Newt Gingrich Ethics charges and reprimand
How did Gingrich role help in the government?
How did Newt Gingrich's role help in the government?
Eighty-four ethics charges were filed by Democrats against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. On January 21, 1997, the House officially reprimanded Gingrich (in a vote of 395 in favor, 28 opposed) and "ordered [him] to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000". It was the first time a Speaker was disciplined for an ethics violation. Additionally, the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. The Ethics Committee's Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the IRS. In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations. Regarding the situation, Gingrich said in January 1997, "I did not manage the effort intensely enough to thoroughly direct or review information being submitted to the committee on my behalf. In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee, but I did not intend to mislead the committee ... I brought down on the people's house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government." CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district serving north Atlanta and nearby areas from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. In 2012, Gingrich unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

A professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s, Gingrich won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1978, the first Republican in the history of Georgia's 6th congressional district to do so. He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995. A co-author and architect of the "Contract with America", Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election. In 1995, Time named him "Man of the Year" for "his role in ending the four-decades-long Democratic majority in the House".

As House Speaker, Gingrich oversaw passage by the House of welfare reform and a capital gains tax cut in 1997. Gingrich played a key role in several government shutdowns, and impeached President Bill Clinton on a party-line vote in the House. The poor showing by Republicans in the 1998 congressional elections, a reprimand from the House for Gingrich's ethics violation, and pressure from Republican colleagues resulted in Gingrich's resignation from the speakership on November 6, 1998. He resigned altogether from the House on January 3, 1999. Political scientists have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States and hastening political polarization and partisanship.

Since leaving the House, Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich ran for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 presidential election, and was considered a potential frontrunner at several points in the race. Despite an impressive late victory in the South Carolina primary, Gingrich was ultimately unable to win enough primaries to sustain a viable candidacy, he withdrew from the race in May 2012 and endorsed eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Gingrich later emerged as a key ally of Donald Trump, and was reportedly among the finalists on Trump's short list for running mate in the 2016 election. Since 2020, Gingrich has supported Trump's false and disproven claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Early life 

Gingrich was born as Newton Leroy McPherson at the Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 1943. His mother, Kathleen "Kit" (née Daugherty; 1925–2003), and biological father, Newton Searles McPherson (1923–1970), married in September 1942, when she was 16 and McPherson was 19. The marriage fell apart within days. He is of English, German, Scottish and Scots-Irish descent.

In 1946, his mother married Robert Gingrich (1925–1996), who adopted him. Robert Gingrich was a career Army officer who served tours in Korea and Vietnam. In 1956, the family moved to Europe, living for a period in Orléans, France and Stuttgart, Germany.

Gingrich has three younger half-sisters from his mother, Candace and Susan Gingrich, and Roberta Brown. Gingrich was raised in Hummelstown (near Harrisburg) and on military bases where his adoptive father was stationed. The family's religion was Lutheran. He also has a half-sister and half-brother, Randy McPherson, from his biological father's side. In 1960 during his junior year in high school, the family moved to Georgia at Fort Benning.

In 1961, Gingrich graduated from Baker High School in Columbus, Georgia, where he met, and later married, his math teacher. He had been interested in politics since his teen years. While living with his family in Orléans, France, he visited the site of the Battle of Verdun and learned about the sacrifices made there and the importance of political leadership.

Gingrich received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Emory University in Atlanta in 1965. He went on to graduate study at Tulane University, earning an M.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. in European history (1971). He spent six months in Brussels in 1969–70 working on his dissertation, Belgian Education Policy in the Congo 1945–1960.

Gingrich received deferments from the military during the years of the Vietnam War for being a student and a father. In 1985, he stated, "Given everything I believe in, a large part of me thinks I should have gone over."

In 1970, Gingrich joined the history department at West Georgia College, where he spent "little time teaching history." He coordinated a new environmental studies program and was removed from the history department "by 1976". During his time in the college, he took unpaid leave three times to run for the House of Representatives, losing twice before leaving the college. Serving professors were not allowed under the rules of the university system to run for office. He left the college in 1977 after being denied tenure.

Early political career 
Gingrich was the southern regional director for Nelson Rockefeller in the 1968 Republican primaries.

Congressional campaigns 
In 1974, Gingrich made his first bid for political office as the Republican candidate in  in north-central Georgia, which includes  many of the northern suburbs of Atlanta, portions of eastern Cobb County, northern Fulton County, and northern DeKalb County. He lost to 20-year incumbent Democrat Jack Flynt by 2,770 votes. Gingrich ran up huge margins in the suburban areas of the district, but was unable to overcome Flynt's lead in the more urban areas. Gingrich's relative success surprised political analysts. Flynt had never faced a serious challenger; Gingrich was the second Republican to ever run against him. He did well against Flynt although 1974 was a disastrous year for Republican candidates nationally due to fallout from the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration, but also the impact of election of Georgia native Jimmy Carter.

Gingrich sought a rematch against Flynt in 1976. While the Republicans did slightly better in the 1976 House elections than in 1974 nationally, the Democratic candidate in the 1976 presidential election was former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter. Carter won more than two-thirds of the vote in his native Georgia. Gingrich lost his race by 5,100 votes.

As Gingrich primed for another run in the 1978 elections, Flynt decided to retire. Gingrich defeated Democratic State Senator Virginia Shapard by 7,500 votes. Gingrich was re-elected five times from this district. He faced a close general election race once—in the House elections of 1990—when he won by 978 votes in a primary race against Republican Herman Clark and won a narrow 974 vote victory over Democrat David Worley in the general. Although the district was trending Republican at the national level, conservative Democrats continued to hold most local offices, as well as most of the area's seats in the General Assembly, well into the 1980s.

Congress
In 1981, Gingrich co-founded the Military Reform Caucus (MRC) and the Congressional Aviation and Space Caucus. During the 1983 congressional page sex scandal, Gingrich was among those calling for the expulsion of representatives Dan Crane and Gerry Studds. Gingrich supported a proposal to ban loans from the International Monetary Fund to Communist countries and he endorsed a bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a new federal holiday.

In 1983, Gingrich founded the Conservative Opportunity Society (COS), a group that included young conservative House Republicans. Early COS members included Robert Smith Walker, Judd Gregg, Dan Coats and Connie Mack III. The group gradually expanded to include several dozen representatives, who met each week to exchange and develop ideas.

Gingrich's analysis of polls and public opinion identified the group's initial focus. Ronald Reagan adopted the "opportunity society" ideas for his 1984 re-election campaign, supporting the group's conservative goals on economic growth, education, crime, and social issues. He had not emphasized these during his first term. Reagan also referred to an "opportunity" society in the first State of the Union address of his second term.

In March 1988, Gingrich voted against the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to uphold President Reagan's veto). In May 1988, Gingrich (along with 77 other House members and Common Cause) brought ethics charges against Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, who was alleged to have used a book deal to circumvent campaign-finance laws and House ethics rules. During the investigation, it was reported that Gingrich had his own unusual book deal, for Window of Opportunity, in which publicity expenses were covered by a limited partnership. It raised $105,000 from Republican political supporters to promote sales of Gingrich's book. Gingrich's success in forcing Wright's resignation contributed to his rising influence in the Republican caucus.

In March 1989, Gingrich became House Minority Whip in a close election against Edward Rell Madigan. This was Gingrich's first formal position of power within the Republican party. He said his intention was to "build a much more aggressive, activist party". Early in his role as Whip, in May 1989, Gingrich was involved in talks about the appointment of a Panamanian administrator of the Panama Canal, which was scheduled to occur in 1989 subject to U.S. government approval. Gingrich was outspoken in his opposition to giving control over the canal to an administrator appointed by the dictatorship in Panama.

Gingrich and others in the House, including the newly minted Gang of Seven, railed against what they saw as ethical lapses during the nearly 40 years of Democratic control. The House banking scandal and Congressional Post Office scandal were emblems of the exposed corruption. Gingrich himself was among members of the House who had written NSF checks on the House bank. He had overdrafts on twenty-two checks, including a $9,463 check to the Internal Revenue Service in 1990.

In 1990, after consulting focus groups with the help of pollster Frank Luntz, GOPAC distributed a memo with a cover letter signed by Gingrich titled "Language, a Key Mechanism of Control", that encouraged Republicans to "speak like Newt". It contained lists of "contrasting words"—words with negative connotations such as "radical", "sick," and "traitors"—and "optimistic positive governing words" such as "opportunity", "courage", and "principled", that Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively.

Due to population increases recorded in the 1990 United States census, Georgia picked up an additional seat for the 1992 U.S. House elections. However, the Democratic-controlled Georgia General Assembly, under the leadership of fiercely partisan Speaker of the House Tom Murphy, specifically targeted Gingrich, eliminating the district Gingrich represented. Gerrymandering split Gingrich's territory among three neighboring districts. Much of the southern portion of Gingrich's district, including his home in Carrollton, was drawn into the Columbus-based 3rd district, represented by five-term Democrat Richard Ray. Gingrich remarked that "The Speaker, by raising money and gerrymandering, has sincerely dedicated a part of his career to wiping me out." Charles S. Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said "Speaker Murphy didn’t like having a Republican represent him." At the onset of the decade, Gingrich proved to be the only Republican representative of Georgia's 10 congressional districts until 1992, with the creation of Georgia's 4th congressional district and the Republican gains of Jack Kingston and Mac Collins.

The Assembly created a new, heavily Republican 6th district in Fulton and Cobb counties in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlanta—an area that Gingrich had never represented. Gingrich sold his home in Carrollton and moved to Marietta in the new district. His primary opponent, State Representative Herman Clark, who had challenged Gingrich two years earlier, made an issue out of Gingrich's 22 overdraft checks in the House banking scandal, and also criticized Gingrich for moving into the district. After a recount, Gingrich prevailed by 980 votes, with a 51 to 49 percent result. His winning the primary all but assured him of election in November. He was re-elected three times from this district against nominal Democratic opposition.

In the 1994 campaign season, in an effort to offer an alternative to Democratic policies and to unite distant wings of the Republican Party, Gingrich and several other Republicans came up with a Contract with America, which laid out 10 policies that Republicans promised to bring to a vote on the House floor during the first 100 days of the new Congress, if they won the election. The contract was signed by Gingrich and other Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. The contract ranged from issues such as welfare reform, term limits, crime, and a balanced budget/tax limitation amendment, to more specialized legislation such as restrictions on American military participation in United Nations missions.

Republican Revolution 

In the November 1994 midterm elections, Republicans gained 54 seats and took control of the House for the first time since 1954. Long-time House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois had not run for re-election, giving Gingrich, the highest-ranking Republican returning to Congress, the inside track at becoming Speaker. The midterm election that turned congressional power over to Republicans "changed the center of gravity" in the nation's capital. Time magazine named Gingrich its 1995 "Man of the Year" for his role in the election.

Speaker of the House 

The House fulfilled Gingrich's promise to bring all ten of the Contract's issues to a vote within the first 100 days of the session. President Clinton called it the "Contract on America".

Legislation proposed by the 104th United States Congress included term limits for Congressional Representatives, tax cuts, welfare reform, and a balanced budget amendment, as well as independent auditing of the finances of the House of Representatives and elimination of non-essential services such as the House barbershop and shoe-shine concessions. Following Gingrich's first two years as House Speaker, the Republican majority was re-elected in the 1996 election, the first time Republicans had done so in 68 years, and the first time simultaneously with a Democratic president winning re-election.

As Speaker, Gingrich sought to increasingly tie Christian conservatism to the Republican Party. According to a 2018 study, Christian conservatism had become firmly ingrained in the Republican Party's policy platforms by 2000. Yale University congressional scholar David Mayhew describes Gingrich as profoundly influential, saying "In Gingrich, we have as good a case as we are likely to see of a member of Congress operating in the public sphere with consequence."

Role in political polarization 
A number of scholars have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States, and hastening political polarization and partisan prejudice. According to Harvard University political scientists Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, Gingrich's speakership had a profound and lasting impact on American politics and health of American democracy. They argue that Gingrich instilled a "combative" approach in the Republican Party, where hateful language and hyper-partisanship became commonplace, and where democratic norms were abandoned. Gingrich frequently questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to fascists, and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. Gingrich furthermore oversaw several major government shutdowns.

University of Maryland political scientist Lilliana Mason identified  Gingrich's instructions to Republicans to use words such as “betray, bizarre, decay, destroy, devour, greed, lie, pathetic, radical, selfish, shame, sick, steal, and traitors” about Democrats as an example of a breach in social norms and exacerbation of partisan prejudice. Gingrich is a key figure in the 2017 book The Polarizers by Colgate University political scientist Sam Rosenfeld about the American political system's shift to polarization and gridlock. Rosenfeld describes Gingrich as follows, "For Gingrich, responsible party principles were paramount... From the outset, he viewed the congressional minority party's role in terms akin to those found in parliamentary systems, prioritizing drawing stark programmatic contrasts over engaging the majority party as junior participants in governance."

Boston College political scientist David Hopkins writes that Gingrich helped to nationalize American politics in a way where Democratic politicians on the state and local level were increasingly tied to the national Democratic party and President Clinton. Hopkins notes that Gingrich's view

directly contradicted the conventional wisdom of politics... that parties in a two-party system achieve increasing electoral success as they move closer to the ideological center... Gingrich and his allies believed that an organized effort to intensify the ideological contrast between the congressional parties would allow the Republicans to make electoral inroads in the South. They worked energetically to tie individual Democratic incumbents to the party's more liberal national leadership while simultaneously raising highly charged cultural issues in Congress, such as proposed constitutional amendments to allow prayer in public schools and to ban the burning of the American flag, on which conservative positions were widely popular – especially among southern voters. 

Gingrich's view was however vindicated with the Republican Party's success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, sometimes referred to as the "Gingrich Revolution." Hopkins writes, "More than any speaker before or since, Gingrich had become both the strategic architect and public face of his party." One consequence of the increasing nationalization of politics was that moderate Republican incumbents in blue states were left more vulnerable to electoral defeat.

According to University of Texas political scientist Sean M. Theriault, Gingrich had a profound influence on other Republican lawmakers, in particular those who served with him in the House, as they adopted his obstructionist tactics. A 2011 study by Theriault and Duke University political scientist David W. Rohde in the Journal of Politics found that "almost the entire growth in Senate party polarization since the early 1970s can be accounted for by Republican senators who previously served in the House after 1978" when Gingrich was first elected to the House.

Gingrich consolidated power in the Speaker's office. Gingrich elevated junior and more ideologically extreme House members to powerful committees, such as the Appropriations Committee, which over time led to the obliteration of internal norms in the committees. Term limits were also imposed on committee chairs, which prevented Republican chairs from developing a power base separate from the Republican Party. As a result, the power of Gingrich was strengthened and there was an increase in conformity among Republican congresspeople.

Legislation

Welfare reform 
A central pledge of President Bill Clinton's campaign was to reform the welfare system, adding changes such as work requirements for recipients. However, by 1994, the Clinton administration appeared to be more concerned with pursuing a universal health care program. Gingrich accused Clinton of stalling on welfare, and proclaimed that Congress could pass a welfare reform bill in as little as 90 days. He insisted that the Republican Party would continue to apply political pressure on the President to approve their welfare legislation.

In 1996, after constructing two welfare reform bills that Clinton vetoed, Gingrich and his supporters pushed for passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which was intended to reconstruct the welfare system. The act gave state governments more autonomy over welfare delivery, while also reducing the federal government's responsibilities. It instituted the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which placed time limits on welfare assistance and replaced the longstanding Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Other changes to the welfare system included stricter conditions for food stamp eligibility, reductions in immigrant welfare assistance, and work requirements for recipients. The bill was signed into law by President Clinton on August 22, 1996.

In his 1998 book Lessons Learned the Hard Way, Gingrich encouraged volunteerism and spiritual renewal, placing more importance on families, creating tax incentives and reducing regulations for businesses in poor neighborhoods, and increasing property ownership by low-income families. He also praised Habitat for Humanity for sparking the movement to improve people's lives by helping them build their own homes.

Balancing the federal budget 

A key aspect of the 1994 Contract with America was the promise of a balanced federal budget. After the end of the government shutdown, Gingrich and other Republican leaders acknowledged that Congress would not be able to draft a balanced budget in 1996. Instead, they opted to approve some small reductions that were already approved by the White House and to wait until the next election season.

By May 1997, Republican congressional leaders reached a compromise with Democrats and President Clinton on the federal budget. The agreement called for a federal spending plan designed to reduce the federal deficit and achieve a balanced budget by 2002. The plan included a total of $152 billion in bipartisan tax cuts over five years. Other major parts of the spending plan called for $115 billion to be saved through a restructuring of Medicare, $24 billion set aside to extend health insurance to children of the working poor, tax credits for college tuition, and a $2 billion welfare-to-work jobs initiative.

President Clinton signed the budget legislation in August 1997. At the signing, Gingrich gave credit to ordinary Americans stating, "It was their political will that brought the two parties together."

In early 1998, with the economy performing better than expected, increased tax revenues helped reduce the federal budget deficit to below $25 billion. Clinton submitted a balanced budget for 1999, three years ahead of schedule originally proposed, making it the first time the federal budget had been balanced since 1969.

Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 
In 1997, President Clinton signed into effect the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which included the largest capital gains tax cut in U.S. history. Under the act, the profits on the sale of a personal residence ($500,000 for married couples, $250,000 for singles) were exempted if lived in for at least 2 years over the last 5. (This had previously been limited to a $125,000 once-in-a-lifetime exemption for those over the age of 55.) There were also reductions in a number of other taxes on investment gains.

Additionally, the act raised the value of inherited estates and gifts that could be sheltered from taxation. Gingrich has been credited with creating the agenda for the reduction in capital gains tax, especially in the "Contract with America", which set out to balance the budget and implement decreases in estate and capital gains tax. Some Republicans felt that the compromise reached with Clinton on the budget and tax act was inadequate, however Gingrich has stated that the tax cuts were a significant accomplishment for the Republican Congress in the face of opposition from the Clinton administration. Gingrich along with Bob Dole had earlier set-up the Kemp Commission, headed by former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, a tax reform commission that made several recommendations including that dividends, interest, and capital gains should be untaxed.

Other legislation 
Among the first pieces of legislation passed by the new Congress under Gingrich was the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, which subjected members of Congress to the same laws that apply to businesses and their employees, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As a provision of the Contract with America, the law was symbolic of the new Republican majority's goal to remove some of the entitlements enjoyed by Congress. The bill received near universal acceptance from the House and Senate and was signed into law on January 23, 1995.

Gingrich shut down the highly regarded Office of Technology Assessment, and relied instead on what the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists called "self-interested lobbyists and think tanks".

Government shutdown 

Gingrich and the incoming Republican majority's promise to slow the rate of government spending conflicted with the president's agenda for Medicare, education, the environment and public health, leading to two temporary shutdowns of the federal government totaling 28 days.

Clinton said Republican amendments would strip the U.S. Treasury of its ability to dip into federal trust funds to avoid a borrowing crisis. Republican amendments would have limited appeals by death-row inmates, made it harder to issue health, safety and environmental regulations, and would have committed the president to a seven-year balanced budget. Clinton vetoed a second bill allowing the government to keep operating beyond the time when most spending authority expires.

A GOP amendment opposed by Clinton would not only have increased Medicare Part B premiums, but it would also cancel a scheduled reduction. The Republicans held out for an increase in Medicare Part B premiums in January 1996 to $53.50 a month. Clinton favored the then current law, which was to let the premium that seniors pay drop to $42.50.

The government closed most non-essential offices during the shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history at the time. The shutdown ended when Clinton agreed to submit a CBO-approved balanced budget plan.

During the crisis, Gingrich's public image suffered from the perception that the Republicans' hardline budget stance was owed partly to an alleged snub of Gingrich by Clinton during a flight on Air Force One to and from Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in Israel. That perception developed after the trip when Gingrich, while being questioned by Lars-Erik Nelson at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, said that he was dissatisfied that Clinton had not invited him to discuss the budget during the flight. He complained that he and Dole were instructed to use the plane's rear exit to deplane, saying the snub was "part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution". In response to Gingrich's complaint that they were "forced to use the rear door," NBC news released their videotape footage showing both Gingrich and Dole disembarking at Tel Aviv just behind Clinton via the front stairway.

Gingrich was widely lampooned for implying that the government shutdown was a result of his personal grievances, including a widely shared editorial cartoon depicting him as a baby throwing a tantrum.

Democratic leaders, including Chuck Schumer, took the opportunity to attack Gingrich's motives for the budget standoff. In 1998, Gingrich said that these comments were his "single most avoidable mistake" as Speaker.

Discussing the impact of the government shutdown on the Republican Party, Gingrich later commented that, "Everybody in Washington thinks that was a big mistake. They're exactly wrong. There had been no reelected Republican majority since 1928. Part of the reason we got reelected ... is our base thought we were serious. And they thought we were serious because when it came to a show-down, we didn't flinch." In a 2011 op-ed in The Washington Post, Gingrich said that the government shutdown led to the balanced-budget deal in 1997 and the first four consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s, as well as the first re-election of a Republican majority since 1928.

Ethics charges and reprimand 

Eighty-four ethics charges were filed by Democrats against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. On January 21, 1997, the House officially reprimanded Gingrich (in a vote of 395 in favor, 28 opposed) and "ordered [him] to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000". It was the first time a Speaker was disciplined for an ethics violation.

Additionally, the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. The Ethics Committee's Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the IRS. In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations.

Regarding the situation, Gingrich said in January 1997, "I did not manage the effort intensely enough to thoroughly direct or review information being submitted to the committee on my behalf. In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee, but I did not intend to mislead the committee ... I brought down on the people's house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government."

Leadership challenge 

In the summer of 1997, several House Republicans attempted to replace him as Speaker, claiming Gingrich's public image was a liability. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting of Republican conference chairman John Boehner of Ohio and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out.

However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich. On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker. This would allow for the possibility that Democrats, along with dissenting Republicans, would vote in Democrat Dick Gephardt as Speaker.

On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his positionby Gingrichinstead of elected. Gingrich accepted Paxon's resignation and directed Paxon to immediately vacate his leadership office space.

Resignation 
In 1998, Gingrich's private polls had given his fellow Republicans the impression that pushing the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal would damage Clinton's popularity and result in the party winning a net total of six to thirty seats in the House of Representatives. At the same time Gingrich was having an affair with a woman 23 years his junior. But instead of gaining seats, Republicans lost five, the worst midterm performance in 64 years by a party not holding the presidency. Other ethics violations including an unpopular book deal, added to his unpopularity even though he himself was reelected in his own district.

The day after the election, a Republican caucus ready to rebel against him prompted his resignation of the speakership. He also announced his intended and eventual full departure from the House a few weeks later. In January 1999 he resigned his seat. When relinquishing the speakership, Gingrich referred to other Republicans when he said he was "not willing to preside over people who are cannibals". Writing a retrospective on his career at that point, The New York Times in November 1998 described Gingrich as "an expert in how to seize power, but a novice in holding it" further opining that he "illustrate[d] how hard it is for a radical, polarizing figure to last in leadership".

In December 1997, Gingrich flirted with a potential run for president in the 2000 election, but his party's midterm performance and his subsequent resignation led to him dropping any plans to do so.

Post-speakership 
Gingrich has since remained involved in national politics and public policy debate.  McKay Coppins of The Atlantic summarized time with Gingrich in 2018:

[Gingrich] is dabbling in geopolitics, dining in fine Italian restaurants. When he feels like traveling, he crisscrosses the Atlantic in business class, opining on the issues of the day from bicontinental TV studios and giving speeches for $600 a minute. There is time for reading, and writing, and midday zoo trips—and even he will admit, "It's a very fun life."

Policy 

In 2003, he founded the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich supported the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, which created the Medicare Part D federal prescription drugs benefit program. Some conservatives have criticized him for favoring the plan, due to its cost. However, Gingrich has remained a supporter, stating in a 2011 interview that it was a necessary modernization of Medicare, which was created before pharmaceutical drugs became standard in medical care. He has said that the increase in cost from medication must be seen as preventive, leading to reduced need for medical procedures. In a May 15, 2011, interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay—help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage. In the same interview Gingrich said "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate." This comment caused backlash within the Republican Party.

In 2005, with Hillary Clinton, Gingrich announced the proposed 21st Century Health Information Act, a bill which aimed to replace paperwork with confidential, electronic health information networks. Gingrich also co-chaired an independent congressional study group made up of health policy experts formed in 2007 to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of action taken within the U.S. to fight Alzheimer's disease.

Gingrich has served on several commissions, including the Hart-Rudman Commission, formally known as the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st century, which examined national security issues affecting the armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In 2005 he became the co-chair of a task force for UN reform, which aimed to produce a plan for the U.S. to help strengthen the UN. For over two decades, Gingrich has taught at the United States Air Force's Air University, where, as of 2010, he was the longest-serving teacher of the Joint Flag Officer Warfighting Course. In addition, he is an honorary Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University and, as of 2012, was teaching officers from all of the defense services. Gingrich informally advised Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on strategic issues, on issues including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and encouraging the Pentagon to not "yield" foreign policy influence to the State Department and National Security Council. Gingrich is also a guiding coalition member of the Project on National Security Reform.

Gingrich founded and served as the chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, a 527 group established in 2007. The group was a "fundraising juggernaut" that raised $52 million from major donors, such as Sheldon Adelson and the coal company Peabody Energy. The group promoted deregulation and increased offshore oil drilling and other fossil-fuel extraction and opposed the Employee Free Choice Act; Politico reported, "The operation, which includes a pollster and fundraisers, promotes Gingrich's books, sends out direct mail, airs ads touting his causes and funds his travel across the country." American Solutions closed in 2011 after he left the organization.

Other organizations and companies founded or chaired by Gingrich include the creative production company Gingrich Productions, and religious educational organization Renewing American Leadership.

Gingrich is a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He is a fellow at conservative think tanks the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution. He sometimes serves as a commentator, guest or panel member on cable news shows, such as the Fox News Channel. He is listed as a contributor by Fox News Channel, and frequently appears as a guest on various segments; he has also hosted occasional specials for the Fox News Channel. Gingrich has signed the "Strong America Now" pledge committing to promoting Six Sigma methods to reduce government spending.

Gingrich founded Advocates for Opioid Recovery together with former Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy and Van Jones, a former domestic policy adviser to President Barack Obama.

Businesses 
After leaving Congress in 1999, Gingrich started a number of for-profit companies: Between 2001 and 2010, the companies he and his wife owned in full or part had revenues of almost $100 million. As of 2015, Gingrich served as an advisor to the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold.

According to financial disclosure forms released in July 2011, Gingrich and his wife had a net worth of at least $6.7 million in 2010, compared to a maximum net worth of $2.4 million in 2006. Most of the increase in his net worth was because of payments to him from his for-profit companies.

Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation 
The Gingrich Group was organized in 1999 as a consulting company. Over time, its non-health clients were dropped, and it was renamed the Center for Health Transformation. The two companies had revenues of $55 million between 2001 and 2010. The revenues came from more than 300 health-insurance companies and other clients, with membership costing as much as $200,000 per year in exchange for access to Gingrich and other perks. In 2011, when Gingrich became a presidential candidate, he sold his interest in the business and said he would release the full list of his clients and the amounts he was paid, "to the extent we can".

In April 2012, the Center for Health Transformation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, planning to liquidate its assets to meet debts of $1–$10 million.

Between 2001 and 2010, Gingrich consulted for Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored secondary home mortgage company, which was concerned about new regulations under consideration by Congress. Regarding payments of $1.6 million for the consulting, Gingrich said that "Freddie Mac paid Gingrich Group, which has a number of employees and a number of offices, a consulting fee, just like you would pay any other consulting firm." In January 2012, he said that he could not make public his contract with Freddie Mac, even though the company gave permission, until his business partners in the Center for Health Transformation also agreed to that.

Gingrich Productions 
Gingrich Productions, which is headed by Gingrich's wife Callista Gingrich, was created in 2007. According to the company's website, in May 2011, it is "a performance and production company featuring the work of Newt and Callista Gingrich. Newt and Callista host and produce historical and public policy documentaries, write books, record audio books and voiceovers, produce photographic essays, and make television and radio appearances."

Between 2008 and 2011, the company produced three films on religion, one on energy, one on Ronald Reagan, and one on the threat of radical Islam. All were joint projects with the conservative group Citizens United. In 2011, Newt and Callista appeared in A City Upon a Hill, on the subject of American exceptionalism.

As of May 2011, the company had about five employees. In 2010, it paid Gingrich more than $2.4 million.

Gingrich Communications 
Gingrich Communications promoted Gingrich's public appearances, including his Fox News contract and his website, newt.org. By 2011 Gingrich received as much as $60,000 for a speech, and did as many as 80 in a year. One of Gingrich's nonprofit groups, Renewing American Leadership, which was founded in March 2009, paid Gingrich Communications $220,000 over two years; the charity shared the names of its donors with Gingrich, who could use them for his for-profit companies. Gingrich Communications, which employed 15 people at its largest, closed in 2011 when Gingrich began his presidential campaign.

Other 
 Celebrity Leaders is a booking agency that handled Gingrich's speaking engagements, as well as those other clients such as former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Kathy Lubbers, the President and CEO of the agency, who is Gingrich's daughter, owns the agency. Gingrich has shares in the agency, and was paid more than $70,000 by it in 2010.
 FGH Publications handles the production of and royalties from fiction books co-authored by Gingrich.

Political activity 
Between 2005 and 2007, Gingrich expressed interest in running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. On October 13, 2005, Gingrich suggested he was considering a run for president, saying, "There are circumstances where I will run", elaborating that those circumstances would be if no other candidate champions some of the platform ideas he advocates. On September 28, 2007, Gingrich announced that if his supporters pledged $30 million to his campaign by October 21, he would seek the nomination.

However, insisting that he had "pretty strongly" considered running, on September 29 spokesman Rick Tyler said that Gingrich would not seek the presidency in 2008 because he could not continue to serve as chairman of American Solutions if he did so. Citing campaign finance law restrictions (the McCain-Feingold campaign law would have forced him to leave his American Solutions political organization if he declared his candidacy), Gingrich said, "I wasn't prepared to abandon American Solutions, even to explore whether a campaign was realistic."

During the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, Gingrich endorsed moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, rather than Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who had been endorsed by several nationally prominent Republicans. He was heavily criticized for this endorsement, with conservatives questioning his candidacy for president in 2012 and even comparing him to Benedict Arnold.

Prior to President Donald Trump leaving office in December 2020, Trump appointed Gingrich to the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee of the Pentagon as part of a series of shakeups where prominent Trump loyalists replaced former members. In February 2021, Biden-appointed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed all appointments to the committee made by Trump, including Gingrich.

2012 election 

In late 2008, several political commentators, including Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic and Robert Novak in The Washington Post, identified Gingrich as a top presidential contender in the 2012 election, with Ambinder reporting that Gingrich was "already planting some seeds in Iowa, New Hampshire". A July 2010 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that Gingrich was the leading GOP contender for the Republican nomination with 23% of likely Republican voters saying they would vote for him.

Describing his views as a possible candidate during an appearance on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren in March 2009, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. [Americans] are sick of politicians taking care of themselves. They are sick of their money being spent in a way that is absolutely indefensible ... I think you're going to see a steady increase in the number of incumbents who have opponents because the American taxpayers are increasingly fed up."

On March 3, 2011, Gingrich officially announced a website entitled "Newt Exploratory 2012" in lieu of a formal exploratory committee for exploration of a potential presidential run. On May 11, 2011, Gingrich officially announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination in 2012.

On June 9, 2011, a group of Gingrich's senior campaign aides left the campaign en masse, leading to doubts about the viability of his presidential run. On June 21, 2011, two more senior aides left.

In response, Gingrich stated that he had not quit the race for the Republican nomination, and pointed to his experience running for 5 years to win his seat in Congress, spending 16 years helping to build a Republican majority in the house and working for decades to build a Republican majority in Georgia. Some commentators noted Gingrich's resilience throughout his career, in particular with regards to his presidential campaign.

After then-front-runner Herman Cain was damaged by allegations of past sexual harassment, Gingrich gained support, and quickly became a contender in the race, especially after Cain suspended his campaign. By December 4, 2011, Gingrich was leading in the national polls. However, after an abundance of negative ads run by his opponents throughout December, Gingrich's national polling lead had fallen to a tie with Mitt Romney.

On January 3, 2012, Gingrich finished in fourth place in the Iowa Republican caucuses, far behind Rick Santorum, Romney, and Ron Paul. On January 10, Gingrich finished in fifth place in the New Hampshire Republican primary, far behind Romney, Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Paul.

After the field narrowed with the withdrawal from the race of Huntsman and Rick Perry, Gingrich won the South Carolina Republican primary on January 21, obtaining about 40% of the vote, considerably ahead of Romney, Santorum and Paul. This surprise victory allowed Gingrich to reemerge as the frontrunner once again heading into Florida.

On January 31, 2012, Gingrich placed second in the Republican Florida primary, losing by a fifteen percentage point margin, 47% to 32%. Some factors that contributed to this outcome include two strong debate performances by Romney (which were typically Gingrich's strong suit), the wide margin by which the Gingrich campaign was outspent in television ads, and a widely criticized proposal by Gingrich to have a permanent colony on the moon by 2020 to reinvigorate the American Space Program.

It was later revealed Romney had hired a debate coach to help him perform better in the Florida debates.

Gingrich did, however, significantly outvote Santorum and Paul. On February 4, 2012, Gingrich placed a distant second in the Nevada Republican caucuses with 21%, losing to Romney who received over 50% of the total votes cast.

On February 7, 2012, Gingrich came in last place in the Minnesota Republican caucuses with about 10.7% of the vote. Santorum won the caucus, followed by Paul and Romney.

On Super Tuesday Gingrich won his home state, Georgia, which has the most delegates, in "an otherwise dismal night for him". Santorum took Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Gingrich had previously performed well in the polls, though Gingrich managed a close third behind Romney.

On April 4, the Rick Santorum campaign shifted its position and urged Gingrich to drop out of the race and support Santorum.

On April 10, Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign. Following this announcement, The Newt 2012 campaign used a new slogan referring to Gingrich as "the last conservative standing". Despite this, on April 19, Gingrich told Republicans in New York that he would work to help Romney win the general election if Romney secured the nomination.

