Dean of the United States House of Representatives
| Dean of the United States House of Representatives | |
|---|---|
| United States House of Representatives | |
| Member of | United States House of Representatives |
| Seat | Washington, D.C. |
| First holder |
Frederick Muhlenberg March 1789 |
The Dean of the United States House of Representatives is the longest continuously serving member of the House. The current Dean is John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan who has served in the House since January 3, 1965. The Dean is a symbolic post whose only customary duty is to swear in a Speaker of the House when he or she is elected. The Dean comes forward on the House Floor to administer the oath to the Speaker-elect before the new Speaker then administers the oath to the other members. The Dean does not preside over the election of the Speaker, unlike the Father of the House in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the Dean of the Canadian House of Commons.
Because of other privileges associated with seniority, the Dean is usually allotted some of the most desirable office space, and is generally either chair or ranking minority member of an influential committee.
It is unclear when the position first achieved concrete recognition, though the seniority system and increasing lengths of service emerged in the early 20th century. As late as 1924, Frederick H. Gillett was Dean, and also Speaker, before becoming a Senator. Modern Deans move into their positions so late in their careers that a move to the Senate is highly unlikely. When Ed Markey broke Gillett's record for time in the House before moving to the Senate in 2013 he was still decades junior to the sitting Dean.
The Deanship can change hands unexpectedly. In the 1952 election, Adolph J. Sabath became the first Representative elected to a 24th term, breaking the record of 23 terms first set by former Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon, whose service had been discontinuous, whereas Sabath's was not. North Carolina's Robert L. Doughton had not contested that election as he was retiring at the age of 89 years and two months, a House age record broken in 1998 by Sidney R. Yates, and again by Ralph Hall in 2012. Claude Pepper, who died early in his final term in 1989, held the record for oldest winner of a House election until Hall broke it in 2012. However, Sabath died before the new term began and Doughton was Dean for the old term's final months before Speaker Sam Rayburn became Dean in the new Congress.
In 1994, Texas Democrat Jack Brooks was defeated by Steve Stockman in the year he was expected to succeed Jamie L. Whitten as Dean.[1]
The second longest-serving current member of the house is Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, who has served since 1971.
List of Deans of the House
Years as Dean are followed by name, party, state, and start of service in Congress.
All the members of the First Congress had equal seniority (as defined for the purpose of this article), but Muhlenberg as the Speaker was the first member to be sworn in. Muhlenberg, Hartley and Thatcher were among the 13 members who attended the initial meeting of the House on March 4, 1789.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries some state delegations to the House were often not elected until after the term had begun. To avoid confusion, this fact is ignored in the list below.
| Became Dean | Left House | Dean | Party | State | Seniority date | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1789 | March 1797 | Frederick Muhlenberg[upper-alpha 1] | Federalist | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1789 | Frederick Muhlenberg (PA-PA) – 1789 Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (PA-CT) – 1791 Frederick Muhlenberg (AA-PA) – 1793 Jonathan Dayton (F-NJ) – 1795 |
| March 1797 | December 1800 | Thomas Hartley[upper-alpha 2][upper-alpha 3] | Federalist | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1789 | Jonathan Dayton (F-NJ) – 1797 Theodore Sedgwick (F-MA) – 1799 |
| March 1801 | George Thatcher | Federalist | Massachusetts | |||
