he led the House three times: from September 1940 to January 1947; January 1949 to January 1953; and January 1955 to November 1961. Tip O'Neill had the longest uninterrupted tenure as speaker9 years, 350 days. Elected five times, he led the House from January 1977 to January 1987. Theodore M. Pomeroy had the shortest tenure; elected speaker on March 3, 1869, he served one day.

List of speakers

The House has elected a new speaker 126 times since 1789. Of the 54 people who have served as speaker of the House over the past years, 32 served multiple terms.
As of there are four living former speakers of the House: Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, and Paul Ryan. Nancy Pelosi was also among this group prior to reassuming the office in January 2019.

Timeline

Speakers by time in office

The length of time given below is based on the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater. Also, as many speakers were elected multiple times, and to terms that were, in several instances, not consecutive, the length of time given for each speaker measures their cumulative length of incumbency as speaker. Further, time after adjournment of one Congress but before the convening of the next Congress is not counted. For example, Nathaniel Macon was speaker in both the and Congresses, but the eight-month gap between the two Congresses is not counted toward his service. The exact dates of service for each individual speaker is shown in the Term of service column of the above table.
, longest serving speaker of the House,
17 years, 53 days
, longest uninterrupted tenure of office,
9 years, 350 days
, shortest tenure of office, 1 day
RankNameTime in officeTE
117 years, 53 days; 1941; 1943; 1945; 1949; 1951; 1955; 1957; 1959; 1961
210 years, 196 days; 1813; 1815; 1817; 1819; 1823
39 years, 350 days; 1979; 1981; 1983; 1985
48 years, 344 days; 1963; 1965; 1967; 1969
5; 2001; 2003; 2005
66 years, 357 days; 1913; 1915; 1917
75 years, 337 days; 1973; 1975
85 years, 285 days; 1905; 1907; 1909
9; 2009; 2019
10; 1991; 1993
115 years, 93 days; 1871; 1873
124 years, 341 days; 1921; 1923
134 years, 297 days; 2013; 2015
144 years, 176 days; 1865; 1867
154 years, 172 days; 1895; 1897
164 years, 133 days; 1927; 1929
17; 1937; 1939
184 years, 83 days; 1829; 1831; 1833
194 years; 1953
20; 1997
213 years, 317 days; 1803; 1805
223 years, 267 days; 1885; 1887
233 years, 215 days; 1877; 1879
24; 2017
253 years, 64 days; 1793
263 years, 49 days; 1809
273 years, 14 days; 1797
282 years, 295 days; 1893
292 years, 268 days; 1837
30
2 years, 182 days; 1853
30
2 years, 182 days; 1901
32; 1989
33
34
351 year, 198 days; 1825
36
37
38
39
40
41
41
43
44
45
45
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54