On January 5th, 1995, Newt Gingrich was sworn in as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives — the first Republican to hold the position in 40 years.
This followed the Republican Party’s sweeping victory in the 1994 midterm elections (often called the “Republican Revolution”), where the GOP gained control of both the House and Senate, largely driven by Gingrich’s “Contract with America” — a conservative platform emphasizing limited government, tax cuts, welfare reform, and fiscal responsibility.
Gingrich’s leadership marked a significant resurgence of modern American conservatism and set the stage for policy battles in the mid-1990s.