Of the Speakers of the House you actually remember please answer the following questions:

[Onlooker]

(1) Who's the first one you remember from his/her time in office, not from history books or documentaries?
(2) Who was the overall best?
(3) Worst?

1919–1925 Frederick H. Gillett (Mass.)
1925–1931 Nicholas Longworth (Ohio)
1931–1933 John N. Garner (Tex.)
1933–1934 Henry T. Rainey (Ill.)7
1935–1936 Joseph W. Byrns (Tenn.)8
1936–1940 William B. Bankhead (Ala.)9
1940–1947 Sam Rayburn (Tex.)
1947–1949 Joseph W. Martin, Jr. (Mass.)
1949–1953 Sam Rayburn (Tex.)
1953–1955 Joseph W. Martin, Jr. (Mass.)
1955–1961 Sam Rayburn (Tex.)10
1963–1971 John W. McCormack (Mass.)11
1971–1977 Carl Albert (Okla.)12
1977–1987 Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. (Mass.)13
1987–1989 James C. Wright, Jr. (Tex.)14
1989–1995 Thomas S. Foley (Wash.)
1995–1999 Newt Gingrich (Ga.)15
1999–2006 106–109 Dennis Hastert (Ill.)
2007– Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)

Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108918.html#ixzz11EhNGL00

The first one I remember is Carl Albert, who was a bland, ineffectual Democrat. As to who was best, it's a toss up between Nancy Pelosi and Tip O'Neill. I'll also say that Newt was amazing, but his agenda was evil and cynical.

[asjr]

1. I remember Jim Wright in Texas. When I lived

and worked in Texas during the 1960s I would speak to him every day on the phone in the summer about commodity prices. Very nice guy.

[bbinacan]

2. Tip is the first I remember. n/t

[DCKit]

3. Tip O'neill kept 'em civil.

They all went off the rails afterward.

Worst Ever? The last four, including Nancy Disaster. She could/should have shamed the (R)s far, far more than she has thus far. At least one of the others should have been tried for treason.

But that's just my perspective.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

4. Tip O'Neill is the first I remember.

I think he was also the best, at least from what I can remember.

[KingFlorez]

5. Gingrich through Pelosi

Gingrich was the first one I remember, he was such a spectacle, it was hard not to know about him. Of course, Pelosi is the best of the ones of known of and Gingrich is the worst.

[Bitwit1234]

6. Sam Rayburn he had it and something about Carl Albert

he was the Democrat who got Inofe to run for congress. Inofe was an insurance salesman and started a company that he got in trouble in, Albert with his pull stopped the state from investigating and arresting him. He went on to help his get elected. I will never think Albert is a good Democrat. never never and I can't understand why the elected him speaker. Politics...

[karynnj]

7. How - That alone should make Albert the worst Democrat -

He can't beat Gingrich as the worst over all though - and you have to be pretty bad to get past letting a crook off - especially as he went on to become the leader of the flat earth caucus in the Senate. (His obnoxious comments to Gore when Gore came to teh environmental committee were really bad. His Senate floor comments, which Kerry and Boxer teamed to completely refute were spectacularly bad.

The fist speaker I remember the name of is McCormick, but I remember nothing of substance about him. (I suspect I needed to know the name because "it was going to be on the test".

[Drunken Irishman]

8. First I remember was Gingrich. Best overall was probably John McCormack. Worst? Newt.

[GentryDixon]

9. Sam Rayburn.

I am dating myself!

[charlyvi]

10. Me too.

Damn. Did you ever think we'd get this old? Beats the alternative though, huh?

[emilyg]

14. Me 3

[frazzled]

11. Sam Rayburn, but I was just a kid

Still, it was a name I was well aware of, because my parents had the news on a lot. Oddly, I don't remember McCormack or Albert at all (must have been busy with school and such, or they weren't very memorable), but then from Tip O'Neill on, I remember them pretty well. Foley wasn't very memorable, though.

[Joe Bacon]

12. Sam Rayburn was the first one I remember

And I still remember when Rayburn died because my grandpa was crying on the phone when it was announced by Douglas Edwards on CBS.

[Ter]

13. Why is it that some everyone know and some will fade into obscurity?

Everyone and his brother know Tip O'Neill and Newtie, but Carl Albert and Dennis Hastert? The Average Joe will always forget.

[craigmatic]

15. Gingrich was the first one I remember but he sucked.

As far as the best Speaker I think it's a tie between Pelosi and McCormack because of the sheer amount of historic legislation they passed.

[Little Star]

16. Sam Rayburn was speaker three times?

Tip was my favorite with Nancy a close second.

[boston bean]

17. Tip O'Neill nt

[vaberella]

18. I only remember Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi, I only heard of Tip O'Neill.

I hadn't been born yet when Tip started and was only 7 when he left.

[onenote]

19. Rayburn

First I remember is Rayburn and I rank him above all of his successors. In terms of policies, Newt obviously was the worst of my lifetime. Foley may have been one of the less effectual.

[Odin2005]

20. 1. Newt 2. Pelosi 3. Newt.

I was born in '86

[flyarm]

21. 1) John W. McCormack 2) Tip O'Neill 3) Dennis Hastert ..eom

[Corey_Baker08]

22. Newt Gingrich Unfortunately

[Hekate]

23. Sam Rayburn from when I was a kid. Then Tip O'Neill. Those in-between don't ring a bell.

The next one I really remember was the aptly named Newt, and after that the names stuck. It's funny, but some of them scarcely register.

Hekate

[JI7]

24. Gingrich was First and Worst for me