But this is not the stuff Gingrich likes to talk about. Those family picnics at the zoo that he has been reminiscing about all day? It was in Verdun that Gingrich found an identity, a sense of purpose. The next year, Gingrich turned in a page term paper about the balance of global power, and announced to his teacher that his family was moving to Georgia, where he planned to start a Republican Party in the then—heavily Democratic state and get himself elected to Congress.
Gingrich immersed himself in war histories and dystopian fiction and books about techno-futurism—and as the years went on, he became fixated on the idea that he was a world-historic hero. As Gingrich tells me about his epiphany in Verdun, a man in a baseball cap approaches us in full fanboy mode. I love you on Fox. After the superfan leaves, I make a passing observation about how many admirers Gingrich has at the zoo. As his national profile had risen, so too had his influence within the Republican caucus—his original quorum of 12 disciples having expanded to dozens of sharp-elbowed House conservatives who looked to him for guidance.
The goal was to reframe the boring policy debates in Washington as a national battle between good and evil, white hats versus black—a fight for the very soul of America. Through this prism, any news story could be turned into a wedge. A deranged South Carolina woman murdered her two children? Gingrich was not above mining the darkest reaches of the right-wing fever swamps for material.
When Vince Foster, a staffer in the Clinton White House, committed suicide, Gingrich publicly flirted with fringe conspiracy theories that suggested he had been assassinated. Despite his growing grassroots following, Gingrich remained unpopular among a certain contingent of congressional Republicans, who were scandalized by his tactics.
Gingrich unleashed a smear campaign aimed at taking Wright down. He reportedly circulated unsupported rumors about a scandal involving a teenage congressional page, and tried to tie Wright to shady foreign-lobbying practices.
Watergate, this was not. Heading into the midterms, he rallied Republicans around the idea of turning Election Day into a national referendum. While candidates fanned out across the country to campaign on the contract, Gingrich and his fellow Republican leaders in Congress held fast to their strategy of gridlock.
As Election Day approached, they maneuvered to block every piece of legislation they could—even those that might ordinarily have received bipartisan support, like a lobbying-reform bill—on the theory that voters would blame Democrats for the paralysis.
Pundits, aghast at the brazenness of the strategy, predicted backlash from voters—but few seemed to notice. Even some Republicans were surprised by what they were getting away with.
By the time voters went to the polls, exit surveys revealed widespread frustration with Congress and a deep appetite for change. Republicans achieved one of the most sweeping electoral victories in modern American history. They picked up 54 seats in the House and seized state legislatures and governorships across the country; for the first time in 40 years, the GOP took control of both houses of Congress.
On election night, Republicans packed into a ballroom in the Atlanta suburbs , waving placards that read liberals, your time is up! Grinning out at the audience, he announced that a package had just arrived at the White House with some Tylenol in it. T he freshman Republicans who entered Congress in January were lawmakers created in the image of Newt: young, confrontational, and determined to inflict radical change on Washington.
From the creation of interstate highways to the passage of civil-rights legislation, the most significant, lasting acts of Congress have been achieved by lawmakers who deftly maneuver through the legislative process and work with members of both parties.
On January 4, Speaker Gingrich gaveled Congress into session, and promptly got to work transforming America. Determined to keep Republicans in power, Gingrich reoriented the congressional schedule around filling campaign war chests, shortening the official work week to three days so that members had time to dial for dollars. There had been federal funding lapses before, but they tended to be minor affairs that lasted only a day or two. The gambit was a bust—voters blamed the GOP for the crisis, and Gingrich was castigated in the press—but it ensured that the shutdown threat would loom over every congressional standoff from that point on.
Over the course of several secret meetings at the White House in the fall of , Gingrich told me, he and Clinton sketched out plans for a center-right coalition that would undertake big, challenging projects such as a wholesale reform of Social Security. Never mind that Republicans had no real chance of getting the impeachment through the Senate. He thought he was enshrining a new era of conservative government.
