Encore: Speakers of the House: Velvet Gloves and Iron Fists

Now & Then

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Society & Culture, History, News Commentary

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2022

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How did the Speaker of the House become such a crucial role in Washington? How do Speakers balance control with collaboration? And how can iconic Speakers from the past help to contextualize Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s tenure? On this encore presentation of an October 2021 episode of Now & Then, Heather and Joanne discuss significant Speakers of the House, from Henry Clay, to Thomas Brackett Reed, to Tip O’Neill. They also offer new insight on the significance and success of Pelosi’s speakership. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical analysis of current events, sign up for the free weekly CAFE Brief newsletter, featuring Time Machine, a weekly article that dives into an historical event inspired by each episode of Now & Then: cafe.com/brief For references & supplemental materials, head to: cafe.com/now-and-then/encore-speakers-of-the-house-velvet-gloves-and-iron-fists/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think that the holidays feel like frozen noses. I love walking with the dog for long periods of time.
0:10.0	Hopefully it's snowing and you've got to wrap up warm. So I think a frozen nose is a sweaty armpit
0:15.0	because your wrapped up so warm but then you're climbing hamps and heath and you get to the top
0:20.0	and you're like, and then you can see the breath but then your nose is still freezing to touch.
0:25.0	Join in every sip with red carp snown back at Starbucks.
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1:10.0	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is now and then.
1:15.0	I'm Heather Cox Richardson and I'm Joanne Freeman.
1:18.0	This week, the topic that we've chosen to address is related to the fact that on Thursday, November 17th,
1:25.0	House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she was not going to seek a leadership role in the next Congress.
1:31.0	Now, a little while back, now and then did an episode on speakers of the House, on the position of speaker, on well-known speakers,
1:40.0	and why they were well-known, and we thought that that would be an ideal episode to offer in the context of this week.
1:47.0	In part, because I think generally speaking, the speakership gets underplayed, and I think now people are really focused on it because of Nancy Pelosi stepping back.
1:57.0	So the episode offers some good context, but also it offers important context for the importance of this moment of change,
2:05.0	and what it might mean to have a new speaker of the House.
2:09.0	Especially now, when Ms. Pelosi is stepping down, she's 82 years old and stepping down only as speaker, she is going to continue to represent her district in the House.
2:19.0	But when she announced that she was going to step down, so did Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who was the number two Democrat, he is 83.
2:27.0	He also said he would not seek a leadership position, and it also appears, although it's not clear yet, that Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who is 82, and the number three Democrat,
	...

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