After a disappointing second place showing in the Delaware primary on April 24, and with a campaign debt in excess of $4 million, Gingrich suspended his campaign and endorsed front-runner Mitt Romney on May 2, 2012, on whose behalf he subsequently campaigned (i.e. stump speeches and television appearances).

Gingrich later hosted a number of policy workshops at the GOP Convention in Tampa presented by the National Republican Committee called "Newt University". He and his wife Calista addressed the convention on its final day with a Ronald Reagan-themed introduction.

Because FEC regulations prevent campaigns from ceasing operations until they settle their debts, the Newt Gingrich campaign was never formally dissolved. In 2016, the campaign filed a proposal to shut down without paying back its outstanding debt to 114 businesses and consultants; the FEC rejected this proposal. By then, the campaign still owed $4.6 million in debt, with only $17,000 being raised by the campaign committee over the previous year.

2016 election 

Gingrich supported Donald Trump more quickly than many other establishment Republicans. After having consulted for Trump's 2016 campaign, Gingrich encouraged his fellow Republicans to unify behind Trump, who had by then become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Gingrich reportedly figured among Trump's final three choices to be his running mate; the position ultimately went to Governor of Indiana Mike Pence.

Following Trump's victory in the presidential election, speculation arose concerning Gingrich as a possible secretary of state, chief of staff or advisor. Eventually, Gingrich announced that he would not be serving in the cabinet. He stated that he didn't have the interest in serving in any role related to the Trump administration, stressing that as a private citizen he would engage with individuals for "strategic planning" rather than job-seeking.

In May 2017, he promoted a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich, an employee for the Democratic National Committee, killed during the 2016 presidential race.

Gingrich attended his wife's swearing-in as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See at the White House in October 2017. According to journalist Robert Mickens, Newt Gingrich served as the de facto ambassador or the "shadow ambassador" while Callista Gingrich, as paraphrased by McKay Coppins of The Atlantic, "is generally viewed as the ceremonial face of the embassy".

2020 election 
While ballots were being counted during the 2020 election, Gingrich supported President Trump in his attempt to win re-election and called on him to stop the vote counts after allegations of fraud emerged. After the 2020 election, Gingrich made false claims of election fraud and refused to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory. He called for the arrest of poll workers in Pennsylvania following the election.

Political positions 

Gingrich is most widely identified with the 1994 Contract with America. He is a founder of American Solutions for Winning the Future. More recently, Gingrich has advocated replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with a proposed "Environmental Solutions Agency".

He favors a strong immigration border policy and a guest worker program. In terms of energy policy, he has argued in favor of flex-fuel mandates for cars sold in the U.S. and promoted the use of ethanol generally.

Gingrich has taken a dim view of internationalism and the United Nations. He said in 2015, "after several years of looking at the UN, I can report to you that it is sufficiently corrupt and sufficiently inefficient. That no reasonable person would put faith in it."

In 2007, Gingrich authored a book, Rediscovering God in America.

Gingrich's later books take a large-scale policy focus, including Winning the Future, and the most recent, To Save America. Gingrich has identified education as "the number one factor in our future prosperity", and has partnered with Al Sharpton and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on education issues. Although he previously opposed gay marriage, in December 2012, Gingrich suggested that Republicans should reconsider their opposition to it.

In 2014, Gingrich sent a letter to Dr. John Koza of National Popular Vote, Inc. endorsing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which participating states would award their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the United States.

On July 14, 2016, Gingrich stated that he believes that Americans of Muslim backgrounds who believe in Sharia law should be deported, and that visiting websites that promote the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Al-Qaeda should be a felony. Some observers have questioned whether these views violate the free speech and free exercise of religion clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On July 21, 2016, Gingrich argued that members of NATO "ought to worry" about a U.S. commitment to their defense. He expanded, saying, "They ought to worry about commitment under any circumstances. Every president has been saying that the NATO countries do not pay their fair share". He also stated that, in the context of whether the United States would provide aid to Estonia (a NATO member) in the event of a Russian invasion, he "would think about it a great deal".

According to Science magazine, Gingrich changed his view on climate change "from cautious skeptic in the late 1980s to believer in the late 2000s to skeptic again during the [2016] campaign."

In January 2022, Gingrich characterized the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack as "basically a lynch mob" that was violating laws and trampling on civil liberties, suggesting committee members might be jailed if Republicans took control of the House in that year's election.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Jacqueline May "Jackie" Battley 
Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he wed Jacqueline May "Jackie" Battley (February 21, 1936 – August 7, 2013), his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26. They had two daughters: Kathy, who is president of Gingrich Communications, and Jackie Sue, who is an author, conservative columnist and political commentator.

Throughout his congressional campaign in 1974, Gingrich was having an affair with a young volunteer. An aide who worked with Gingrich throughout the 1970s stated that "it was common knowledge that Newt was involved with other women during his marriage to Jackie." In the spring of 1980, Gingrich filed for divorce from Jackie after beginning an affair with Marianne Ginther. Jackie later said in 1984 that the divorce was a "complete surprise" to her.

In September 1980, according to friends who knew them both, Gingrich visited Jackie in the hospital the day after she had undergone surgery to treat her uterine cancer; once there, Gingrich began talking about the terms of their divorce, at which point Jackie threw him out of the room. Gingrich disputed that account. Although Gingrich's presidential campaign staff continued to insist in 2011 that Jackie had requested the divorce, court documents from Carroll County, Georgia, indicated that Jackie had in fact asked a judge to block the process, stating that although "she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce ... she does not desire one at this time [and] does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken."

According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Jackie: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer." Gingrich has denied saying it. Following the divorce, Jackie had to raise money from friends in her congregation to help her and the children make ends meet; she later filed a petition in court stating that Gingrich had failed to properly provide for his family. Gingrich submitted a financial statement to the judge, which showed that he had been "providing only $400 a month, plus $40 in allowances for his daughters. He claimed not to be able to afford any more. But in citing his own expenses, Gingrich listed $400 just for 'Food / dry cleaning, etc.'—for one person." In 1981, a judge ordered Gingrich to provide considerably more; in 1993, Jackie stated in court that Gingrich had failed to obey the 1981 order "from the day it was issued." Jackie, a deacon and volunteer in the First Baptist Church of Carrollton, Georgia, died in 2013 in Atlanta at the age of 77.

Marianne Ginther 
In 1981, six months after his divorce from Jackie was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther. Marianne helped control their finances to get them out of debt. She did not, however, want to have the public life of a politician's wife. Gingrich's daughter Kathy described the marriage as "difficult".

Callista Bisek 

In 1993, while still married to Marianne, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, more than two decades his junior. Gingrich was having this affair even as he led the impeachment of Bill Clinton for perjury related to Clinton's own extramarital affair. Gingrich filed for divorce from Marianne in 1999, a few months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The marriage produced no children. On January 19, 2012, Marianne alleged in an interview on ABC's Nightline that she had declined to accept Gingrich's suggestion of an open marriage. Gingrich disputed the account.

In August 2000, Gingrich married Callista Bisek four months after his divorce from Marianne was finalized. He and Callista live in McLean, Virginia.

In a 2011 interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Gingrich addressed his past infidelities by saying, "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate." In December 2011, after the group Iowans for Christian Leaders in Government requested that he sign their so-called "Marriage Vow", Gingrich sent a lengthy written response. It included his pledge to "uphold personal fidelity to my spouse".

Religion 

Raised as a Lutheran, Gingrich was a Southern Baptist in graduate school. He converted to Catholicism, the faith of his third wife Callista Bisek, on March 29, 2009. He said: "over the course of several years, I gradually became Catholic and then decided one day to accept the faith I had already come to embrace". He decided to officially become a Catholic when he saw Pope Benedict XVI, during the Pope's visit to the United States in 2008: "Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years."  At a 2011 appearance in Columbus, Ohio, he said, "In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life."

The Catholic Church recognizes his third marriage as a valid marriage, based on an annulment granted for his second marriage and the passing of his wife from his first.

Other interests 

Gingrich has expressed a deep interest in animals. Gingrich's first engagement in civic affairs was speaking to the city council in his native Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as to why the city should establish its own zoo. He authored the introduction to America's Best Zoos and claims to have attended more than 100.

Gingrich has shown enthusiasm towards dinosaurs. The New Yorker said of his 1995 book To Renew America: "Charmingly, he has retained his enthusiasm for the extinct giants into middle age. In addition to including breakthroughs in dinosaur research on his list of futuristic wonders, he specified 'people interested in dinosaurs' as a prime example of those who might benefit from his education proposals."

Space exploration has been an additional interest of Gingrich since a fascination with the United States/Soviet Union Space Race started in his teenage years. Gingrich wants the U.S. to pursue new achievements in space, including sustaining civilizations beyond Earth, but advocates relying more on the private sector and less on the publicly funded NASA to drive progress. Since 2010, he has served on the National Space Society Board of Governors.

During the 2012 election campaign, Artinfo noted that Gingrich has expressed appreciation for the work of two American painters. He has described James H. Cromartie's painting of the U.S. Capitol as "an exceptional and truly beautiful work of art"; in Norman Rockwell's work, he saw the embodiment of an America circa 1965, at odds with the prevailing sentiment of the modern day "cultural elites".

CNN announced on June 26, 2013 that Gingrich would join a new version of Crossfire re-launching in fall 2013, with panelists S. E. Cupp, Stephanie Cutter, and Van Jones. Gingrich represented the right on the revamped debate program. The show was cancelled the following year.

Books and film

Nonfiction 

 The Government's Role in Solving Societal Problems, Associated Faculty Press, January 1982, 
 Window of Opportunity, Tom Doherty Associates, December 1985, 
 Contract with America (co-editor). Times Books, December 1994, 
 Restoring the Dream, Times Books, May 1995, 
 Quotations from Speaker Newt. Workman Publishing Company, July 1995, 
 To Renew America, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, July 1996, 
 Lessons Learned The Hard Way. HarperCollins, May 1998, 
 Presidential Determination Regarding Certification of the Thirty-Two Major Illicit Narcotics Producing and Transit Countries, DIANE Publishing Company, September 1999, 
 Saving Lives and Saving Money, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, April 2003, 
 Winning the Future, Regnery Publishing, January 2005, 
 Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future, Integrity Publishers, October 2006, 
 The Art of Transformation, with Nancy Desmond. CHT Press, November 2006, 
 A Contract with the Earth, with Terry L. Maple. Johns Hopkins University Press, October 2007, 
 Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works, Regnery Publishing, January 2008. 
 Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis, with Vince Haley. Regnery Publishing, September 2008, 
 5 Principles for a Successful Life: From Our Family to Yours, with Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Crown Publishing Group, May 2009, 
 To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine, with Joe DeSantis, Regnery Publishing, May 2010, 
Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, Dunham Books, January 2011, 
 A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters, Regnery Publishing, June 2011, 
Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America's Fate, Regnery Publishing, November 2013, 
 Understanding Trump, Center Street, June 2017, 
 Trump's America: The Truth about Our Nation's Great Comeback, Center Street, June 2018, 
 Trump vs China: America's Greatest Challenge, Center Street, October 2019,  
 Trump and the American Future: Solving the Great Problems of Our Time, Center Street, June 2020, 
 Beyond Biden: Rebuilding the America We Love, Center Street, November 2021,

Fiction 
Gingrich co-wrote the following alternate history novels and series of novels with William R. Forstchen.
 1945, Baen Books, August 1995; 
 Civil War series
 Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2003 
 Grant Comes East, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2004 
 Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2005 
 The Battle of the Crater: A Novel, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2011 
 Pacific War series
 Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8, Thomas Dunne Books, May 2007 
 Days of Infamy, Thomas Dunne Books, April 2008 
 Revolutionary War series
 To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom, Thomas Dunne Books,  October 2009, 
 Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2010, 
 Victory at Yorktown, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2012, 
 Miscellaneous fiction
 Duplicity: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 13, 2015, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Treason: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 11, 2016, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Vengance: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 10, 2017, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Collusion: A Novel, Broadside Books, April 30, 2019, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Shakedown: A Novel, Broadside Books, March 24, 2020, co-author Pete Earley,

Films 
 Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, Gingrich Productions, 2009
 Nine Days That Changed the World, Gingrich Productions, 2010

See also 

 List of federal political scandals in the United States
 List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
 List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

Citations

General sources 

 Brattebo, Douglas M. (2012) "You're a Mean One, Mr. Gingrich: The Inbuilt, Ruinous Incivility of Newt", American Behavioral Scientist (2012) abstract 
 Drew, Elizabeth. (1996) Showdown: The Struggle Between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House (Simon and Schuster, 1996)
 
 Gillon, Steven M. (2008) The pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the rivalry that defined a generation (Oxford UP, 2008).
 Kabaservice, Geoffrey. (2012) Rule and ruin: the downfall of moderation and the destruction of the Republican party, from Eisenhower to the tea party (Oxford University Press, 2012)
 
 McSweeney, Dean and John E. Owens, eds. (1998) The Republican Takeover of Congress (1998).
 Maraniss, David, and Michael Weisskopf. (1996) Tell Newt to shut up!: prizewinning Washington Post journalists reveal how reality gagged the Gingrich revolution (Simon & Schuster, 1996)
 Nagle, John Copeland, and William N. Eskridge. (1995) "Newt Gingrich, Dynamic Statutory Interpreter." University of Pennsylvania Law Review 143: 2209–2250 online 
 Rae, Nicol C. (1998) Conservative Reformers: The Republican Freshmen and the Lessons of the 104th Congress (M.E. Sharpe, 1998)
 
 Steely, Mel. (2000) The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich (Mercer University Press, 2000)

External links 

 
 
 Committee for America
 Column archives at Human Events
 
 Booknotes interview with Gingrich on To Renew America, July 23, 1995
 In Depth interview with Gingrich, December 2, 2007
 Financial information (U.S. House campaigns) at the Federal Election Committee
 Biography at The American Enterprise Institute
 Biography at The Hoover Institute
 Newt Gingrich papers at the University of West Georgia 

 Articles
 The Long March of Newt Gingrich, PBS Frontline, Peter Boyer and Stephen Talbot, January 16, 1996. transcript chronology interviews work and writings

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

 
1943 births
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American politicians
American adoptees
American alternate history writers
American Enterprise Institute
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
American political commentators
American political writers
Anti-same-sex-marriage activists
Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election
Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state)
Catholics from Virginia
Censured or reprimanded members of the United States House of Representatives
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations
Emory University alumni
Fox News people
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Kennesaw State University people
Living people
Members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
New Right (United States)
Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Novelists from Pennsylvania
People from Columbus, Georgia
People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
People from McLean, Virginia
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Right-wing populism in the United States
Speakers of the United States House of Representatives
The Washington Times people
Time Person of the Year
Tulane University alumni
University of West Georgia faculty
Virginia Republicans
Writers from Columbus, Georgia
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
American thriller writers
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district serving north Atlanta and nearby areas from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. In 2012, Gingrich unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

A professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s, Gingrich won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1978, the first Republican in the history of Georgia's 6th congressional district to do so. He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995. A co-author and architect of the "Contract with America", Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election. In 1995, Time named him "Man of the Year" for "his role in ending the four-decades-long Democratic majority in the House".

As House Speaker, Gingrich oversaw passage by the House of welfare reform and a capital gains tax cut in 1997. Gingrich played a key role in several government shutdowns, and impeached President Bill Clinton on a party-line vote in the House. The poor showing by Republicans in the 1998 congressional elections, a reprimand from the House for Gingrich's ethics violation, and pressure from Republican colleagues resulted in Gingrich's resignation from the speakership on November 6, 1998. He resigned altogether from the House on January 3, 1999. Political scientists have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States and hastening political polarization and partisanship.

Since leaving the House, Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich ran for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 presidential election, and was considered a potential frontrunner at several points in the race. Despite an impressive late victory in the South Carolina primary, Gingrich was ultimately unable to win enough primaries to sustain a viable candidacy, he withdrew from the race in May 2012 and endorsed eventual nominee Mitt Romney. Gingrich later emerged as a key ally of Donald Trump, and was reportedly among the finalists on Trump's short list for running mate in the 2016 election. Since 2020, Gingrich has supported Trump's false and disproven claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Early life 

Gingrich was born as Newton Leroy McPherson at the Harrisburg Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 1943. His mother, Kathleen "Kit" (née Daugherty; 1925–2003), and biological father, Newton Searles McPherson (1923–1970), married in September 1942, when she was 16 and McPherson was 19. The marriage fell apart within days. He is of English, German, Scottish and Scots-Irish descent.

In 1946, his mother married Robert Gingrich (1925–1996), who adopted him. Robert Gingrich was a career Army officer who served tours in Korea and Vietnam. In 1956, the family moved to Europe, living for a period in Orléans, France and Stuttgart, Germany.

Gingrich has three younger half-sisters from his mother, Candace and Susan Gingrich, and Roberta Brown. Gingrich was raised in Hummelstown (near Harrisburg) and on military bases where his adoptive father was stationed. The family's religion was Lutheran. He also has a half-sister and half-brother, Randy McPherson, from his biological father's side. In 1960 during his junior year in high school, the family moved to Georgia at Fort Benning.

