Has there ever been a popular Speaker of the House or Senate leader?

[pstokely]

They don't need to popular with the opposite party or independents

[JanMichael]

1. Tip O'Neil

was pretty popular; I am not sure if Johnson liked him though-

[KharmaTrain]

3. Tip Became Speaker After LBJ

If LBJ had any comments it would have come from beyond the grave. Tip was Speaker from 1977-87...LBJ passed in 1973.

[JanMichael]

9. He was in Congress during the sixties

But, you are right...he was not the Speaker at the time. Sorry.

[KharmaTrain]

10. No Prob...

John McCormick was the Speaker during most of Johnson's tenure. Kindly old autocrat who helped push through Civil Rights but is also remembered for rubberstamping the Gulf Of Tonkin resolution and we know what happened from there.

Just adding a little accuracy where I can...we know how literal some can be around this sandbox.

Cheers...

:hi:

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Tip O'Neil was popular enough. So was Nicholas Longsworth in the

early part of the 1900s.

Both were able to navigate legislation through compromise or political savvy how to cut deals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_O%27Neill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Longworth

Longworth reached across the aisle to Democrats, forging a productive relationship with John Nance Garner, that party's House minority leader, who relied upon informal methods to strengthen his party's influence. He enjoyed a close rapport with Garner, who said of Longworth, "I was the heathen and Nick was the aristocrat." Together they hosted a daily gathering of Democratic and Republican congressmen in a secluded room in the Capitol, which became known as the "Bureau of Education." This unofficial club provided a place for politicians to relax with a drink and get to know and work with one another across party lines.

(Longworth started out ruthlessly against progressives and followers of LaFollette and Hoover, but understood he couldn't continue indefinitely.)

[KharmaTrain]

4. Sam Rayburn

They named an office building after him. He pushed the New Deal through.

[hobbit709]

5. +100 on that

[TexasProgresive]

6. What hobbit said. n/t

[NoPasaran]

7. Nancy Pelosi

[deaniac21]

12. Wildly popular in 2006!

[Dr Morbius]

8. There was Henry Clay.

Three times Speaker of the House, also Secretary of State. The American Whig party basically formed around him. Hugely influential in 19th century politics. James Polk was popular enough that he moved right into the Presidency afterward. Probably, the most popular speaker on both sides of the aisle would have to be John Nance Garner, aka "Cactus Jack". He was a hard-working man of deep integrity; he later became FDR's VP for the first two terms.

[Hannah Bell]

11. sam rayburn? i don't know about "popular," but he had the longest tenure of any

speaker of the house & was effective at getting legislation through.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Rayburn

[Uncle Joe]

13. Howard Baker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Baker

Known in Washington, D.C. as the "Great Conciliator," Baker is often regarded as one of the most successful senators in terms of brokering compromises, enacting legislation, and maintaining civility. A story is sometimes told of a reporter telling a senior Democratic senator that privately, a plurality of his Democratic colleagues would vote for Baker for President of the United States. The senator is reported to have replied, "You're wrong. He'd win a majority."

Thanks for the thread, pstokely.