[21], Gingrich has three younger half-siblings from his mother, Candace and Susan Gingrich, and Roberta Brown. PolitiFact | Did Gingrich leave speakership "in disgrace"? Newt Gingrich - New Georgia Encyclopedia If Newt Gingrich runs for president, as he's expected to do, he won't be the only candidate in the Republican primary field with three . While the Republicans did slightly better in the 1976 House elections than in 1974 nationally, the Democratic candidate in the 1976 presidential election was former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter. Then-Sen. Joe Biden and Newt Gingrich on "Meet the Press" in 2006. [268], In 1981, six months after his divorce from Jackie was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther. Newt lives in McLean, VA. Why did Newt Gingrich change his name? A July 2010 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that Gingrich was the leading GOP contender for the Republican nomination with 23% of likely Republican voters saying they would vote for him. [84], A key aspect of the 1994 Contract with America was the promise of a balanced federal budget. [15][16][17] He is of English, German, Scottish and Scots-Irish descent. [41], In 1983, Gingrich founded the Conservative Opportunity Society (COS), a group that included young conservative House Republicans. In 1962, he wed Jacqueline May "Jackie" Battley (February 21, 1936 August 7, 2013), his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26. [204][205], On Super Tuesday Gingrich won his home state, Georgia, which has the most delegates, in "an otherwise dismal night for him". So if Gingrich is a front-running candidate, the question arises: What do we know about Newt? [134][135], In 2005, with Hillary Clinton, Gingrich announced the proposed 21st Century Health Information Act, a bill which aimed to replace paperwork with confidential, electronic health information networks. Newt Gingrich Biography, Life, Interesting Facts - Famous Birthdays By Omissions? Newt Gingrich warns Republicans that Biden's winning June 9, 2011 -- Several key aides to presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, including his campaign manager, resigned from his team today because of conflicting opinions about the direction of the . (1968) and a PhD in European history (1971). "[173], During the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, Gingrich endorsed moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, rather than Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who had been endorsed by several nationally prominent Republicans. They're exactly wrong. [102] He complained that he and Dole were instructed to use the plane's rear exit to deplane, saying the snub was "part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution". The shutdown ended when Clinton agreed to submit a CBO-approved balanced budget plan. That's the genius of the American system. And in the early 1990s he donated $15,000 to the Atlanta Zoo for the purchase of two Komodo dragons. [66], A number of scholars have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States, and hastening political polarization and partisan prejudice. Gingrich Resigned From the House Under a Cloud - Yahoo News [225], In May 2017, he promoted a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party had Seth Rich, an employee for the Democratic National Committee, killed during the 2016 presidential race. Gingrichs subsequent performances over the early months of 2012 were uneven: he won contests in South Carolina and Georgia and finished second in Florida, Nevada, Alabama, and Mississippi, but he placed no higher than third in some 20 other state primaries and caucuses held between January and March. McKay Coppins of The Atlantic summarized time with Gingrich in 2018: [Gingrich] is dabbling in geopolitics, dining in fine Italian restaurants. "[65], In 1997 Speaker Gingrich visited Taiwan as well as Beijing in mainland China. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. Newt Gingrich. All were joint projects with the conservative group Citizens United. [62] Time magazine named Gingrich its 1995 "Man of the Year" for his role in the election. [39], In 1981, Gingrich co-founded the Military Reform Caucus (MRC) and the Congressional Aviation and Space Caucus. He insisted that the Republican Party would continue to apply political pressure on the President to approve their welfare legislation. He is a self-confessed revolutionary who wants to fundamentally change America. [273] She did not, however, want to have the public life of a politician's wife. [170], However, insisting that he had "pretty strongly" considered running,[171] on September 29 spokesman Rick Tyler said that Gingrich would not seek the presidency in 2008 because he could not continue to serve as chairman of American Solutions if he did so. Newt Gingrich's Congressional Ethics Scandal Explained Newt Gingrich's Senior Team Resigns Amid Conflicting - ABC News He also cowrote international thrillers and alternative history series on the Civil War and World War II. [186] On June 21, 2011, two more senior aides left. This article was most recently revised and updated by, Contract with America and speaker of the House, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Newt-Gingrich, United States History - Biography of Newt Gingrich, Ancient Origins - The Legendary Origins of Merlin the Magician, New Georgia Encyclopedia - Government and Politics - Newt Gingrich, Newt Gingrich - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-1998). And besides, she has cancer. "[258][259] In the spring of 1980, Gingrich filed for divorce from Jackie after beginning an affair with Marianne Ginther. "[146] American Solutions closed in 2011 after he left the organization. The act gave state governments more autonomy over welfare delivery, while also reducing the federal government's responsibilities. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Newt Gingrich warns GOP: Biden's winning. 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. Gingrich's birth name was Newt Leroy McPherson. But while Gingrich did help change . Yes, Newt Gingrich changed his name. The marriage fell apart within days. 