In 1961, Gingrich graduated from Baker High School in Columbus, Georgia, where he met, and later married, his math teacher. He had been interested in politics since his teen years. While living with his family in Orléans, France, he visited the site of the Battle of Verdun and learned about the sacrifices made there and the importance of political leadership.

Gingrich received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Emory University in Atlanta in 1965. He went on to graduate study at Tulane University, earning an M.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. in European history (1971). He spent six months in Brussels in 1969–70 working on his dissertation, Belgian Education Policy in the Congo 1945–1960.

Gingrich received deferments from the military during the years of the Vietnam War for being a student and a father. In 1985, he stated, "Given everything I believe in, a large part of me thinks I should have gone over."

In 1970, Gingrich joined the history department at West Georgia College, where he spent "little time teaching history." He coordinated a new environmental studies program and was removed from the history department "by 1976". During his time in the college, he took unpaid leave three times to run for the House of Representatives, losing twice before leaving the college. Serving professors were not allowed under the rules of the university system to run for office. He left the college in 1977 after being denied tenure.

Early political career 
Gingrich was the southern regional director for Nelson Rockefeller in the 1968 Republican primaries.

Congressional campaigns 
In 1974, Gingrich made his first bid for political office as the Republican candidate in  in north-central Georgia, which includes  many of the northern suburbs of Atlanta, portions of eastern Cobb County, northern Fulton County, and northern DeKalb County. He lost to 20-year incumbent Democrat Jack Flynt by 2,770 votes. Gingrich ran up huge margins in the suburban areas of the district, but was unable to overcome Flynt's lead in the more urban areas. Gingrich's relative success surprised political analysts. Flynt had never faced a serious challenger; Gingrich was the second Republican to ever run against him. He did well against Flynt although 1974 was a disastrous year for Republican candidates nationally due to fallout from the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration, but also the impact of election of Georgia native Jimmy Carter.

Gingrich sought a rematch against Flynt in 1976. While the Republicans did slightly better in the 1976 House elections than in 1974 nationally, the Democratic candidate in the 1976 presidential election was former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter. Carter won more than two-thirds of the vote in his native Georgia. Gingrich lost his race by 5,100 votes.

As Gingrich primed for another run in the 1978 elections, Flynt decided to retire. Gingrich defeated Democratic State Senator Virginia Shapard by 7,500 votes. Gingrich was re-elected five times from this district. He faced a close general election race once—in the House elections of 1990—when he won by 978 votes in a primary race against Republican Herman Clark and won a narrow 974 vote victory over Democrat David Worley in the general. Although the district was trending Republican at the national level, conservative Democrats continued to hold most local offices, as well as most of the area's seats in the General Assembly, well into the 1980s.

Congress
In 1981, Gingrich co-founded the Military Reform Caucus (MRC) and the Congressional Aviation and Space Caucus. During the 1983 congressional page sex scandal, Gingrich was among those calling for the expulsion of representatives Dan Crane and Gerry Studds. Gingrich supported a proposal to ban loans from the International Monetary Fund to Communist countries and he endorsed a bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a new federal holiday.

In 1983, Gingrich founded the Conservative Opportunity Society (COS), a group that included young conservative House Republicans. Early COS members included Robert Smith Walker, Judd Gregg, Dan Coats and Connie Mack III. The group gradually expanded to include several dozen representatives, who met each week to exchange and develop ideas.

Gingrich's analysis of polls and public opinion identified the group's initial focus. Ronald Reagan adopted the "opportunity society" ideas for his 1984 re-election campaign, supporting the group's conservative goals on economic growth, education, crime, and social issues. He had not emphasized these during his first term. Reagan also referred to an "opportunity" society in the first State of the Union address of his second term.

In March 1988, Gingrich voted against the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to uphold President Reagan's veto). In May 1988, Gingrich (along with 77 other House members and Common Cause) brought ethics charges against Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, who was alleged to have used a book deal to circumvent campaign-finance laws and House ethics rules. During the investigation, it was reported that Gingrich had his own unusual book deal, for Window of Opportunity, in which publicity expenses were covered by a limited partnership. It raised $105,000 from Republican political supporters to promote sales of Gingrich's book. Gingrich's success in forcing Wright's resignation contributed to his rising influence in the Republican caucus.

In March 1989, Gingrich became House Minority Whip in a close election against Edward Rell Madigan. This was Gingrich's first formal position of power within the Republican party. He said his intention was to "build a much more aggressive, activist party". Early in his role as Whip, in May 1989, Gingrich was involved in talks about the appointment of a Panamanian administrator of the Panama Canal, which was scheduled to occur in 1989 subject to U.S. government approval. Gingrich was outspoken in his opposition to giving control over the canal to an administrator appointed by the dictatorship in Panama.

Gingrich and others in the House, including the newly minted Gang of Seven, railed against what they saw as ethical lapses during the nearly 40 years of Democratic control. The House banking scandal and Congressional Post Office scandal were emblems of the exposed corruption. Gingrich himself was among members of the House who had written NSF checks on the House bank. He had overdrafts on twenty-two checks, including a $9,463 check to the Internal Revenue Service in 1990.

In 1990, after consulting focus groups with the help of pollster Frank Luntz, GOPAC distributed a memo with a cover letter signed by Gingrich titled "Language, a Key Mechanism of Control", that encouraged Republicans to "speak like Newt". It contained lists of "contrasting words"—words with negative connotations such as "radical", "sick," and "traitors"—and "optimistic positive governing words" such as "opportunity", "courage", and "principled", that Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively.

Due to population increases recorded in the 1990 United States census, Georgia picked up an additional seat for the 1992 U.S. House elections. However, the Democratic-controlled Georgia General Assembly, under the leadership of fiercely partisan Speaker of the House Tom Murphy, specifically targeted Gingrich, eliminating the district Gingrich represented. Gerrymandering split Gingrich's territory among three neighboring districts. Much of the southern portion of Gingrich's district, including his home in Carrollton, was drawn into the Columbus-based 3rd district, represented by five-term Democrat Richard Ray. Gingrich remarked that "The Speaker, by raising money and gerrymandering, has sincerely dedicated a part of his career to wiping me out." Charles S. Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said "Speaker Murphy didn’t like having a Republican represent him." At the onset of the decade, Gingrich proved to be the only Republican representative of Georgia's 10 congressional districts until 1992, with the creation of Georgia's 4th congressional district and the Republican gains of Jack Kingston and Mac Collins.

The Assembly created a new, heavily Republican 6th district in Fulton and Cobb counties in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlanta—an area that Gingrich had never represented. Gingrich sold his home in Carrollton and moved to Marietta in the new district. His primary opponent, State Representative Herman Clark, who had challenged Gingrich two years earlier, made an issue out of Gingrich's 22 overdraft checks in the House banking scandal, and also criticized Gingrich for moving into the district. After a recount, Gingrich prevailed by 980 votes, with a 51 to 49 percent result. His winning the primary all but assured him of election in November. He was re-elected three times from this district against nominal Democratic opposition.

In the 1994 campaign season, in an effort to offer an alternative to Democratic policies and to unite distant wings of the Republican Party, Gingrich and several other Republicans came up with a Contract with America, which laid out 10 policies that Republicans promised to bring to a vote on the House floor during the first 100 days of the new Congress, if they won the election. The contract was signed by Gingrich and other Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. The contract ranged from issues such as welfare reform, term limits, crime, and a balanced budget/tax limitation amendment, to more specialized legislation such as restrictions on American military participation in United Nations missions.

Republican Revolution 

In the November 1994 midterm elections, Republicans gained 54 seats and took control of the House for the first time since 1954. Long-time House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois had not run for re-election, giving Gingrich, the highest-ranking Republican returning to Congress, the inside track at becoming Speaker. The midterm election that turned congressional power over to Republicans "changed the center of gravity" in the nation's capital. Time magazine named Gingrich its 1995 "Man of the Year" for his role in the election.

Speaker of the House 

The House fulfilled Gingrich's promise to bring all ten of the Contract's issues to a vote within the first 100 days of the session. President Clinton called it the "Contract on America".

Legislation proposed by the 104th United States Congress included term limits for Congressional Representatives, tax cuts, welfare reform, and a balanced budget amendment, as well as independent auditing of the finances of the House of Representatives and elimination of non-essential services such as the House barbershop and shoe-shine concessions. Following Gingrich's first two years as House Speaker, the Republican majority was re-elected in the 1996 election, the first time Republicans had done so in 68 years, and the first time simultaneously with a Democratic president winning re-election.

As Speaker, Gingrich sought to increasingly tie Christian conservatism to the Republican Party. According to a 2018 study, Christian conservatism had become firmly ingrained in the Republican Party's policy platforms by 2000. Yale University congressional scholar David Mayhew describes Gingrich as profoundly influential, saying "In Gingrich, we have as good a case as we are likely to see of a member of Congress operating in the public sphere with consequence."

Role in political polarization 
A number of scholars have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States, and hastening political polarization and partisan prejudice. According to Harvard University political scientists Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, Gingrich's speakership had a profound and lasting impact on American politics and health of American democracy. They argue that Gingrich instilled a "combative" approach in the Republican Party, where hateful language and hyper-partisanship became commonplace, and where democratic norms were abandoned. Gingrich frequently questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to fascists, and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. Gingrich furthermore oversaw several major government shutdowns.

University of Maryland political scientist Lilliana Mason identified  Gingrich's instructions to Republicans to use words such as “betray, bizarre, decay, destroy, devour, greed, lie, pathetic, radical, selfish, shame, sick, steal, and traitors” about Democrats as an example of a breach in social norms and exacerbation of partisan prejudice. Gingrich is a key figure in the 2017 book The Polarizers by Colgate University political scientist Sam Rosenfeld about the American political system's shift to polarization and gridlock. Rosenfeld describes Gingrich as follows, "For Gingrich, responsible party principles were paramount... From the outset, he viewed the congressional minority party's role in terms akin to those found in parliamentary systems, prioritizing drawing stark programmatic contrasts over engaging the majority party as junior participants in governance."

Boston College political scientist David Hopkins writes that Gingrich helped to nationalize American politics in a way where Democratic politicians on the state and local level were increasingly tied to the national Democratic party and President Clinton. Hopkins notes that Gingrich's view

directly contradicted the conventional wisdom of politics... that parties in a two-party system achieve increasing electoral success as they move closer to the ideological center... Gingrich and his allies believed that an organized effort to intensify the ideological contrast between the congressional parties would allow the Republicans to make electoral inroads in the South. They worked energetically to tie individual Democratic incumbents to the party's more liberal national leadership while simultaneously raising highly charged cultural issues in Congress, such as proposed constitutional amendments to allow prayer in public schools and to ban the burning of the American flag, on which conservative positions were widely popular – especially among southern voters. 

Gingrich's view was however vindicated with the Republican Party's success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, sometimes referred to as the "Gingrich Revolution." Hopkins writes, "More than any speaker before or since, Gingrich had become both the strategic architect and public face of his party." One consequence of the increasing nationalization of politics was that moderate Republican incumbents in blue states were left more vulnerable to electoral defeat.

According to University of Texas political scientist Sean M. Theriault, Gingrich had a profound influence on other Republican lawmakers, in particular those who served with him in the House, as they adopted his obstructionist tactics. A 2011 study by Theriault and Duke University political scientist David W. Rohde in the Journal of Politics found that "almost the entire growth in Senate party polarization since the early 1970s can be accounted for by Republican senators who previously served in the House after 1978" when Gingrich was first elected to the House.

Gingrich consolidated power in the Speaker's office. Gingrich elevated junior and more ideologically extreme House members to powerful committees, such as the Appropriations Committee, which over time led to the obliteration of internal norms in the committees. Term limits were also imposed on committee chairs, which prevented Republican chairs from developing a power base separate from the Republican Party. As a result, the power of Gingrich was strengthened and there was an increase in conformity among Republican congresspeople.

Legislation

Welfare reform 
A central pledge of President Bill Clinton's campaign was to reform the welfare system, adding changes such as work requirements for recipients. However, by 1994, the Clinton administration appeared to be more concerned with pursuing a universal health care program. Gingrich accused Clinton of stalling on welfare, and proclaimed that Congress could pass a welfare reform bill in as little as 90 days. He insisted that the Republican Party would continue to apply political pressure on the President to approve their welfare legislation.

In 1996, after constructing two welfare reform bills that Clinton vetoed, Gingrich and his supporters pushed for passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which was intended to reconstruct the welfare system. The act gave state governments more autonomy over welfare delivery, while also reducing the federal government's responsibilities. It instituted the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which placed time limits on welfare assistance and replaced the longstanding Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Other changes to the welfare system included stricter conditions for food stamp eligibility, reductions in immigrant welfare assistance, and work requirements for recipients. The bill was signed into law by President Clinton on August 22, 1996.

In his 1998 book Lessons Learned the Hard Way, Gingrich encouraged volunteerism and spiritual renewal, placing more importance on families, creating tax incentives and reducing regulations for businesses in poor neighborhoods, and increasing property ownership by low-income families. He also praised Habitat for Humanity for sparking the movement to improve people's lives by helping them build their own homes.

Balancing the federal budget 

A key aspect of the 1994 Contract with America was the promise of a balanced federal budget. After the end of the government shutdown, Gingrich and other Republican leaders acknowledged that Congress would not be able to draft a balanced budget in 1996. Instead, they opted to approve some small reductions that were already approved by the White House and to wait until the next election season.

By May 1997, Republican congressional leaders reached a compromise with Democrats and President Clinton on the federal budget. The agreement called for a federal spending plan designed to reduce the federal deficit and achieve a balanced budget by 2002. The plan included a total of $152 billion in bipartisan tax cuts over five years. Other major parts of the spending plan called for $115 billion to be saved through a restructuring of Medicare, $24 billion set aside to extend health insurance to children of the working poor, tax credits for college tuition, and a $2 billion welfare-to-work jobs initiative.

President Clinton signed the budget legislation in August 1997. At the signing, Gingrich gave credit to ordinary Americans stating, "It was their political will that brought the two parties together."

In early 1998, with the economy performing better than expected, increased tax revenues helped reduce the federal budget deficit to below $25 billion. Clinton submitted a balanced budget for 1999, three years ahead of schedule originally proposed, making it the first time the federal budget had been balanced since 1969.

Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 
In 1997, President Clinton signed into effect the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which included the largest capital gains tax cut in U.S. history. Under the act, the profits on the sale of a personal residence ($500,000 for married couples, $250,000 for singles) were exempted if lived in for at least 2 years over the last 5. (This had previously been limited to a $125,000 once-in-a-lifetime exemption for those over the age of 55.) There were also reductions in a number of other taxes on investment gains.

Additionally, the act raised the value of inherited estates and gifts that could be sheltered from taxation. Gingrich has been credited with creating the agenda for the reduction in capital gains tax, especially in the "Contract with America", which set out to balance the budget and implement decreases in estate and capital gains tax. Some Republicans felt that the compromise reached with Clinton on the budget and tax act was inadequate, however Gingrich has stated that the tax cuts were a significant accomplishment for the Republican Congress in the face of opposition from the Clinton administration. Gingrich along with Bob Dole had earlier set-up the Kemp Commission, headed by former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, a tax reform commission that made several recommendations including that dividends, interest, and capital gains should be untaxed.

Other legislation 
Among the first pieces of legislation passed by the new Congress under Gingrich was the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, which subjected members of Congress to the same laws that apply to businesses and their employees, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As a provision of the Contract with America, the law was symbolic of the new Republican majority's goal to remove some of the entitlements enjoyed by Congress. The bill received near universal acceptance from the House and Senate and was signed into law on January 23, 1995.

Gingrich shut down the highly regarded Office of Technology Assessment, and relied instead on what the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists called "self-interested lobbyists and think tanks".

Government shutdown 

Gingrich and the incoming Republican majority's promise to slow the rate of government spending conflicted with the president's agenda for Medicare, education, the environment and public health, leading to two temporary shutdowns of the federal government totaling 28 days.

Clinton said Republican amendments would strip the U.S. Treasury of its ability to dip into federal trust funds to avoid a borrowing crisis. Republican amendments would have limited appeals by death-row inmates, made it harder to issue health, safety and environmental regulations, and would have committed the president to a seven-year balanced budget. Clinton vetoed a second bill allowing the government to keep operating beyond the time when most spending authority expires.

A GOP amendment opposed by Clinton would not only have increased Medicare Part B premiums, but it would also cancel a scheduled reduction. The Republicans held out for an increase in Medicare Part B premiums in January 1996 to $53.50 a month. Clinton favored the then current law, which was to let the premium that seniors pay drop to $42.50.

The government closed most non-essential offices during the shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history at the time. The shutdown ended when Clinton agreed to submit a CBO-approved balanced budget plan.

During the crisis, Gingrich's public image suffered from the perception that the Republicans' hardline budget stance was owed partly to an alleged snub of Gingrich by Clinton during a flight on Air Force One to and from Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in Israel. That perception developed after the trip when Gingrich, while being questioned by Lars-Erik Nelson at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, said that he was dissatisfied that Clinton had not invited him to discuss the budget during the flight. He complained that he and Dole were instructed to use the plane's rear exit to deplane, saying the snub was "part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution". In response to Gingrich's complaint that they were "forced to use the rear door," NBC news released their videotape footage showing both Gingrich and Dole disembarking at Tel Aviv just behind Clinton via the front stairway.

