House Speakership: More Than Half A Century Of Mounting Frustration

By Ron Elving / NPR

Published October 16, 2015 at 3:03 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

U.S. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn takes his position in the speaker's chair on the rostrum of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in Sept. 1941.

Speaker John W. McCormack, the chairman of the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, blasts Republicans Aug. 25, 1964 as he delivers his speech to convention delegates. He charged that the GOP had been captured by extremists who use methods of totalitarian movements.

House Speaker Carl Albert, D-Okla., swears in new members of Congress during a re-enactment at the Capitol on Jan. 14, 1975.

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House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., D-Mass., meets with reporters at a news conference on Capitol Hill on April 8, 1981.

House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas, second from right, holds a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 6, 1987, commenting that "he earnestly hoped" President Reagan's cease-fire proposal to the Nicaraguan government succeeded.

Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. is sworn in as House Speaker on Jan. 4, 1995 in the House chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington.

House Speaker-to-be Dennis Hastert holds a news conference on Jan. 4, 1999 in Washington.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduces the presidential nomination process at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008.

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US Speaker of the House John Boehner holds a press conference on July 30, 2011 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

Thomas Foley, D-Wash., at a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, in 1991.

Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, lifts the House gavel in 1941 as he takes over the duties of Speaker of the House.

Though it holds immense power, the House speakership seems like the worst job in Washington these days. Current Speaker John Boehner wants to leave, but after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly dropped out of the contest, it could be anybody's race. Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't want to do it, though he's been prodded, and it's not clear any other candidate has enough consensus to win on the House floor. The House now plans to choose a new speaker at the end of this month, if it can.

Today's struggle seems like a lot of drama, but a look back a the speakership shows that, at least since the 1940s, it's had more than its share of tension, struggle and rebellion:

(We have a look at the rise of power in the House here, including why some earlier speakers were called czars).