Kevin McCarthy is the shortest serving Speaker since 1869

Kevin McCarthy has become the shortest serving Speaker for more than 150 years after he was sensationally ousted amid a bitter civil war in the Republican Party.

A motion to vacate the speaker’s chair was adopted 216 to 210 on Tuesday, with eight Republicans joining Democrats to boot the House leader.

If McCarthy is seeking consolation, he can compare his 269-day tenure to Theodore Pomeroy – who was the Speaker for just a day, on March 3, 1869.

Unlike McCarthy, however, Pomeroy agreed to the short tenure – having already announced his plans to retire from office on March 4.

He was therefore approved without dissent to take over from Rep. Schuyler Colfax (R-Ind.) who was required to step down in order to become Ulysses S. Grant’s vice president. 

If McCarthy is seeking consolation he can compare his 269-day tenure to Theodore Pomeroy – who was the Speaker for just a day, on March 3, 1869

McCarthy is swarmed by reporters after a vote to oust him from the speaker’s chair 

Prior to McCarthy, the last motion to vacate the Speaker was on March 19, 1910, when Speaker Joseph G. Cannon (R-Ill.) faced a revolt that was ultimately unsuccessful but paved the way for a Democratic takeover. 

Pomeroy, a Republican, was first elected to the House in 1861 and would go on to serve as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department and of the Committee on Banking and Currency.

He was by all accounts a likeable member of the House. 

After taking office he gave a speech in which he thanked colleagues ‘for the kind personal consideration which is involved in my unanimous election to this most honorable position.’ 

Read Related Also: Louisville officers shoot, critically wound, break-in suspect who disregarded commands to drop gun

Pomeroy was referred to as the youngest-looking member on the floor by one Washington correspondent who described him as ‘small in stature, with keen black eyes, a peculiarly expressive countenance and somewhere near as smart as chain lightning, at least when he deals with lower law Democracy.’

The representative for the 25th Congressional district was ‘one of the most energetic and effective debaters in the House.’

After leaving Congress, Pomeroy became the first first vice president and general counsel of a company that would eventually become American Express. 

He briefly returned to politics as mayor of his hometown of Auburn, New York, serving from 1875 to 1876, and then as a member of the New York State Senate in 1878 and 1879.

He eventually retired in 1879 and continued living in Auburn until his death in 1905.

Pomeroy had five children by his wife Elizabeth Leitch Watson. 

Kevin McCarthy has been sensationally ousted as Speaker of the House in a historic vote sparked by a tumultuous civil war in the Republican party. 

Harriet Tubman, the famed abolitionist, was a close friend of the family who helped care for the Pomeroy children. 

She attended his funeral and it was reported that only her flowers and letter were placed on his casket and buried with him.

Pomeroy’s descendants include his grandchild Janet Pomeroy Avery (1891–1969), who married John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), the U.S. Secretary of State during the Eisenhower Administration.

His great-grandson is Avery Dulles (1918 – 2008), who converted to Catholicism and would become America’s first cardinal.