| March 1801 | March 1803 | William B. Grove[upper-alpha 3] | Federalist | North Carolina | March 4, 1791 | Nathaniel Macon (DR-NC) – 1801, 1803, 1805 Joseph Bradley Varnum (DR-MA) – 1807, 1809 Henry Clay (DR-KY) – 1811, 1813 Langdon Cheves (DR-SC) – 1814 |
| March 1807 | Andrew Gregg[upper-alpha 3] | Democratic-Republican | Pennsylvania | |||
| December 1815 | Nathaniel Macon[upper-alpha 4] | Democratic-Republican | North Carolina | |||
| December 1815 | April 1816 | Richard Stanford[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic-Republican | North Carolina | March 4, 1797 | Henry Clay (DR-KY) – 1815 |
| April 1816 | March 1817 | John Davenport | Federalist | Connecticut | March 4, 1799 | |
| March 1817 | March 1830 | Thomas Newton, Jr. | Democratic-Republican; Adams | Virginia | March 4, 1801 | Henry Clay (DR-KY) – 1817, 1819 John W. Taylor (DR-NY) – 1820 Philip Pendleton Barbour (DR-VA) – 1821 Henry Clay (DR-KY) – 1823 John W. Taylor (NR-NY) – 1825 Andrew Stevenson (D-VA) – 1827, 1829 |
| March 1830 | March 1833 | William McCoy | Jacksonian | Virginia | March 4, 1811 | Andrew Stevenson (D-VA) – 1831 |
| March 1833 | February 1842 | Lewis Williams[upper-alpha 2] | National Republican; Whig; Democratic | North Carolina | March 4, 1815 | Andrew Stevenson (D-VA) – 1833 John Bell (W-TN) – 1834 James K. Polk (D-TN) – 1835, 1837 Robert M. T. Hunter (W-VA) – 1839 John White (W-KY) – 1841 |
| February 1842 | March 1843 | Horace Everett[upper-alpha 3] | Whig | Vermont | March 4, 1829 | John Winston Jones (D-VA) – 1843 |
| April 1844 | Dixon H. Lewis | Democratic | Alabama | |||
| April 1844 | February 1848 | John Quincy Adams[upper-alpha 3] | Whig | Massachusetts | March 4, 1831 | John Wesley Davis (D-IN) – 1845 Robert Charles Winthrop (W-MA) – 1847 |
| March 1849 | James I. McKay | Democratic | North Carolina | |||
| March 1849 | March 1855 | Linn Boyd[upper-alpha 5] | Democratic | Kentucky | March 4, 1839 | Howell Cobb (D-GA) – 1849 Linn Boyd (D-KY) – 1851, 1853 |
| March 1855 | March 1859 | Joshua Reed Giddings | Republican | Ohio | May 5, 1842 | Nathaniel Prentice Banks (A-MA) – 1856 James Lawrence Orr (D-SC) – 1857 |
| March 1859 | March 1863 | John S. Phelps | Democratic | Missouri | March 4, 1845 | William Pennington (R-NJ) – 1860 Galusha A. Grow (R-PA) – 1861 |
| March 1863 | March 1869 | Elihu B. Washburne | Republican | Illinois | March 4, 1853 | Schuyler Colfax (R-IN) – 1863, 1865, 1867 Theodore Medad Pomeroy (R-NY) – 1869 |
| March 1869 | March 1875 | Henry L. Dawes | Republican | Massachusetts | March 4, 1857 | James G. Blaine (R-ME) – 1869, 1871, 1873 Joseph H. Rainey (R-SC) – 1874 James G. Blaine (R-ME) – 1874 |
| March 1875 | January 1890 | William D. Kelley[upper-alpha 2] | Republican | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1861 | Michael C. Kerr (D-IN) – 1875 Samuel J. Randall (D-PA) – 1876, 1877, 1879 J. Warren Keifer (R-OH) – 1881 John Griffin Carlisle (D-KY) – 1883, 1885, 1887 Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME) – 1889 |
| January 1890 | April 1890 | Samuel J. Randall[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1863 | |
| April 1890 | March 1891 | Joseph G. Cannon[upper-alpha 3] | Republican | Illinois | March 4, 1873 | Charles Frederick Crisp (D-GA) – 1891, 1893 |
| March 1892 | Roger Q. Mills[upper-alpha 3] | Democratic | Texas | |||
| March 1893 | James H. Blount[upper-alpha 3] | Democratic | Georgia | |||
| March 1895 | Richard P. Bland | Democratic | Missouri | |||
| March 1895 | March 1897 | David B. Culberson | Democratic | Texas | March 4, 1875 | Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME) – 1895 |
| March 1897 | September 1899 | Thomas Brackett Reed[upper-alpha 6] | Republican | Maine | March 4, 1877 | Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME) – 1897 |
| September 1899 | March 1912 | Henry H. Bingham[upper-alpha 2] | Republican | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1879 | David B. Henderson (R-IA) – 1899, 1901 Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-IL) – 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909 Champ Clark (D-MO) – 1911 |
