Newt Gingrich

American politician and author (born 1943)

Newt Gingrich is a former American politician and author who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. He was a key figure in the Republican Party, leading the party to victory in the 1994 congressional election. Since leaving the House, Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

Table of Contents

About the Newt Gingrich

Newton Leroy Gingrichis 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.

In the 1970s, Gingrich was a professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia. He 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 in 1996 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. A disappointing 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 announcing that he would not run for the speakership in the upcoming congress, resigning from the House on January 3, 1999, the same day his term as speaker ended. Academics have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in 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 a 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 President 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 Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election, and claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Frequently Asked Questions

Newt Gingrich served as the 50th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, and was the U.S. representative for Georgia’s 6th congressional district from 1979 to 1999. He also unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

Newt Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election, as a co-author and architect of the ,Contract with America,.

As House Speaker, Gingrich oversaw the passage of welfare reform in 1996 and a capital gains tax cut in 1997. He also played a key role in several government shutdowns and impeached President Bill Clinton on a party-line vote in the House.

In the 1970s, Newt Gingrich was a professor of history and geography at the University of West Georgia before entering politics.

Since leaving the House, Newt Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He has also founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation.

Newt Gingrich ran for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election, and was considered a potential frontrunner at several points in the race. He later emerged as a key ally of President Donald Trump, and was reportedly among the finalists on Trump’s short list for running mate in the 2016 election.

Gingrich was reprimanded by the House for an ethics violation, and has been credited by academics with playing a key role in hastening political polarization and partisanship. Since 2020, he has also supported Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election and claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

38 Quotes by Newt Gingrich

  1. 1.

    Imagine a judicial nominee said ‘my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman.’ Wouldn’t they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  2. 2.

    A mere forty years ago, beach volleyball was just beginning. No bureaucrat would have invented it, and that’s what freedom is all about.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  3. 3.

    Surely the President can agree with us, that theft from government is not good. I know it’s bold. It’s out on the edge. I know from a Chicago-Springfield background it’s hard to fully grasp that honesty could be part of government.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  4. 4.

    The most important social welfare program in America is a job.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  5. 5.

    The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  6. 6.

    The secular elites are so terrified of telling the truth about radical Islam. When you talk about the radical Islamists, we have got to get straight and get serious and talk about it in the right way.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  7. 7.

    We’re at the crossroads. Down one road is a European centralized bureaucratic socialist welfare system in which politicians and bureaucrats define the future. Down the other road is a proud, solid, reaffirmation of American exceptionalism.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  8. 8.

    And my point was one I think that you’d agree with, which is there’s no room in America for a black racist, a Latino racist, or a white racist, or an Asian racist, or a Native American racist. Now, we’re either color blind or we’re not color blind.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  9. 9.

    My theme is going to be: Together we can win the future. The right policies lead to the right results. And I’m going to argue that President Obama will lose the future because the wrong policies lead to the wrong results.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  10. 10.

    An energy tax punishes senior citizens, it punishes rural Americans, if you use electricity it punishes you. This bill will increase your cost of living and may kill your job.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  11. 11.

    What is the primary purpose of a political leader? To build a majority. If voters care about parking lots, then talk about parking lots.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  12. 12.

    We’re all human and we all goof. Do things that may be wrong, but do something.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  13. 13.

    In every election in American history both parties have their cliches. The party that has the cliches that ring true wins.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  14. 14.

    The time has come to tell the truth about the corruption of the government employee unions in this country.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  15. 15.

    President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  16. 16.

    President Obama has created at least three jobs that I know of – Bob McDonnell, Chris Christie, and Scott Brown.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  17. 17.

    I believe we are now in a struggle over whether or not we are going to save America.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  18. 18.

    Frankly, Governor Romney in his career has created more jobs than the entire Obama cabinet combined, so he could actually talk about it.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  19. 19.

    Politics and war are remarkably similar situations.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  20. 20.

    I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  21. 21.

    It is time we passed a balanced budget amendment and return this government to limited spending.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  22. 22.

    I discourage a cult of personality.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  23. 23.

    If you’re not brave, you’re not going to be free.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  24. 24.

    You can’t trust anybody with power.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  25. 25.

    We don’t we agree that litigation reform to lower the cost of healthcare would be a good starting point?

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  26. 26.

    Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  27. 27.

    If the Soviet empire still existed, I’d be terrified. The fact is, we can afford a fairly ignorant presidency now.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  28. 28.

    In the middle of a recession no tax increase is justified because it kills jobs, and any tax increase is a job-killing measure and should be defeated.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  29. 29.

    I believe we will elect a new President in 2012.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  30. 30.

    Without Jimmy Carter we might not have gotten Ronald Reagan, without Ronald Reagan there would probably still be a Soviet Union.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  31. 31.

    You have to give the press confrontations. When you give them confrontations, you get attention; when you get attention, you can educate.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  32. 32.

    I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too abstract; I think too much.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  33. 33.

    I think every religious person should have a deep sense of respect for other people’s religious documents and religious symbols just as we were deeply opposed to the Taliban destroying the two historic buddhas which they blew up. So I think we ought to all oppose burning the Koran.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  34. 34.

    Part of why the Tea Party so deeply threatened the elite media is the tea party looked around and suddenly realized, there are more of us than there are of them.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  35. 35.

    If the Obama administration is this afraid of Glenn Beck, how do they deal with the Iranians?

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  36. 36.

    We tried to have diplomas without learning, we tried to have jobs without work, we tried to have houses without savings, we tried to have government without responsibility.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  37. 37.

    One morning, just like 9/11, there’s going to be a disaster. I have yet to see the United Nations do anything effective with either Iran or North Korea.

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)

  38. 38.

    Have you heard a single national figure tell you all of the crises of the recent past are not economic, they’re cultural?

    Newt Gingrich

    American politician and author (born 1943)