Gingrich was widely lampooned for implying that the government shutdown was a result of his personal grievances, including a widely shared editorial cartoon depicting him as a baby throwing a tantrum.

Democratic leaders, including Chuck Schumer, took the opportunity to attack Gingrich's motives for the budget standoff. In 1998, Gingrich said that these comments were his "single most avoidable mistake" as Speaker.

Discussing the impact of the government shutdown on the Republican Party, Gingrich later commented that, "Everybody in Washington thinks that was a big mistake. They're exactly wrong. There had been no reelected Republican majority since 1928. Part of the reason we got reelected ... is our base thought we were serious. And they thought we were serious because when it came to a show-down, we didn't flinch." In a 2011 op-ed in The Washington Post, Gingrich said that the government shutdown led to the balanced-budget deal in 1997 and the first four consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s, as well as the first re-election of a Republican majority since 1928.

Ethics charges and reprimand 

Eighty-four ethics charges were filed by Democrats against Gingrich during his term as Speaker. All were eventually dropped except for one: claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. On January 21, 1997, the House officially reprimanded Gingrich (in a vote of 395 in favor, 28 opposed) and "ordered [him] to reimburse the House for some of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $300,000". It was the first time a Speaker was disciplined for an ethics violation.

Additionally, the House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. The Ethics Committee's Special Counsel James M. Cole concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him. The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated and left that issue up to the IRS. In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations.

Regarding the situation, Gingrich said in January 1997, "I did not manage the effort intensely enough to thoroughly direct or review information being submitted to the committee on my behalf. In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee, but I did not intend to mislead the committee ... I brought down on the people's house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government."

Leadership challenge 

In the summer of 1997, several House Republicans attempted to replace him as Speaker, claiming Gingrich's public image was a liability. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting of Republican conference chairman John Boehner of Ohio and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out.

However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich. On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker. This would allow for the possibility that Democrats, along with dissenting Republicans, would vote in Democrat Dick Gephardt as Speaker.

On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his positionby Gingrichinstead of elected. Gingrich accepted Paxon's resignation and directed Paxon to immediately vacate his leadership office space.

Resignation 
In 1998, Gingrich's private polls had given his fellow Republicans the impression that pushing the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal would damage Clinton's popularity and result in the party winning a net total of six to thirty seats in the House of Representatives. At the same time Gingrich was having an affair with a woman 23 years his junior. But instead of gaining seats, Republicans lost five, the worst midterm performance in 64 years by a party not holding the presidency. Other ethics violations including an unpopular book deal, added to his unpopularity even though he himself was reelected in his own district.

The day after the election, a Republican caucus ready to rebel against him prompted his resignation of the speakership. He also announced his intended and eventual full departure from the House a few weeks later. In January 1999 he resigned his seat. When relinquishing the speakership, Gingrich referred to other Republicans when he said he was "not willing to preside over people who are cannibals". Writing a retrospective on his career at that point, The New York Times in November 1998 described Gingrich as "an expert in how to seize power, but a novice in holding it" further opining that he "illustrate[d] how hard it is for a radical, polarizing figure to last in leadership".

In December 1997, Gingrich flirted with a potential run for president in the 2000 election, but his party's midterm performance and his subsequent resignation led to him dropping any plans to do so.

Post-speakership 
Gingrich has since remained involved in national politics and public policy debate.  McKay Coppins of The Atlantic summarized time with Gingrich in 2018:

[Gingrich] is dabbling in geopolitics, dining in fine Italian restaurants. When he feels like traveling, he crisscrosses the Atlantic in business class, opining on the issues of the day from bicontinental TV studios and giving speeches for $600 a minute. There is time for reading, and writing, and midday zoo trips—and even he will admit, "It's a very fun life."

Policy 

In 2003, he founded the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich supported the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, which created the Medicare Part D federal prescription drugs benefit program. Some conservatives have criticized him for favoring the plan, due to its cost. However, Gingrich has remained a supporter, stating in a 2011 interview that it was a necessary modernization of Medicare, which was created before pharmaceutical drugs became standard in medical care. He has said that the increase in cost from medication must be seen as preventive, leading to reduced need for medical procedures. In a May 15, 2011, interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay—help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage. In the same interview Gingrich said "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate." This comment caused backlash within the Republican Party.

In 2005, with Hillary Clinton, Gingrich announced the proposed 21st Century Health Information Act, a bill which aimed to replace paperwork with confidential, electronic health information networks. Gingrich also co-chaired an independent congressional study group made up of health policy experts formed in 2007 to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of action taken within the U.S. to fight Alzheimer's disease.

Gingrich has served on several commissions, including the Hart-Rudman Commission, formally known as the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st century, which examined national security issues affecting the armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In 2005 he became the co-chair of a task force for UN reform, which aimed to produce a plan for the U.S. to help strengthen the UN. For over two decades, Gingrich has taught at the United States Air Force's Air University, where, as of 2010, he was the longest-serving teacher of the Joint Flag Officer Warfighting Course. In addition, he is an honorary Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University and, as of 2012, was teaching officers from all of the defense services. Gingrich informally advised Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on strategic issues, on issues including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and encouraging the Pentagon to not "yield" foreign policy influence to the State Department and National Security Council. Gingrich is also a guiding coalition member of the Project on National Security Reform.

Gingrich founded and served as the chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, a 527 group established in 2007. The group was a "fundraising juggernaut" that raised $52 million from major donors, such as Sheldon Adelson and the coal company Peabody Energy. The group promoted deregulation and increased offshore oil drilling and other fossil-fuel extraction and opposed the Employee Free Choice Act; Politico reported, "The operation, which includes a pollster and fundraisers, promotes Gingrich's books, sends out direct mail, airs ads touting his causes and funds his travel across the country." American Solutions closed in 2011 after he left the organization.

Other organizations and companies founded or chaired by Gingrich include the creative production company Gingrich Productions, and religious educational organization Renewing American Leadership.

Gingrich is a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He is a fellow at conservative think tanks the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution. He sometimes serves as a commentator, guest or panel member on cable news shows, such as the Fox News Channel. He is listed as a contributor by Fox News Channel, and frequently appears as a guest on various segments; he has also hosted occasional specials for the Fox News Channel. Gingrich has signed the "Strong America Now" pledge committing to promoting Six Sigma methods to reduce government spending.

Gingrich founded Advocates for Opioid Recovery together with former Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy and Van Jones, a former domestic policy adviser to President Barack Obama.

Businesses 
After leaving Congress in 1999, Gingrich started a number of for-profit companies: Between 2001 and 2010, the companies he and his wife owned in full or part had revenues of almost $100 million. As of 2015, Gingrich served as an advisor to the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold.

According to financial disclosure forms released in July 2011, Gingrich and his wife had a net worth of at least $6.7 million in 2010, compared to a maximum net worth of $2.4 million in 2006. Most of the increase in his net worth was because of payments to him from his for-profit companies.

Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation 
The Gingrich Group was organized in 1999 as a consulting company. Over time, its non-health clients were dropped, and it was renamed the Center for Health Transformation. The two companies had revenues of $55 million between 2001 and 2010. The revenues came from more than 300 health-insurance companies and other clients, with membership costing as much as $200,000 per year in exchange for access to Gingrich and other perks. In 2011, when Gingrich became a presidential candidate, he sold his interest in the business and said he would release the full list of his clients and the amounts he was paid, "to the extent we can".

In April 2012, the Center for Health Transformation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, planning to liquidate its assets to meet debts of $1–$10 million.

Between 2001 and 2010, Gingrich consulted for Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored secondary home mortgage company, which was concerned about new regulations under consideration by Congress. Regarding payments of $1.6 million for the consulting, Gingrich said that "Freddie Mac paid Gingrich Group, which has a number of employees and a number of offices, a consulting fee, just like you would pay any other consulting firm." In January 2012, he said that he could not make public his contract with Freddie Mac, even though the company gave permission, until his business partners in the Center for Health Transformation also agreed to that.

Gingrich Productions 
Gingrich Productions, which is headed by Gingrich's wife Callista Gingrich, was created in 2007. According to the company's website, in May 2011, it is "a performance and production company featuring the work of Newt and Callista Gingrich. Newt and Callista host and produce historical and public policy documentaries, write books, record audio books and voiceovers, produce photographic essays, and make television and radio appearances."

Between 2008 and 2011, the company produced three films on religion, one on energy, one on Ronald Reagan, and one on the threat of radical Islam. All were joint projects with the conservative group Citizens United. In 2011, Newt and Callista appeared in A City Upon a Hill, on the subject of American exceptionalism.

As of May 2011, the company had about five employees. In 2010, it paid Gingrich more than $2.4 million.

Gingrich Communications 
Gingrich Communications promoted Gingrich's public appearances, including his Fox News contract and his website, newt.org. By 2011 Gingrich received as much as $60,000 for a speech, and did as many as 80 in a year. One of Gingrich's nonprofit groups, Renewing American Leadership, which was founded in March 2009, paid Gingrich Communications $220,000 over two years; the charity shared the names of its donors with Gingrich, who could use them for his for-profit companies. Gingrich Communications, which employed 15 people at its largest, closed in 2011 when Gingrich began his presidential campaign.

Other 
 Celebrity Leaders is a booking agency that handled Gingrich's speaking engagements, as well as those other clients such as former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Kathy Lubbers, the President and CEO of the agency, who is Gingrich's daughter, owns the agency. Gingrich has shares in the agency, and was paid more than $70,000 by it in 2010.
 FGH Publications handles the production of and royalties from fiction books co-authored by Gingrich.

Political activity 
Between 2005 and 2007, Gingrich expressed interest in running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. On October 13, 2005, Gingrich suggested he was considering a run for president, saying, "There are circumstances where I will run", elaborating that those circumstances would be if no other candidate champions some of the platform ideas he advocates. On September 28, 2007, Gingrich announced that if his supporters pledged $30 million to his campaign by October 21, he would seek the nomination.

However, insisting that he had "pretty strongly" considered running, on September 29 spokesman Rick Tyler said that Gingrich would not seek the presidency in 2008 because he could not continue to serve as chairman of American Solutions if he did so. Citing campaign finance law restrictions (the McCain-Feingold campaign law would have forced him to leave his American Solutions political organization if he declared his candidacy), Gingrich said, "I wasn't prepared to abandon American Solutions, even to explore whether a campaign was realistic."

During the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, Gingrich endorsed moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, rather than Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who had been endorsed by several nationally prominent Republicans. He was heavily criticized for this endorsement, with conservatives questioning his candidacy for president in 2012 and even comparing him to Benedict Arnold.

Prior to President Donald Trump leaving office in December 2020, Trump appointed Gingrich to the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee of the Pentagon as part of a series of shakeups where prominent Trump loyalists replaced former members. In February 2021, Biden-appointed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed all appointments to the committee made by Trump, including Gingrich.

2012 election 

In late 2008, several political commentators, including Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic and Robert Novak in The Washington Post, identified Gingrich as a top presidential contender in the 2012 election, with Ambinder reporting that Gingrich was "already planting some seeds in Iowa, New Hampshire". A July 2010 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that Gingrich was the leading GOP contender for the Republican nomination with 23% of likely Republican voters saying they would vote for him.

Describing his views as a possible candidate during an appearance on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren in March 2009, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. [Americans] are sick of politicians taking care of themselves. They are sick of their money being spent in a way that is absolutely indefensible ... I think you're going to see a steady increase in the number of incumbents who have opponents because the American taxpayers are increasingly fed up."

On March 3, 2011, Gingrich officially announced a website entitled "Newt Exploratory 2012" in lieu of a formal exploratory committee for exploration of a potential presidential run. On May 11, 2011, Gingrich officially announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination in 2012.

On June 9, 2011, a group of Gingrich's senior campaign aides left the campaign en masse, leading to doubts about the viability of his presidential run. On June 21, 2011, two more senior aides left.

In response, Gingrich stated that he had not quit the race for the Republican nomination, and pointed to his experience running for 5 years to win his seat in Congress, spending 16 years helping to build a Republican majority in the house and working for decades to build a Republican majority in Georgia. Some commentators noted Gingrich's resilience throughout his career, in particular with regards to his presidential campaign.

After then-front-runner Herman Cain was damaged by allegations of past sexual harassment, Gingrich gained support, and quickly became a contender in the race, especially after Cain suspended his campaign. By December 4, 2011, Gingrich was leading in the national polls. However, after an abundance of negative ads run by his opponents throughout December, Gingrich's national polling lead had fallen to a tie with Mitt Romney.

On January 3, 2012, Gingrich finished in fourth place in the Iowa Republican caucuses, far behind Rick Santorum, Romney, and Ron Paul. On January 10, Gingrich finished in fifth place in the New Hampshire Republican primary, far behind Romney, Santorum, Jon Huntsman, and Paul.

After the field narrowed with the withdrawal from the race of Huntsman and Rick Perry, Gingrich won the South Carolina Republican primary on January 21, obtaining about 40% of the vote, considerably ahead of Romney, Santorum and Paul. This surprise victory allowed Gingrich to reemerge as the frontrunner once again heading into Florida.

On January 31, 2012, Gingrich placed second in the Republican Florida primary, losing by a fifteen percentage point margin, 47% to 32%. Some factors that contributed to this outcome include two strong debate performances by Romney (which were typically Gingrich's strong suit), the wide margin by which the Gingrich campaign was outspent in television ads, and a widely criticized proposal by Gingrich to have a permanent colony on the moon by 2020 to reinvigorate the American Space Program.

It was later revealed Romney had hired a debate coach to help him perform better in the Florida debates.

Gingrich did, however, significantly outvote Santorum and Paul. On February 4, 2012, Gingrich placed a distant second in the Nevada Republican caucuses with 21%, losing to Romney who received over 50% of the total votes cast.

On February 7, 2012, Gingrich came in last place in the Minnesota Republican caucuses with about 10.7% of the vote. Santorum won the caucus, followed by Paul and Romney.

On Super Tuesday Gingrich won his home state, Georgia, which has the most delegates, in "an otherwise dismal night for him". Santorum took Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Gingrich had previously performed well in the polls, though Gingrich managed a close third behind Romney.

On April 4, the Rick Santorum campaign shifted its position and urged Gingrich to drop out of the race and support Santorum.

On April 10, Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign. Following this announcement, The Newt 2012 campaign used a new slogan referring to Gingrich as "the last conservative standing". Despite this, on April 19, Gingrich told Republicans in New York that he would work to help Romney win the general election if Romney secured the nomination.

After a disappointing second place showing in the Delaware primary on April 24, and with a campaign debt in excess of $4 million, Gingrich suspended his campaign and endorsed front-runner Mitt Romney on May 2, 2012, on whose behalf he subsequently campaigned (i.e. stump speeches and television appearances).

Gingrich later hosted a number of policy workshops at the GOP Convention in Tampa presented by the National Republican Committee called "Newt University". He and his wife Calista addressed the convention on its final day with a Ronald Reagan-themed introduction.

Because FEC regulations prevent campaigns from ceasing operations until they settle their debts, the Newt Gingrich campaign was never formally dissolved. In 2016, the campaign filed a proposal to shut down without paying back its outstanding debt to 114 businesses and consultants; the FEC rejected this proposal. By then, the campaign still owed $4.6 million in debt, with only $17,000 being raised by the campaign committee over the previous year.

2016 election 

Gingrich supported Donald Trump more quickly than many other establishment Republicans. After having consulted for Trump's 2016 campaign, Gingrich encouraged his fellow Republicans to unify behind Trump, who had by then become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Gingrich reportedly figured among Trump's final three choices to be his running mate; the position ultimately went to Governor of Indiana Mike Pence.

Following Trump's victory in the presidential election, speculation arose concerning Gingrich as a possible secretary of state, chief of staff or advisor. Eventually, Gingrich announced that he would not be serving in the cabinet. He stated that he didn't have the interest in serving in any role related to the Trump administration, stressing that as a private citizen he would engage with individuals for "strategic planning" rather than job-seeking.

In May 2017, he promoted a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich, an employee for the Democratic National Committee, killed during the 2016 presidential race.

Gingrich attended his wife's swearing-in as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See at the White House in October 2017. According to journalist Robert Mickens, Newt Gingrich served as the de facto ambassador or the "shadow ambassador" while Callista Gingrich, as paraphrased by McKay Coppins of The Atlantic, "is generally viewed as the ceremonial face of the embassy".

2020 election 
While ballots were being counted during the 2020 election, Gingrich supported President Trump in his attempt to win re-election and called on him to stop the vote counts after allegations of fraud emerged. After the 2020 election, Gingrich made false claims of election fraud and refused to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory. He called for the arrest of poll workers in Pennsylvania following the election.

Political positions 

Gingrich is most widely identified with the 1994 Contract with America. He is a founder of American Solutions for Winning the Future. More recently, Gingrich has advocated replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with a proposed "Environmental Solutions Agency".

He favors a strong immigration border policy and a guest worker program. In terms of energy policy, he has argued in favor of flex-fuel mandates for cars sold in the U.S. and promoted the use of ethanol generally.

Gingrich has taken a dim view of internationalism and the United Nations. He said in 2015, "after several years of looking at the UN, I can report to you that it is sufficiently corrupt and sufficiently inefficient. That no reasonable person would put faith in it."