In fact, he was enshrining an attitude—angry, combative, tribal—that would infect politics for decades to come. In the years since he left the House, Gingrich has only doubled down. Mickey Edwards, the Oklahoma Republican, who served in the House for 16 years, told me he believes Gingrich is responsible for turning Congress into a place where partisan allegiance is prized above all else. He noted that during Watergate, President Richard Nixon was forced to resign only because leaders of his own party broke ranks to hold him accountable—a dynamic Edwards views as impossible in the post-Gingrich era.
Newt has been a big part of eroding that. But when I ask Gingrich what he thinks of the notion that he played a part in toxifying Washington, he bristles. These days, Gingrich seems to be revising his legacy in real time—shifting the story away from the ideological sea change that his populist disruption was supposed to enable, and toward the act of populist disruption itself. On December 19, , Gingrich cast his final vote as a congressman—a vote to impeach Bill Clinton for lying under oath about an affair.
By the time it was revealed that the ex-speaker had been secretly carrying on an illicit relationship with a young congressional aide named Callista throughout his impeachment crusade, almost no one was surprised.
Gingrich declined to comment on these allegations. Detractors could call it hypocrisy if they wanted; Gingrich might not even argue. The CNN moderator grew flustered, the audience erupted in a standing ovation, and a few days later, the voters of South Carolina delivered Gingrich a decisive victory in the Republican primary. One of the hard things about talking with Gingrich is that he weaves partisan attack lines into casual conversation so matter-of-factly—and so frequently—that after a while they begin to take on a white-noise quality.
His smarter-than-thou persona seems so impenetrable, his mind so unchangeable, that after a while you just give up on anything approaching a regular human conversation. Featured Search Historical Highlights of the House. Learn about Foreign Leader Addresses.
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Papers: , 1, The papers of Newt Gingrich contain materials from his congressional career, including articles, bills, calendars, campaign files, correspondence, news releases, photographs, videos, and other sources of information. There are also materials related to his pre-congressional campaigns and post-Speakership years. Some material is restricted. Finding aids are available online. Papers: In the Associated Press Records, , 3.
Other authors include Newt Gingrich. Papers: In the Alvin Toffler Papers, , approximately , items. Subjects covered include Newt Gingrich. The collection includes an interview with Newt Gingrich. Papers: In the W. Edwards Deming Papers, ca. Correspondents include Newt Gingrich. A register is available in the repository and online. After earning his Ph. Beginning in , Gingrich taught in the history department; he moved to the geography department in In , The Washington Post summarized Gingrich's academic and publishing career, writing: [3].
While at West Georgia College, Gingrich also headed the environmental studies program and took multiple unpaid leaves from teaching to pursue a career in politics, according to The Wall Street Journal. Gingrich was first elected to represent Georgia in the U. House of Representatives in , after two unsuccessful runs at the U. House in and In his campaign, Gingrich was critical of the leadership of the Republican Party.
In a speech to the College Republicans that year, he said: [6]. Gingrich would go on to win re-election ten more times, eventually serving as the Speaker of the House from to In , Gingrich described the contract in an opinion piece for CNN : [7]. On November 6, , Gingrich announced that he would not seek re-election as speaker and would leave Congress at the end of the term. At the time, House Republicans had attempted to challenge his leadership, citing Republican losses in the mid-term elections.
Gingrich ran for president in , winning the Republican primaries in South Carolina and Georgia that year. After announcing his candidacy in May , nearly half of Gingrich's staff left the campaign in June. According to The Washington Post , the staff departure was due, in part, to questions over Gingrich's commitment to fundraising and grassroots organizing. The paper reported, "Among the issues leading to the resignations, according to knowledgeable sources, was the two-week vacation that Gingrich and his wife, Callista, insisted upon taking against the advice of his top political staff.
Gingrich was mentioned in as a possible Republican vice presidential candidate. Click here for the full list of those who were floated by politicians and news outlets as possible running mates. In response to the group "Draft Newt PAC," Gingrich's attorney issued a cease and desist letter asking that his likeness be removed in the group's attempt to draft Gingrich to run in the Virginia U.
Gingrich was a candidate for President of the United States in He officially announced his candidacy in May via Facebook and Twitter. Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update. Gingrich has been married three times. He had two children with his first wife, Jackie. He remarried in to Marianne Ginther, whom he divorced in Gingrich and his current wife, Callista, married in Ballotpedia features , encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers.
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