To Newt or To Not: How an Undisciplined New Speaker and Rigid Proposals Emboldened Democratic Hopes of Retaking the U.S. House in 1996

In 1994, Democrats were reeling from losing control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Returning members entered the new, 104th Congress powerless but the persona of the architect of that Republican takeover offered hope that their time in the wilderness would be brief. Speaker Newt Gingrich was a visionary but often accompanied that quality with brazen legislative initiatives and instinctive remarks that often brought turbulence to his caucus. Many of his “majo...