In 2007, Gingrich authored a book, Rediscovering God in America.

Gingrich's later books take a large-scale policy focus, including Winning the Future, and the most recent, To Save America. Gingrich has identified education as "the number one factor in our future prosperity", and has partnered with Al Sharpton and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on education issues. Although he previously opposed gay marriage, in December 2012, Gingrich suggested that Republicans should reconsider their opposition to it.

In 2014, Gingrich sent a letter to Dr. John Koza of National Popular Vote, Inc. endorsing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which participating states would award their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the United States.

On July 14, 2016, Gingrich stated that he believes that Americans of Muslim backgrounds who believe in Sharia law should be deported, and that visiting websites that promote the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Al-Qaeda should be a felony. Some observers have questioned whether these views violate the free speech and free exercise of religion clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On July 21, 2016, Gingrich argued that members of NATO "ought to worry" about a U.S. commitment to their defense. He expanded, saying, "They ought to worry about commitment under any circumstances. Every president has been saying that the NATO countries do not pay their fair share". He also stated that, in the context of whether the United States would provide aid to Estonia (a NATO member) in the event of a Russian invasion, he "would think about it a great deal".

According to Science magazine, Gingrich changed his view on climate change "from cautious skeptic in the late 1980s to believer in the late 2000s to skeptic again during the [2016] campaign."

In January 2022, Gingrich characterized the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack as "basically a lynch mob" that was violating laws and trampling on civil liberties, suggesting committee members might be jailed if Republicans took control of the House in that year's election.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Jacqueline May "Jackie" Battley 
Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he wed Jacqueline May "Jackie" Battley (February 21, 1936 – August 7, 2013), his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26. They had two daughters: Kathy, who is president of Gingrich Communications, and Jackie Sue, who is an author, conservative columnist and political commentator.

Throughout his congressional campaign in 1974, Gingrich was having an affair with a young volunteer. An aide who worked with Gingrich throughout the 1970s stated that "it was common knowledge that Newt was involved with other women during his marriage to Jackie." In the spring of 1980, Gingrich filed for divorce from Jackie after beginning an affair with Marianne Ginther. Jackie later said in 1984 that the divorce was a "complete surprise" to her.

In September 1980, according to friends who knew them both, Gingrich visited Jackie in the hospital the day after she had undergone surgery to treat her uterine cancer; once there, Gingrich began talking about the terms of their divorce, at which point Jackie threw him out of the room. Gingrich disputed that account. Although Gingrich's presidential campaign staff continued to insist in 2011 that Jackie had requested the divorce, court documents from Carroll County, Georgia, indicated that Jackie had in fact asked a judge to block the process, stating that although "she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce ... she does not desire one at this time [and] does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken."

According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Jackie: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer." Gingrich has denied saying it. Following the divorce, Jackie had to raise money from friends in her congregation to help her and the children make ends meet; she later filed a petition in court stating that Gingrich had failed to properly provide for his family. Gingrich submitted a financial statement to the judge, which showed that he had been "providing only $400 a month, plus $40 in allowances for his daughters. He claimed not to be able to afford any more. But in citing his own expenses, Gingrich listed $400 just for 'Food / dry cleaning, etc.'—for one person." In 1981, a judge ordered Gingrich to provide considerably more; in 1993, Jackie stated in court that Gingrich had failed to obey the 1981 order "from the day it was issued." Jackie, a deacon and volunteer in the First Baptist Church of Carrollton, Georgia, died in 2013 in Atlanta at the age of 77.

Marianne Ginther 
In 1981, six months after his divorce from Jackie was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther. Marianne helped control their finances to get them out of debt. She did not, however, want to have the public life of a politician's wife. Gingrich's daughter Kathy described the marriage as "difficult".

Callista Bisek 

In 1993, while still married to Marianne, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, more than two decades his junior. Gingrich was having this affair even as he led the impeachment of Bill Clinton for perjury related to Clinton's own extramarital affair. Gingrich filed for divorce from Marianne in 1999, a few months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The marriage produced no children. On January 19, 2012, Marianne alleged in an interview on ABC's Nightline that she had declined to accept Gingrich's suggestion of an open marriage. Gingrich disputed the account.

In August 2000, Gingrich married Callista Bisek four months after his divorce from Marianne was finalized. He and Callista live in McLean, Virginia.

In a 2011 interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Gingrich addressed his past infidelities by saying, "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate." In December 2011, after the group Iowans for Christian Leaders in Government requested that he sign their so-called "Marriage Vow", Gingrich sent a lengthy written response. It included his pledge to "uphold personal fidelity to my spouse".

Religion 

Raised as a Lutheran, Gingrich was a Southern Baptist in graduate school. He converted to Catholicism, the faith of his third wife Callista Bisek, on March 29, 2009. He said: "over the course of several years, I gradually became Catholic and then decided one day to accept the faith I had already come to embrace". He decided to officially become a Catholic when he saw Pope Benedict XVI, during the Pope's visit to the United States in 2008: "Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years."  At a 2011 appearance in Columbus, Ohio, he said, "In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life."

The Catholic Church recognizes his third marriage as a valid marriage, based on an annulment granted for his second marriage and the passing of his wife from his first.

Other interests 

Gingrich has expressed a deep interest in animals. Gingrich's first engagement in civic affairs was speaking to the city council in his native Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as to why the city should establish its own zoo. He authored the introduction to America's Best Zoos and claims to have attended more than 100.

Gingrich has shown enthusiasm towards dinosaurs. The New Yorker said of his 1995 book To Renew America: "Charmingly, he has retained his enthusiasm for the extinct giants into middle age. In addition to including breakthroughs in dinosaur research on his list of futuristic wonders, he specified 'people interested in dinosaurs' as a prime example of those who might benefit from his education proposals."

Space exploration has been an additional interest of Gingrich since a fascination with the United States/Soviet Union Space Race started in his teenage years. Gingrich wants the U.S. to pursue new achievements in space, including sustaining civilizations beyond Earth, but advocates relying more on the private sector and less on the publicly funded NASA to drive progress. Since 2010, he has served on the National Space Society Board of Governors.

During the 2012 election campaign, Artinfo noted that Gingrich has expressed appreciation for the work of two American painters. He has described James H. Cromartie's painting of the U.S. Capitol as "an exceptional and truly beautiful work of art"; in Norman Rockwell's work, he saw the embodiment of an America circa 1965, at odds with the prevailing sentiment of the modern day "cultural elites".

CNN announced on June 26, 2013 that Gingrich would join a new version of Crossfire re-launching in fall 2013, with panelists S. E. Cupp, Stephanie Cutter, and Van Jones. Gingrich represented the right on the revamped debate program. The show was cancelled the following year.

Books and film

Nonfiction 

 The Government's Role in Solving Societal Problems, Associated Faculty Press, January 1982, 
 Window of Opportunity, Tom Doherty Associates, December 1985, 
 Contract with America (co-editor). Times Books, December 1994, 
 Restoring the Dream, Times Books, May 1995, 
 Quotations from Speaker Newt. Workman Publishing Company, July 1995, 
 To Renew America, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, July 1996, 
 Lessons Learned The Hard Way. HarperCollins, May 1998, 
 Presidential Determination Regarding Certification of the Thirty-Two Major Illicit Narcotics Producing and Transit Countries, DIANE Publishing Company, September 1999, 
 Saving Lives and Saving Money, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, April 2003, 
 Winning the Future, Regnery Publishing, January 2005, 
 Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future, Integrity Publishers, October 2006, 
 The Art of Transformation, with Nancy Desmond. CHT Press, November 2006, 
 A Contract with the Earth, with Terry L. Maple. Johns Hopkins University Press, October 2007, 
 Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works, Regnery Publishing, January 2008. 
 Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis, with Vince Haley. Regnery Publishing, September 2008, 
 5 Principles for a Successful Life: From Our Family to Yours, with Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Crown Publishing Group, May 2009, 
 To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine, with Joe DeSantis, Regnery Publishing, May 2010, 
Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, Dunham Books, January 2011, 
 A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters, Regnery Publishing, June 2011, 
Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America's Fate, Regnery Publishing, November 2013, 
 Understanding Trump, Center Street, June 2017, 
 Trump's America: The Truth about Our Nation's Great Comeback, Center Street, June 2018, 
 Trump vs China: America's Greatest Challenge, Center Street, October 2019,  
 Trump and the American Future: Solving the Great Problems of Our Time, Center Street, June 2020, 
 Beyond Biden: Rebuilding the America We Love, Center Street, November 2021,

Fiction 
Gingrich co-wrote the following alternate history novels and series of novels with William R. Forstchen.
 1945, Baen Books, August 1995; 
 Civil War series
 Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2003 
 Grant Comes East, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2004 
 Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory, Thomas Dunne Books, June 2005 
 The Battle of the Crater: A Novel, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2011 
 Pacific War series
 Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8, Thomas Dunne Books, May 2007 
 Days of Infamy, Thomas Dunne Books, April 2008 
 Revolutionary War series
 To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom, Thomas Dunne Books,  October 2009, 
 Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2010, 
 Victory at Yorktown, Thomas Dunne Books, November 2012, 
 Miscellaneous fiction
 Duplicity: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 13, 2015, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Treason: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 11, 2016, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Vengance: A Novel, Center Street Press, October 10, 2017, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Collusion: A Novel, Broadside Books, April 30, 2019, co-author Pete Earley, 
 Shakedown: A Novel, Broadside Books, March 24, 2020, co-author Pete Earley,

Films 
 Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny, Gingrich Productions, 2009
 Nine Days That Changed the World, Gingrich Productions, 2010

See also 

 List of federal political scandals in the United States
 List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
 List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

Citations

General sources 

 Brattebo, Douglas M. (2012) "You're a Mean One, Mr. Gingrich: The Inbuilt, Ruinous Incivility of Newt", American Behavioral Scientist (2012) abstract 
 Drew, Elizabeth. (1996) Showdown: The Struggle Between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House (Simon and Schuster, 1996)
 
 Gillon, Steven M. (2008) The pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the rivalry that defined a generation (Oxford UP, 2008).
 Kabaservice, Geoffrey. (2012) Rule and ruin: the downfall of moderation and the destruction of the Republican party, from Eisenhower to the tea party (Oxford University Press, 2012)
 
 McSweeney, Dean and John E. Owens, eds. (1998) The Republican Takeover of Congress (1998).
 Maraniss, David, and Michael Weisskopf. (1996) Tell Newt to shut up!: prizewinning Washington Post journalists reveal how reality gagged the Gingrich revolution (Simon & Schuster, 1996)
 Nagle, John Copeland, and William N. Eskridge. (1995) "Newt Gingrich, Dynamic Statutory Interpreter." University of Pennsylvania Law Review 143: 2209–2250 online 
 Rae, Nicol C. (1998) Conservative Reformers: The Republican Freshmen and the Lessons of the 104th Congress (M.E. Sharpe, 1998)
 
 Steely, Mel. (2000) The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich (Mercer University Press, 2000)

External links 

 
 
 Committee for America
 Column archives at Human Events
 
 Booknotes interview with Gingrich on To Renew America, July 23, 1995
 In Depth interview with Gingrich, December 2, 2007
 Financial information (U.S. House campaigns) at the Federal Election Committee
 Biography at The American Enterprise Institute
 Biography at The Hoover Institute
 Newt Gingrich papers at the University of West Georgia 

 Articles
 The Long March of Newt Gingrich, PBS Frontline, Peter Boyer and Stephen Talbot, January 16, 1996. transcript chronology interviews work and writings

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

 
1943 births
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American politicians
American adoptees
American alternate history writers
American Enterprise Institute
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
American political commentators
American political writers
Anti-same-sex-marriage activists
Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election
Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state)
Catholics from Virginia
Censured or reprimanded members of the United States House of Representatives
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations
Emory University alumni
Fox News people
Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans
Kennesaw State University people
Living people
Members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
New Right (United States)
Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Novelists from Pennsylvania
People from Columbus, Georgia
People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
People from McLean, Virginia
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Right-wing populism in the United States
Speakers of the United States House of Representatives
The Washington Times people
Time Person of the Year
Tulane University alumni
University of West Georgia faculty
Virginia Republicans
Writers from Columbus, Georgia
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
American thriller writers Newt Gingrich has declared his position on many political issues through his public comments and legislative record, including as Speaker of the House. The political initiative with which he is most widely identified was the Contract With America, which outlined an economic and social agenda designed to improve the efficiency of government while reducing its burden on the American taxpayer. Passage of the Contract helped establish Gingrich's reputation as a public intellectual. His engagement of public issues has continued through to the present, in particular as the founder of American Solutions for Winning the Future.

Gingrich's policy reach covers everything from national security to personal responsibility, but Gingrich has been known to take stances that are different from the traditional Republican line. For instance, on immigration, he favors a strong border policy but also favors a guest worker program. He also supports the idea of electing presidents with the national popular vote instead of the Electoral College.

Gingrich has authored or co-authored 16 non-fiction books since 1982, several of them bestsellers. In recent years, his works have had a more large-scale policy focus, including Winning the Future, and the most recent, To Save America. In recent years, Gingrich has identified education as "the number one factor in our future prosperity", and received national attention for partnering with Al Sharpton and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to promote the issue.

"Replacement of the Left"

On November 18, 2010, Gingrich delivered a speech before the Republican Governors Association Conference in San Diego outlining 12 steps for what he called a "Replacement of the Left" strategy. In his speech, Gingrich said that the Republican election day victories of 2009 and 2010 should be followed by further victories over the next two years that would give the Republican party a large enough majority to replace what he called an increasingly leftist political system that has dominated American politics since 1932, largely through the influence of unelected bureaucracies. According to Gingrich, the strategy would be best pursued at the local level by lawmakers and activists in all 50 states rather than relying on leaders in Washington, D.C.

The 12 steps cover economic issues and entitlement reform, as well as education reform from K-12 through the collegiate level, including a "parents right to know" standards in education notifications. Specific steps address tying unemployment compensation to job training programs, replacing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) with state-based healthcare solutions and implementing ideas from business leaders to reduce the overall cost of government.

In December 2010, Gingrich began hosting the first of five scheduled Internet seminars to educate state lawmakers across the country about how to begin implementing the strategy before the 2012 elections.

Domestic policy

Abortion

Gingrich is generally regarded as a pro-life candidate. The policy section of Gingrich's 2012 campaign web site states that he would "end taxpayer subsidies for abortion by repealing Obamacare, defunding Planned Parenthood, and reinstating the 'Mexico City Policy' which banned funding to organizations that promote and/or perform abortions overseas".

In 1995, when he was Speaker of the House, Gingrich advocated taxpayer funding of abortion services in cases of rape, incest, or protecting the life of the mother. In 1998, influential Christian broadcaster James Dobson criticized Gingrich for not working hard enough to eliminate funding for family-planning programs. Gingrich has since modified his position to oppose federal funding of abortions in all cases.

In an interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News in late 2011, Gingrich stated that he believed life began at "implantation". He has been criticized by socially conservative Republican presidential primary opponents Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann for not consistently supporting the position that life begins at conception.

On December 12, 2011, he wrote to the board of The Family Leader that he "believes that life begins at conception". He promised on the first day of work as president to "sign an executive order reinstating President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy that prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions overseas"; he will "repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood".

Judiciary
In 2011, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for president, Gingrich became the "loudest and fiercest critic" among a Republican field of "judicial-branch haters," frequently criticizing federal judges and judges. In December 2011, Gingrich termed the courts "grotesquely dictatorial and far too powerful" and said that as president, he would abolish whole courts whose decisions he disagrees with, asking "Are we forced for a lifetime to keep someone on the bench who is so radically anti-American that they are a threat to the fabric of the country?" Gingrich has particularly singled out the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for criticism, saying that it should be abolished because it is too liberal and "radically Anti-American."

Gingrich has said that if elected president, he would defy Supreme Court rulings that he opposed, citing the 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush as an example. Gingrich also said that if president, he might ignore a Supreme Court ruling recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Gingrich has frequently criticized what he termed "judicial activism" and in an appearance on Face the Nation in 2011 suggested that Congress should subpoena federal judges and force them to explain themselves before Congress. When host Bob Schieffer asked how he would force federal judges to comply with congressional subpoenas, Gingrich said he would send the U.S. Capitol Police or U.S. Marshals to arrest the judges and force them to testify. Gingrich's proposal drew criticism across the political spectrum. Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe (who described it as "a frontal assault on the independence of the federal judiciary" and "one of the craziest and most obviously unconstitutional things the former Speaker has ever proposed"), prominent conservative lawyer Bruce Fein (who wrote that "Gingrich unwittingly is proposing to overthrow the Constitution that he would be pledged to uphold and defend if elected"), and U.S. District Judge John L. Kane (who wrote that Gingrich's proposal would contravene the rule of law and the notion of judicial independence as set forth in Federalist No. 78). Eventual 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former Republican Attorneys General Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales, conservative attorney Edward Whelan and the nonpartisan Justice at Stake group all criticized Gingrich's comments for similar reasons.

Gingrich has stated that he believes the Warren Court misinterpreted Marbury v. Madison in its Cooper v. Aaron decision and went too far in asserting that only the Supreme Court has final and binding interpretive authority over the two other branches of the federal government in defining the meaning of the Constitution.