| March 1912 | March 1913 | John Dalzell | Republican | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1887 | |
| March 1913 | December 1914 | Sereno E. Payne[upper-alpha 2] | Republican | New York | March 4, 1889 | Champ Clark (D-MO) – 1913 |
| December 1914 | April 1918 | William A. Jones[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | Virginia | March 4, 1891 | Champ Clark (D-MO) – 1915, 1917 |
| April 1918 | March 1919 | Henry Allen Cooper[upper-alpha 2][upper-alpha 3] | Republican | Wisconsin | March 4, 1893 | Frederick H. Gillett (R-MA) – 1919, 1921, 1923 |
| March 1925 | Frederick H. Gillett[upper-alpha 7] | Republican | Massachusetts | |||
| March 1925 | May 1928 | Thomas S. Butler[upper-alpha 2] | Republican | Pennsylvania | March 4, 1897 | Nicholas Longworth (R-OH) – 1925, 1927 |
| May 1928 | March 1933 | Gilbert N. Haugen | Republican | Iowa | March 4, 1899 | Nicholas Longworth (R-OH) – 1929 John Nance Garner (D-TX) – 1931 |
| March 1933 | April 1934 | Edward W. Pou[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | North Carolina | March 4, 1901 | Henry T. Rainey (D-IL) – 1933 |
| April 1934 | November 1952 | Adolph J. Sabath[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | Illinois | March 4, 1907 | Joseph W. Byrns (D-TN) – 1935 William B. Bankhead (D-AL) – 1936, 1937, 1939 Sam Rayburn (D-TX) – 1940, 1941, 1943, 1945 Joseph W. Martin, Jr. (R-MA) – 1947 Sam Rayburn (D-TX) – 1949, 1951 |
| November 1952 | January 1953 | Robert L. Doughton | Democratic | North Carolina | March 4, 1911 | |
| January 1953 | November 1961 | Sam Rayburn[upper-alpha 8][upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | Texas | March 4, 1913 | Joseph W. Martin, Jr. (R-MA) – 1953 Sam Rayburn (D-TX) – 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 |
| November 1961 | January 1965 | Carl Vinson[upper-alpha 9] | Democratic | Georgia | November 3, 1914 | John W. McCormack (D-MA) – 1962, 1963 |
| January 1965 | January 1973 | Emanuel Celler | Democratic | New York | March 4, 1923 | John W. McCormack (D-MA) – 1965, 1967, 1969 Carl Albert (D-OK) – 1971 |
| January 1973 | March 1976 | Wright Patman[upper-alpha 2] | Democratic | Texas | March 4, 1929 | Carl Albert (D-OK) – 1973, 1975 |
| March 1976 | January 1979 | George H. Mahon | Democratic | Texas | January 3, 1935 | Tip O'Neill (D-MA) – 1977 |
| January 1979 | January 1995 | Jamie L. Whitten[upper-alpha 9] | Democratic | Mississippi | November 4, 1941 | Tip O'Neill (D-MA) – 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 Jim Wright (D-TX) – 1987, 1989 Tom Foley (D-WA) – 1989, 1991, 1993 |
| January 1995 | January 2015 | John Dingell[upper-alpha 10][upper-alpha 9] | Democratic | Michigan | December 13, 1955 | Newt Gingrich (R-GA) – 1995, 1997 Dennis Hastert (R-IL) – 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – 2007, 2009 John Boehner (R-OH) – 2011, 2013 |
| January 2015 | present | John Conyers | Democratic | Michigan | January 3, 1965 | John Boehner (R-OH) – 2015 Paul Ryan (R-WI) – 2015 |
Notes
- ↑ Served as Speaker 1789–1791 and 1793–1795.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Died in office.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Never held sole deanship due to tie.
- ↑ Served as Speaker 1801–1807.
- ↑ Previously served in House 1835–1837; Served as Speaker 1851–1855.
- ↑ Served as Speaker 1889–1891 and 1895–1899.
- ↑ Served as Speaker 1919–1925.
- ↑ Served as Speaker 1955–1961.
- 1 2 3 Entered House to fill unexpired term.
- ↑ Longest serving House member ever and held the longest deanship.
See also
- Oldest living United States president
- List of the oldest living members of the United States House of Representatives
- Dean of the United States Senate
- Longest living United States Senator
- Earliest serving United States Senator
- Oldest living United States governor
- List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service
References
- ↑ Ron Hutcheson (July 25, 1994). "Texan in line as House dean – Jack Brooks has reputation as in-your-face politician". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 1.