Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives A. Halleck who became Republican House leader and Minority Leader from 1959 to 1965, Hale Boggs who died in a plane crash, and Dick Gephardt who became the Democrats' House leader but as Minority Leader since his party lost control in the 1994 midterm elections. Since 1995, the only Majority Leader to become Speaker is John Boehner, though indirectly as his party lost control in the 2006 midterms elections. He subsequently served as Republican House leader and Minority Leader from 2007 to 2011 and then was elected Speaker when the House reconvened in 2011. In 1998, with Speaker Newt Gingrich
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to members of the House from the majority party. Neither does the Speaker regularly participate in floor debates. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be an elected member of the House of Representatives, although every Speaker thus far has been. The Speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the Vice President and ahead of the President "pro tempore" of the Senate. The current House Speaker is Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin. He was elected to the office on October 29, 2015, and is the 54th person to serve as Speaker. On April 11,