Child labor laws

Gingrich has said that children should be able to work at an earlier age. He said: "You say to somebody, you shouldn't go to work before you're what, 14, 16 years of age, fine," Mr. Gingrich said. "You're totally poor. You're in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing. I've tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising." He later clarified his position, saying he was not proposing major changes in the law or encouraging children to seek jobs instead of attending school, but rather was "talking about working 20 hours a week and being empowered to succeed".

Campaign finance regulation

Gingrich opposes restrictions on campaign contributions, which he says make "it impossible for a candidate of average means to go out and raise the resources" needed for a campaign. In a 2006 article in the National Review, Gingrich stated that current campaign finance rules have moved the U.S. "dangerously closer to a plutocracy where the highest bidder can buy a seat."

Gingrich opposed the McCain–Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which was passed in 2002 and prohibits unrestricted donations to candidates from wealthy individuals, corporations and labor unions. In his book Winning the Future, Gingrich criticized McCain-Feingold for creating a "more irresponsible" system than before its passage, in which 527s and other extra-campaign activities increased, and "rich people ironically had an even greater impact" on elections. Among other unintended consequences, Gingrich writes, the election process has "devolved into an incumbency protection racket", whereby lobbyists and PACs raise large amounts of money for incumbents, discourage potential opponents, which frees incumbents to "spend more time at Washington PAC fundraisers". In addition, McCain–Feingold's "ridiculously low contribution limits" require candidates to spend even more time focused on raising money.

He has called for a system where individuals are allowed to donate unlimited amounts to Congressional candidates within their district, however requiring that all donations be reported online immediately.

Drug policy

In 1982, Gingrich wrote a letter supporting medical marijuana, a position he later abandoned. While serving in Congress, Gingrich introduced H.R. 4170, the Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996. The legislation would have required a court to sentence a first time drug importer to life in prison or a multiple-time offender to death.

In a November 2011 interview, Gingrich reaffirmed his support for giving the death penalty to some drug smugglers, such as cartel leaders, and said "we need to think through a strategy that makes it radically less likely that we're going to have drugs in this country". He commented that places with "very draconian" drug policies like Singapore have been the most successful at doing that.

Education

Gingrich favors rigorous mathematics and science instruction in public schools, introducing competition between schools and between teachers, and permitting public school prayer.

In 2009, Gingrich, alongside civil rights activist Al Sharpton and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, Arne Duncan, visited a number of U.S. schools that were implementing education reforms, on November 15, 2009, they appeared together on NBC's Sunday morning news and interview program Meet the Press. During their interview Gingrich said that "education is the number one factor in our future prosperity, it's the number one factor in national security and it's the number one factor in [our] young people having a decent future. I agree with Al Sharpton, this is the number one civil right of the 21st century."

Gingrich's 2010 book To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine, the chapter co-authored by Lisa Keegan, Nancy Sinnott Dwight, and Fred Asbell, states, "We must be an intellectually hungry, morally strong, and urgently demanding nation with an education system capable of responding to a voracious American desire to learn."

Student debt
During his 2012 presidential campaign, Gingrich criticized the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, saying it allowed students "to stay in college longer because they don’t see the cost." He further called it a "Ponzi scheme".

Electoral College 

In 2014, Gingrich sent a letter to John Koza of National Popular Vote Inc. endorsing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which presidents would be elected by the national popular vote and not by the United States Electoral College. In 2016, following Donald Trump's electoral victory but loss in the popular vote, Gingrich explained Trump didn't set out to win the popular vote and prioritized winning the Electoral College, "Remember, in 49 states, [Trump] had a 2.2 million-vote majority, and then there’s California ... We don’t compete in California."

Energy policy

On energy policy, Gingrich is most closely associated with proposals that would increase domestic energy production, and with opposition to policies that would increase energy costs through regulation, taxation or international treaties that would limit energy production. He has described his approach to finding new domestic energy sources as an all of the above' energy strategy". As Speaker of the House in 1998, Gingrich spoke out against a proposed federal gas tax. He has repeatedly stated that creating new energy regulations and taxes during an economic downturn would be a "recipe for disaster". Conversely, he has argued that lowering energy prices would create jobs and save Americans money.

In 2009, Gingrich's organization American Solutions for Winning the Future launched a "Stop the Energy Tax" petition campaign which  has collected over 230,000 signatures opposing the regulation of carbon by the Environmental Protection Agency and the enactment of any laws imposing "new energy taxes and/or establishing a national cap and trade system for carbon dioxide". Gingrich has opposed Barack Obama's proposed Cap-and-Trade legislation. In April 2009 he gave testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, saying it would have no impact on global temperatures while simultaneously hurting the American economy.

Also in 2008, American Solutions launched a widely noted campaign, "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." The group began circulating an online petition calling for the government to authorize new drilling onshore and offshore in an effort to lower gas and diesel prices. The petition drew over 1,450,000 signatures. In September 2008, the group took credit for helping to influence Congress' decision to lift its 25-year ban on offshore drilling.

Gingrich also published Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving Our Energy Crisis, which outlines a plan for reducing both gas prices and America's dependence on foreign oil. Throughout the book, Gingrich argues that gas prices and overall rising energy costs are a reflection of bad government policy rather than a scarcity of resources. Gingrich proposes tapping into American oil reserves along with pursuing other energy resources including nuclear, coal and renewable energy resources.

Gingrich is an advocate of a flex-fuel mandate for automobiles sold in the United States. He has stated that flex-fuel vehicles are important for national security, while also providing greater competition in the fuel market and improving consumer choice. Gingrich's advocacy of ethanol has been criticized by some conservative publications, including National Review and the Wall Street Journal.

Beginning in February 2012, Gingrich responded to the rising price of gasoline nationwide by emphasizing his proposal for American energy independence as a major theme of his campaign. In a letter published by Human Events, Gingrich called for dramatically expanding the federal land open for oil and gas production with the stated goal of increasing supply. Citing oil prices of $1.13 a gallon on average from 1995 to 1999, and $1.89 a gallon when President Obama took office, Gingrich suggested $2.50 a gallon could be an attainable price with policies that permitted the maximum increase in gasoline production. On February 19, 2011, in an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Gingrich was critical of the Obama administration's energy policies and accused the president of being "anti-American–energy." Subsequently, President Obama announced a speech on energy policy on February 23, 2011, which news organizations including MSNBC, CBS and the Wall Street Journal attributed in part to Gingrich's criticisms.

Entitlement reform

In writings, speeches and interviews, Gingrich has argued that Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other entitlement programs are fiscally unsustainable. Without reform, according to Gingrich, this will cause major financial problems, such as large benefit reductions or massive tax increases. In order to avoid these outcomes, Gingrich supports what he calls a "replacement approach" to entitlement reform. He argues that entitlement programs need fundamental restructuring in order to strengthen incentives for work and productivity. Gingrich cites the reform of Aid to Families with Dependent Children passed in the 1990s as a model for future policymaking. Gingrich has argued that the current welfare and unemployment insurance system continues to create work disincentives that trap people in poverty. He has proposed replacing these systems with an offer of guaranteed employment for the able-bodied, preferably in the private sector to save taxpayer money, or retraining. Beneficiaries who work enough hours would receive Medicare vouchers and housing assistance.

He also supports personal accounts for Social Security and Medicare, funded using the employee's portion of FICA payroll taxes, to replace all or part of the benefits paid under the current system. According to Gingrich, private accounts would offer workers retirement and medical benefits much better than what these programs currently offer while greatly reducing the need for government spending.

In May 2011, following an appearance on Meet the Press, Gingrich was criticized by some conservatives for using the phrase "right-wing social engineering" in apparent reference to Rep. Paul Ryan's voucher system plan for Medicare. In later statements, Gingrich said he was speaking to a general principle that major reforms require the support of the American people, and offered support for Ryan's efforts to promote reform.

Environment

Gingrich describes himself as a "Teddy Roosevelt Republican" and has professed a deep interest in conservation and maintaining biological diversity. Before being elected to Congress, he taught an environmental studies class at West Georgia College, and while in office, he was known as one of the most environmentally conscious Republicans. Gingrich co-sponsored the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act and supported the 1990 Clean Air Act and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Fund.

In 2007, Gingrich released the book A Contract with the Earth, co-written with Terry Maple. In the book, Gingrich presented his policies for a market-based approach to environmentalism that incentivizes conservation and green technology, rather than relying on regulations or litigation. In particular, Gingrich has proposed using monetary prizes and tax incentives to spur environmentally friendly innovations, such as hydrogen engines, 100-mile-per-gallon conventional fuel engines and ethanol fuels that do not rely on corn or cane sugar.

In January 2011, Gingrich proposed the Environmental Protection Agency be replaced with a new organization called the Environmental Solutions Agency, which would be "dedicated to bringing together science, technology, entrepreneurs, incentives and local creativity to create a cleaner environment through smarter regulation". Gingrich criticized the EPA for focusing only on regulations and litigation, rather than innovation. He said the new agency's major energy projects would be working on developing clean coal and rewriting regulations governing the development of small nuclear plants.

Climate change

According to Science magazine, Gingrich changed his view on climate change "from cautious skeptic in the late 1980s to believer in the late 2000s to skeptic again during the [2016] campaign."

In February 2007 Gingrich stated that he "would strongly support" a cap and trade system for reducing carbon emissions based on the success of the Acid Rain Program enacted by Congress during his tenure. He later changed his position, saying that such a trading system "would lead to corruption, political favoritism, and would have a huge impact on the economy".

In April 2007 Gingrich called for "Green conservatism" and carbon-reduction tax credits. More recently Gingrich has expressed skepticism that mankind is significantly altering the climate and has preferred curbing carbon emissions through market-incentives instead of by taxes or cap-and-trade plans. He has opposed the Kyoto Protocol, stating that the protocols unfairly favor Europe, China and India to the disadvantage of the U.S.

In 2008, Gingrich accepted an invitation from Al Gore to appear with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a commercial produced by one of Gore's climate advocacy organizations. In the ad, Gingrich stated that he and Pelosi "agree our country must take action to address climate change". In 2011, Gingrich said his appearance in the ad was "the dumbest single thing I've done".

Free speech

Gingrich opposed a Senate amendment to the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that banned "indecent" content from the Internet, saying it "is clearly a violation of free speech and it's a violation of the right of adults to communicate with each other". The amendment remained in the enacted legislation, but in Reno v. ACLU (1997) the Supreme Court struck it down.

Gingrich was one of the 71 co-sponsors of a bill to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine after the Federal Communications Commission stopped enforcing the rule in 1987. In 2006, he indicated that free speech might need to be curtailed to fight terrorism, saying "Either before we lose a city or, if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us to stop them from recruiting people."

Health care

Gingrich opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Through his organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future, Gingrich organized an online petition that secured over 100,000 signatures to support its repeal in the United States House of Representatives.

In February 2010, Gingrich and John C. Goodman, the founding president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, presented a 10-point consumer driven health care plan. Outlined in the Wall Street Journal, the plan proposes reforms to make health insurance more affordable, create alternatives to Medicare cuts, protect early retirees, cover the needs of the chronically ill, and protect doctors against frivolous lawsuits. In the book To Save America, also published in 2010, Gingrich described PPACA as "a dead end of higher taxes, bigger government, more bureaucracy and a decaying health system". With co-author Nancy Desmond, Gingrich outlined proposals for improving the American healthcare industry through a variety of means including: an overhaul of the U.S. medical research system that would reduce wastefulness, modernizing the FDA, eliminating Medicare fraud and abuse, and implementing a system of what they describe as "personalized medicine" that would improve care for individuals while reducing the costs associated with treatment. Gingrich has also called for transparency in the prices of medical devices, noting it is one of the few aspects or U.S. health care where consumers and federal health officials are "barred from comparing the quality, medical outcomes or price".

Gingrich supported the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, creating the Medicare Part D federal prescription drugs benefit program. While he has received some criticism from conservatives over the cost of the plan, Gingrich has reiterated his support in years since, saying that it represented necessary modernization of the system, as Medicare was created in the 1960s, before pharmaceutical drugs were in widespread use. He also stated that the costs of providing medication must be balanced against the decreased need for medical procedures. The same year, Gingrich founded the Center for Health Transformation to develop and advocate for "transformational" solutions that improve the quality of care, lower costs and expand coverage to all Americans. The Center has played a role in opposing PPACA, arguing that the plan will increase costs for both taxpayers and consumers and expand insurance coverage by growing government. The Center has released a series of charts highlighting different aspects of the legislation, focusing on the 159 new bureaucratic organizations it would create; the ten-year implementation timeline of nearly 500 related deadlines, mandates and taxes; and a claimed 1,968 new and expanded powers granted to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In an April 2006 newsletter the Center defended the individual mandate in Romneycare, describing "[i]ndividuals who can afford to purchase health insurance and simply choose not to" as "free-riders." In a May 15, 2011, interview with David Gregory on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that "all of us have a responsibility to pay – help pay for health care", and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage. In the same interview he said: "I don't think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate." This comment caused a great deal of back-lash within the Republican Party and from conservative pundits. Later, on his web site, he expanded on his comments by saying he believes the federal mandate contained in the PPACA is unconstitutional and that he believes individual states should be able to decide the best way to implement healthcare programs for their citizens.

Jobs

Gingrich generally favors policies intended to stimulate job growth through reductions in government regulations and federal taxes. In September 1994, Gingrich co-authored the Contract With America, which included the Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act. The act advocated for capital gains cuts and strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act. His 1995 book, To Renew America, outlined related ideas, including employer initiatives to make employees key players in improving processes and products.

Gingrich has also spoken out against unions, saying they prefer protection over competition, which hurts the economy. He has also argued that industry lawsuits lower the incentive to create jobs and invest in the American economy.

Starting 2009, Gingrich's American Solutions advocacy organization launched a campaign called "Jobs Here. Jobs Now. Jobs First", also known as the "Real Jobs Tour", to address the issue of high unemployment levels, then approaching 10 percent across the United States. The plan put forth by the group outlined five major tax cuts to boost the American economy, including: a two-year, 50 percent reduction in payroll taxes; a 100 percent annual write-off for small businesses' new equipment purchases; adoption of the Irish corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent; and the abolishment of the estate tax and capital gains tax.

In December 2009, Gingrich hosted a jobs summit to rival one held by President Obama, focusing on tax cuts and other market-oriented incentives to spur job growth. Gingrich has been a consistent opponent of Obama's economic policies, and in October 2010 took part in his own 11-city tour to criticize the White House's economic agenda.

Lean Six Sigma

Gingrich has embraced the Lean Six Sigma principles for waste management and espouses their use in reducing the federal deficit. He was introduced to Lean Six Sigma in 2007, and has since encouraged the use of the methods for corporate and government waste reduction. In June 2011, Gingrich was the first Republican presidential candidate to sign the Lean Six Sigma "Strong America Now" pledge. The pledge commits to reducing federal government spending and starting to pay down the national debt by 2017. In a speech to the Heritage Foundation in August 2011, he stated that the waste cutting methods should be used to address the deficit, and estimated that through their application the government could identify a $3 trillion saving over 10 years by December 2011.

National security
During a 2008 appearance at Huntington, New York, Gingrich said: "The more successful they've been at intercepting and stopping bad guys the less proof there is that we're in danger. The better they've done at making sure there isn't an attack the easier it is to say there was never going to be an attack anyway. It's almost as if they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us." He said: "I would divide the FBI into two agencies. I would have an anti-domestic crime FBI which was very cautious, very respectful of civil liberties, you are innocent until proven guilty. And I would have a small but very aggressive anti-terrorism agency. And I would frankly give them extraordinary ability to eavesdrop. And my first advice to civil libertarians is simple. Don't plot with terrorists."

Prison reform

Gingrich supports prison reform; he has stated that spending on prisons is too high, and increasing incarceration is unsustainable. According to a Washington Post op-ed Gingrich co-authored with Pat Nolan, as a supporter of the conservative "Right on Crime Campaign", he is in favor of diverting funding from prisons to probation services and "proven community corrections approaches". In April 2011, Gingrich wrote to the NAACP in support of its call for criminal justice system reform. The letter emphasized the need for "humane alternatives" to incarceration and the potential for prison reform to create savings for taxpayers. He also placed emphasis on the impact of current criminal justice policies on communities and stated that he supports a reform that includes "policies that will strengthen the families, neighborhood institutions, and places of worship that we as conservatives believe are the central pillars of society."

Religion

Speaking in San Antonio, Texas, on March 26, 2011, Gingrich said, "I have two grandchildren—Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American." He referred to his decision to seek office again, pointing to a 2002 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional, saying, "I had been watching the courts grow steadily more secular and steadily more anti-religious starting with the 1963 school prayer decision. But for some reason this particular decision struck me as so blindingly stupid, so profoundly un-American."

Gingrich has described Sharia as a "mortal threat" and called for federal legislation that would ban its use throughout the United States. During a town hall meeting in South Carolina, after being asked whether he would endorse a Muslim for president, he replied that he would only do so if the person denounced Sharia or refused to impose it on others. In 2016, Gingrich advocated for the mass deportation of all American Muslims who practice Sharia.

Amid controversy surrounding the Park51 mosque envisioned to be built near the World Trade Center site, Gingrich announced his opposition to it, stating, "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over." He also said, "We as Americans don't have to tolerate people who are supportive of violence against us, building something at the site of the violence." He compared the construction of Park51 with "putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum".