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. He also faced a series of ethics investigations. "The truth is that the members of his own team, his congressional . [169] On October 13, 2005, Gingrich suggested he was considering a run for president, saying, "There are circumstances where I will run", elaborating that those circumstances would be if no other candidate champions some of the platform ideas he advocates. [184] On May 11, 2011, Gingrich officially announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination in 2012. The group gradually expanded to include several dozen representatives,[42] who met each week to exchange and develop ideas. He did not win the election and ran again two years later . [155], The Gingrich Group was organized in 1999 as a consulting company. Based on these findings, the ethics committee concluded that he had violated House rules, and in January 1997 the House of Representatives voted to accept the committees recommendation that Gingrich be reprimanded for providing false information to the committee and that he pay $300,000, an amount that the committee characterized as partial reimbursement for its investigation. After unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Congress in 1974 and 1976, he won a seat from a district outside Atlanta in 1978. The tougher question, however, may be: What do we not know? In the crowded race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney may be the tortoise, but Newt Gingrich is the newt. Newt Gingrich had a different name at birth, Newton Leroy McPherson. directly contradicted the conventional wisdom of politics that parties in a two-party system achieve increasing electoral success as they move closer to the ideological center Gingrich and his allies believed that an organized effort to intensify the ideological contrast between the congressional parties would allow the Republicans to make electoral inroads in the South. Newt Gingrich ordered to testify before Georgia grand jury - CNN By December 4, 2011, Gingrich was leading in the national polls. In early May, however, he suspended his campaign. Clinton submitted a balanced budget for 1999, three years ahead of schedule originally proposed, making it the first time the federal budget had been balanced since 1969. [252], Gingrich has been married three times. [94] Gingrich along with Bob Dole had earlier set-up the Kemp Commission, headed by former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, a tax reform commission that made several recommendations including that dividends, interest, and capital gains should be untaxed. [145] The group was a "fundraising juggernaut" that raised $52 million from major donors, such as Sheldon Adelson and the coal company Peabody Energy. [153] One of Gingrich's nonprofit groups, Renewing American Leadership, which was founded in March 2009,[164] paid Gingrich Communications $220,000 over two years; the charity shared the names of its donors with Gingrich, who could use them for his for-profit companies. For one theory on how American politics became so toxic, Princeton professor and best-selling author Julian Zelizer turns to former Georgia congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. [185], On June 9, 2011, a group of Gingrich's senior campaign aides left the campaign en masse, leading to doubts about the viability of his presidential run. "My mother had a breakdown. Despite this, on April 19, Gingrich told Republicans in New York that he would work to help Romney win the general election if Romney secured the nomination. Gingrich played a key role in several government shutdowns, and impeached President Bill Clinton on a party-line vote in the House. Newt Gingrich, in full Newton Leroy Gingrich, original name Newton Leroy McPherson, (born June 17, 1943, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American politician, who served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-98); he was the first Republican to hold the office in 40 years. [200], It was later revealed Romney had hired a debate coach to help him perform better in the Florida debates. Hook covered those years as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. [166] Gingrich Communications, which employed 15 people at its largest, closed in 2011 when Gingrich began his presidential campaign. [24] He spent six months in Brussels in 19691970 working on his dissertation, Belgian Education Policy in the Congo 19451960. Clinton favored the then current law, which was to let the premium that seniors pay drop to $42.50. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [178] In February 2021, Biden-appointed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed all appointments to the committee made by Trump, including Gingrich. Newt Gingrich's Bipolar Mother Kit Gingrich and His Difficult Childhood Gingrich's latest 2012 presidential campaign filing shows a debt of $4.63 million. [182], Describing his views as a possible candidate during an appearance on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren in March 2009, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. Also known as: Newton Leroy Gingrich, Newton Leroy McPherson. THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE - Buffalo News Gingrichs campaign was almost over before it began, however, when many of his senior advisers resigned en masse in June 2011. "[265], According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Jackie: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. Claim: Newt Gingrich "was fined $300,000 for ethics violations." By: Restore Our Future on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 in a television ad Headline: Did Newt Gingrich pay a $300,000 ethics fine . Under the act, the profits on the sale of a personal residence ($500,000 for married couples, $250,000 for singles) were exempted if lived in for at least two of the previous five years. [282], Raised as a Lutheran,[283] Gingrich was a Southern Baptist in graduate school. "Over 30 years later, the family has long put . At the same time Gingrich was having an affair with a woman 23 years his junior. Kevin McCarthy and his House Republican leadership team have called on Newt Gingrich to advise them on their midterm election strategy, The Post's Jeff Stein and Laura Meckler reported recently. [111], Discussing the impact of the government shutdown on the Republican Party, Gingrich later commented that, "Everybody in Washington thinks that was a big mistake. This would allow for the possibility that Democrats, along with dissenting Republicans, would vote in Democrat Dick Gephardt as Speaker. Gingrich led a revolt that defeated the initial appropriations package and led to the 1990 United States federal government shutdown. "While I was leading the . Where does Newt Gingrich live? The committee's plan was to change the very language of politics and recast the terms of the debate entirely; Gingrich would, like the professor he once was, educate rising conservative . [293], Gingrich has shown enthusiasm towards dinosaurs. She was mocked on Twitter for editing her face and smoothing her wrinkles on her . Gingrich has wrestled for years with climate change, in books, debates, speeches and other forums. The two companies had revenues of $55million between 2001 and 2010. [101] That perception developed after the trip when Gingrich, while being questioned by Lars-Erik Nelson at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, said that he was dissatisfied that Clinton had not invited him to discuss the budget during the flight. [99], Clinton said Republican amendments would strip the U.S. Treasury of its ability to dip into federal trust funds to avoid a borrowing crisis. [119] In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations. But in citing his own expenses, Gingrich listed $400 just for 'Food / dry cleaning, etc.