Same-sex marriage

Although his half-sister, Candace Gingrich, is a lesbian LGBT rights advocate, Gingrich opposes gay marriage. Speaking in Iowa in 2011, Gingrich said he thinks marriage is between a man and a woman, and told reporters that he "would like to find ways to defend that view as legitimately and effectively as possible". He said that the U.S. government should be defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). His 2012 campaign web site says that he would "nominate conservative judges who are committed to upholding Constitutional limited government and understand that the role of the judges is to interpret the law, not legislate from the bench". Gingrich believes the Republican Party should accept the reality that several states allow same-sex marriage and accept the distinction between "a marriage in a church" and "a legal document issued by the state".

Gingrich had been criticized for opposing same-sex marriage while having been married three times and divorced twice. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass) said he looks "forward to debating, to take one important example, the Defense of Marriage Act with Mr. Gingrich. I think he is an ideal opponent for us, when we talk about just who it is, is threatening the sanctity of marriage."

Space exploration

Gingrich is a lifelong astronautics enthusiast; he initially became fascinated with the United States/Soviet Union space race when he was a teenager. , he serves on the National Space Society Board of Governors.

Gingrich is an advocate of space exploration technology, and has stated that the United States should place more emphasis on realizing landmark achievements in space exploration. He has been a vocal critic of NASA, which he has described as too bureaucratic, inefficient, and no longer able to foster ambitious projects such as the 1969 moon landing. He has cited the building of the International Space Station as an example of a program that developed too slowly and was too expensive and the Space Launch System as a pork barrel project. Gingrich advocates greater reliance on the private sector and recommends incentivizing innovation through tax credits and by allocating 10 percent of the Nasa budget for prizes. He also supports initiating federally regulated commercial launch services. According to Gingrich, these changes would allow NASA to focus on advanced technological development and exploratory research. Gingrich's vision for the future of American space programs includes further solar system exploration, space travel for consumers and a sustained civilization beyond earth. He got the nickname of Newt Skywalker for his ideas.

Gingrich advocates the formation of a permanent manned lunar base by 2020, the presumed end of his 2nd presidential term, and has tried to introduce legislation in 1981, the Northwest Ordinance for Space, that would enable the moon colony to become the 51st state upon reaching a population of 13,000 residents. The colony concept was called an "ambitious goal" by Neil deGrasse Tyson who criticized its reliance on the private sector which Tyson describes as unwilling to solely fund such exploratory efforts. Tyson went on to explain that public/private efforts such as NASA partnering with private companies is already happening.

State bankruptcy option

As an alternative to federal bailouts, Gingrich advocates revising federal law to allow states to voluntarily declare bankruptcy. In a Los Angeles Times opinion article co-written with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Gingrich argued such a provision would allow states to reorganize their finances and free them from contractual obligations, specifically with government employee unions. In the op-ed, Gingrich wrote that many government employee pension systems are "bloated, broken and underfunded" and are "perhaps the most significant hurdles for many states trying to restore fiscal health." However, Gingrich also said the new laws must respect the sovereignty of the citizens of a state, as well as limit judicial power over the bankruptcy process.

Stem cell research

Gingrich supported stem cell research in the past, but now opposes embryonic stem cell research.

Taxes

Gingrich favors keeping federal and state taxes as low as possible in order to encourage economic growth. He has stated that he believes the corporate tax rate in the United States is too high and inhibits economic growth and job creation. Pointing to emerging competitors such as India and China, which offer lower corporate tax rates than the United States, Gingrich has recommended the U.S. adopt something similar to Ireland's 12.5% corporate income tax. Gingrich opposes efforts by some Democrats to increase taxes on capital gains. Instead he proposes eliminating the capital gains tax entirely, for both individuals and businesses, to increase incentives for entrepreneurship. Gingrich is an opponent of inheritance taxes, referring to current policy as the "death tax", and argues that abolishing the inheritance tax will create "hundreds of thousands" of new jobs. Gingrich also views the estate tax as a form of double taxation.

TARP

In late 2008, Gingrich voiced his strong opposition to the Troubled Asset Relief Program. He described the $700 billion plan as "socialism" and "just wrong", saying that "it's likely to fail, and it's likely to make the situation worse over time." Gingrich reiterated that the bailout was "essentially wrong" in other appearances on Fox News on September 23 and 24, 2008. Some commentators have speculated that he undercut John McCain by rallying the conservative elements in the House to vote no on the bailout.

On September 29, 2008, Gingrich reversed course and stated that he would "reluctantly and sadly" support the program. He also called for then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to resign. He stated, ""The Bush Administration has now provided three case studies in arrogance, isolation, and destructiveness: Michael Brown during Hurricane Katrina, Ambassador Jerry Bremer in Baghdad, and Secretary Paulson at Treasury."

Immigration

Gingrich has advanced "a nuanced position" on immigration reform that emphasizes border security and enforcement of immigration laws, as well as expanded immigration and visa programs for law-abiding workers. In a 2006 article in National Review, he called for the formation of "an intelligent center-Right coalition" that "would be for both security and immigration, for accuracy in identity (including a voter card with id and a biometric worker visa card) and patriotic integration of those who want to become American." In January 2011, Gingrich held a forum on Latino issues where he announced a goal to overhaul the country's immigration system so that every worker in the United States is legal within a decade.

Gingrich has argued the first priority for immigration reform is tighter border control. He has pushed for Congress to pass a narrowly written emergency border bill to finish the border fence between the United States and Mexico in less than a year and have complete border control within two years. In addition to greater border control, Gingrich has advocated for measures to discourage the hiring and harboring of illegal immigrants, such as shifting Internal Revenue Service resources to audit companies that employ illegal immigrants and cutting off federal aid to cities, counties or states that refuse to enforce immigration laws. He has frequently argued for using credit card companies to develop identification cards and a real-time system to verify citizenship.

Mr. Gingrich has proposed the building of a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border by Jan. 1, 2014, telling a Tea Party audience it was long overdue, "We won the entire second World War in 44 months, and now in 25 years we can't control the border when the entire Texas side of the border is a river."

Gingrich has been generally opposed to the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, but he has also decried complete amnesty, calling instead for "a humanitarian period of transition as we replace an illegal channel of immigration with a legal one." For example, he advocates using different rules for immigrants who came to the United States as children than those who came as adults, and he has called some parts of the DREAM Act "useful", although he objects to other parts of the bill. He has said the primary targets for deportation should be felons and gang members.

Gingrich supports an expanded temporary worker program, with a special open-ended visa for high value workers. He believes workers who immigrated illegally but have family and a clean criminal record should have first opportunity to get temporary worker visas, but they should be required to return to their country of origin to get the visa.

Gingrich is an advocate of making English the national language of the United States. He supports offering intensive English education to immigrants wishing to learn and has called for requiring immigrants to pass a test on American history in English. He also has said that immigrants should give up the right to vote in other countries to become an American citizen.

Gingrich said in a CNN debate held November 22, 2011 that: "I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century." He also said: "And I'm prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families."

Foreign policy

Gingrich has called for a stronger foreign policy, along the lines of the "Reagan model" of toughness", having been critical of the "weakness" of recent administrations' policies. In 2006 Gingrich criticized George W. Bush's stance toward North Korea and Iran, stating that it was "a form of appeasement". He said, "We have accepted the lawyer-diplomatic fantasy that talking while North Korea builds bombs and missiles while the Iranians build bombs and missiles is progress." He has also severely criticized the foreign policy of President Obama for being too weak. Gingrich singled out Obama's responses to terrorism, North Korea, and Iran as particularly problematic. On North Korea he said, "There was amazing symbolism in North Korea deciding to launch a missile the very day President Obama was speaking to Europeans about his fantasy of nuclear disarmament. The West has talked with North Korea for over 15 years and they just keep building nuclear weapons and missiles. We have been talking with the Iranians for a decade and they continue to build nuclear capability and missiles."

Middle East

Afghanistan

Gingrich strongly supports the War in Afghanistan even though at times Gingrich has stated that the war in Afghanistan might not end well. Gingrich also stated in June 2011, "There is a radical Islamist war against America and our allies. It would be helpful if President Obama had found time in his speech tonight to explain to the American people how we are going to win this war. Giving a speech in isolation about our military operations in Afghanistan without explaining how it connects with a larger strategy for winning the war against radical Islamists does not help Americans understand what it will take to provide for the security of the American people."

Egypt

Gingrich has been very critical of Obama's handling of the crisis in Egypt, and has warned of the possibility that Egypt might "go the way of Iran". Gingrich said, "I think this is a period of tremendous challenge and is a sign of the general failure of our strategy of not dealing with radical Islamists and not being honest and aggressive of what's going on around the world." Gingrich also said that the Obama administration had failed to take the Middle East seriously and that Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo designed to improve relations with the Muslim world was a mistake. Gingrich said, "The president went to Cairo and gave his famous speech in which he explained that we should all be friends together because we're all the same people doing the same things and there are no differences between us. Well, I think there are a lot of differences between the Muslim Brotherhood and the rest of us."

Iran

In a November 2011 presidential candidates' debate, Gingrich "called for replacing the leadership of Iran and said that could be accomplished within a year".

In a 2009 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), he had called for the withdrawal of funds from Durban II, suspending Iran's right to vote at the United Nations and cutting off supplies of gasoline to Iran in order to force regime change. Gingrich has also said he would "wage real cyber warfare" to initiate a regime change in Iran and would be prepared to use military force, as a last resort, to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. At the December 2011 New Hampshire GOP debate, Gingrich said that the idea of a bombing campaign to accurately take out all of Iran's nuclear program is "a fantasy. It would be a gigantic mess, with enormous collateral civilian casualties." Gingrich told the New Hampshire Union Leader in November 2011 that before agreeing to military action, he would first promote covert action and cyber warfare, fund dissident groups and wage economic warfare to effect regime change.

Iraq

Gingrich was supportive of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the deposition of Saddam Hussein from power. By 2006, Gingrich said the mission in Iraq was "clearly failing" and suggested the size of Iraqi forces be doubled and an "Iraqi Citizen Jobs Corps," in the style of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, be created to stabilize the region.

Israel

As an informal adviser to the Pentagon in June 2003, Gingrich prepared a six-page memo for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In the document, he outlined "Seven Strategic Necessities" for U.S. policy in the Middle East following the invasion of Iraq. His suggestions included advice on how to approach ongoing conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians, noting that "America does not have a doctrine for total war against an enemy who is hiding behind a civilian population." According to The Washington Post, Rumsfeld "put a small check next to that paragraph". In a 2009 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Gingrich called for creating an alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a December 2011 interview, Gingrich referred to the Palestinians as "an invented people" and called the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a "delusional" undertaking. He confirmed these statements in the Republican Presidential Debate on December 10, 2011, adding that he considers both Fatah and Hamas to be terrorist organizations. He has also said that there is no Palestinian right of return.

Libya
During the 2011 Libyan civil war, Gingrich changed his position on U.S. military intervention in Libya, for which he was criticized by some commentators.

On February 24, Gingrich told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren that he supported getting rid of Gaddafi but without military force.

On March 7, however, Gingrich stated that President Obama should "exercise a no-fly zone this evening." On March 23, Gingrich said: "I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Gaddafi." In a subsequent statement on Facebook the same day, Gingrich attempted to clarify his remarks, stating that when President Obama publicly declared "it's time for Gaddafi to go" on March 3, he "put the prestige and authority of the United States" on the line and anything short of regime change would have been seen as a defeat for the United States. According to Gingrich, "the President should have moved immediately to consult with Congress to implement a no-fly zone" but instead "wasted weeks trying to get approval from the United Nations instead of Congress" resulting in a change of mission from ousting Gaddafi to one of humanitarian intervention.

Promoting democracy

In early 2011, Gingrich called for the promotion of democracy around the world, saying that the US should be encouraging countries to renounce dictatorial forms of government. Gingrich has stated he believes that the U.S. should push the message that "America stands for freedom". Gingrich specifically mentioned Egypt, Russia, China, and Cuba as places the United States should be applying pressure. As part of the promotion of democracy, Gingrich has said that he wants to re-think the current model of foreign aid. He says the focus of reform should be on shifting funding and responsibility away from governments and into NGOs. Gingrich has previously argued that government-to-government foreign aid programs are detrimental to the promotion of democracy since they "prop up" repressive governments and allow them to retain control.

Use of torture

Gingrich's position on the use of torture has changed over time. In 1997, while speaker of the House speaker, Gingrich raised the issue in a meeting with then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin, saying that "Republican leaders made explicitly clear our unwavering commitment to human rights and individual liberty" and that "There is no place for torture and arbitrary detention."

In a January 2009 interview, Gingrich stated: "I am totally opposed to the United States using any form of torture to obtain information as a matter of public policy. Under extraordinary circumstances, the government has a duty to do what it takes to protect Americans, but such cases must be personally authorized by the president."

In an April 2009 television appearance, when asked whether waterboarding was torture, Gingrich said that the question was "debatable" and that "I honestly don't know" the answer. Gingrich stated that however the practice was characterized, waterboarding was "something we shouldn't do" but then stated that there are "very rare circumstances where extreme measures" should be used. In a May 2009 interview, Gingrich said that "waterboarding is not torture" and defended the use of "specific enhanced interrogation techniques in specific circumstances against very high-level terrorists."

In a November 2011 Republican primary debate, Gingrich expressed support for "enhanced interrogation techniques" (a euphemism for torture). At a December 2011 campaign event, Gingrich took the position that waterboarding was technically not torture but that it should be used only at the direction of the president and in extraordinary circumstances.<ref>Ben Armbruster, Gingrich Changes His Position: 'Waterboarding Is, By Every Technical Rule, Not Torture', ThinkProgress (November 29, 2011).</ref>

United Nations
Gingrich supports the ideals of the United Nations Charter, but believes that the organization itself is deeply corrupt and in need of reform. Gingrich served as co-chair with former senator George Mitchell on the United States Institute of Peace's Task Force on the United Nations, which issued a report calling for the abolition of the current UN Human Rights Commission and replacement with a new Human Rights Council Gingrich sees the main problem at the United Nations being that a large group of developing countries, often referred to as the Group of 77, exploit the "one-country, one-vote" system in attempts to transfer wealth from the world's rich nations to themselves. Gingrich also points to fraud and embezzlement within the UN such as the Oil-for-Food scandal, anti-Western and anti-Israel bias within its human-rights organs, sexual assaults committed by peacekeepers, and a lack of sincere commitment to human rights as major problems that call for reform. Gingrich believes that the United States should spearhead an effort to reform the United Nations. Specifically, he calls for creating an independent oversight body, similar to corporate audit committees, to oversee financial matters, developing a clear-cut definition of terrorism emphasizing that violence against civilians is not acceptable, enhanced sanctions against human-rights violators, and a human rights body with rigorous standards for membership.

Ukraine
In September 2016 Gingrich stated in an interview to Europeiska Pravda that if Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election he would likely lift the ban on supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine and called the ban "a defeat for the United States." (At the time Ukraine was embroiled in the War in Donbass.)

Criticism of Obama administration

Gingrich has been a longtime critic of Barack Obama, whom he described as "the most radical president in American history". Gingrich has argued that it is necessary to "save America" and stop Obama's "secular socialist machine". He has characterized the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as leading America towards authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and the end of democracy.

Gingrich was criticized in 2010 by Andy Card, George W. Bush's White House chief of staff, for remarks he made during an interview with National Review, in which he said "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? ... That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior." Card referred to Gingrich's comments as "not helpful" to Republicans trying to win in the 2010 elections.

In his book To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine, Gingrich said, "The secular socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did."

Relationship with Donald Trump
During Gingrich's 2012 presidential campaign, Donald Trump kept it ambiguous whether he would endorse him or Mitt Romney. Trump eventually endorsed Romney.

During Trump's 2016 Republican primary campaign, Gingrich was supportive of Trump's candidacy though refrained from giving an outright endorsement, defending him against criticisms from other establishment Republicans. After Trump's primary win in Indiana, Gingrich endorsed Trump and expressed a willingness to serve as his running mate if he were to be selected. CNN described Gingrich as "one of Trump’s most blunt advisers," referencing Gingrich's criticism of Trump's attack on Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel for being biased against him due to his Mexican heritage. Gingrich called Trump's remarks "inexcusable" which led to Trump retorting on how it was "inappropriate" for Gingrich to publicly criticize him. Nevertheless, Gingrich remained a top pick for Trump's running mate, becoming a finalist alongside state governors Mike Pence and Chris Christie. Ultimately, Pence was chosen to be Trump's vice presidential pick, though Gingrich remained a contender for a possible cabinet position, specifically secretary of state, ahead of the general election. After Trump's electoral victory, Gingrich's involvement in the upcoming Trump administration continued to remain in speculation until he officially declined consideration on November 17, 2016.

Following the 2020 election, Gingrich wrote an article for The Washington Times'' declaring he would not accept Joe Biden as president and how he felt the election wasn't "legitimate or honorable". Ahead of the 2022 midterms, Gingrich and Trump started work on a new "Trumpified" Contract with America.

References

External links
Newt.org

Newt Gingrich
Gingrich, Newt
Gingrich, Newt