The majority leader in the contemporary House is second-in-command behind the Speaker of the majority party. Typically, the majority leader functions as the Speaker's chief lieutenant or "field commander" for day-to-day management of the floor. "I'm the Speaker's agent," stated a recent majority leader. Another majority leader said: "I see it that [the Speaker] is the chairman of the board and I am the chief executive officer." Or as one Speaker put it, the majority leader's "job is to run the floor and keep monitoring committees and legislation." Elected every two years by secret ballot of the party caucus or conference, the majority leader is usually an experienced legislator. For example, Representative Richard Armey of Texas became the GOP's first majority leader in 40 years when Republicans won control of the 104 th House in the November 1994 elections. Armey began his House service in 1985, became GOP Conference chairman during the 103 rd Congress, and was one of the principal authors of the Republican "Contract with America." When Richard Gephardt, D-MO, became majority leader in June 1989, he had been in the House for more than a decade, had served as chairman of the Democratic Caucus for four years, and had been a 1988 presidential candidate. Two fundamental and often interlocking responsibilities orient the work of the majority leader: institutional and party. From an institutional perspective, the majority leader is principally responsible for exercising overall supervision of the order of business on the floor, especially as it affects the party's program. As Lewis Deschler, the late House parliamentarian (1928-1974), wrote: A party's floor leader, in conjunction with other party leaders, plays an influential role in the formulation of party policy and programs. He is instrumental in guiding legislation favored by his party through the House, or in resisting those programs of the other party that are considered undesirable by his own party. He is instrumental in devising and implementing his party's strategy on the floor with respect to promoting or opposing legislation. He is kept constantly informed as to the status of legislative business and as to the sentiment of his party respecting particular legislation under consideration. Such information is derived in part from the floor leader's contacts with his party's members serving on House committees, and with the members of the party's whip organization. From a partisan perspective, the majority leader's paramount assignment is to employ his or her talents, energy, and knowledge of procedural rules and political circumstances to insure that the party maintains majority control of the House. Each of these major responsibilities gives rise to a wide range of leadership activities. Before discussing the primary duties of the majority leader, it is worth highlighting the historical origins of this party position. Congressional scholars assert that in 1899 Speaker David Henderson, R-Iowa, appointed Sereno E. Payne, R-NY, as the first officially designated majority leader. Prior to this date, there is neither an accurate nor complete compilation of House majority leaders. Two factors seem to account for the absence of a compilation. First, it took many decades before anything like our modern party structure emerged in the House. As a result, not until nearly the end of the 19 th century did the position of "majority leader" become a recognized party office. Second, neither official congressional sources nor party records of this early period identify a lawmaker as the majority floor leader. Several historians of the House suggest that from the chamber's early beginnings various lawmakers informally assumed the role of "floor leader." Usually, but not always, these informal party leaders were the chairs of either the Committee on Ways and Means (established in 1795) or the Committee on Appropriations (following its creation in 1865). Speakers often appointed either their allies or their principal rivals for the speakership to head these panels. Explained the late Floyd M. Riddick, a political scientist who served as parliamentarian of the Senate from 1951 to 1975: In the House, the early titular floor leaders were at the same time the chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee. Before the division of the work of that committee, the duties of its chairmen were so numerous that they automatically became the actual leaders, since as chairmen of that committee they had to direct the consideration of most of the legislation presented to the House. From 1865 until 1896 the burden of handling most of the legislation was shifted to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who then was designated most frequently as the leader. From 1896 until 1910 once again the chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee were usually sought as the floor leaders. During all of these years before the "Cannon revolution" of 1910, the Speaker, who appointed all members to committees, saw to it that his party opponent for Speakership, some Representative with a large following, or one of his faithful lieutenants was made the floor leader. Thus, these early titular floor leaders were appointed by the Speaker rather than chosen separately, as occurs today, by vote of the majority party caucus. ( Appendix contains a list of House majority leaders since 1899.) When the House "revolted" in 1910 against the autocratic leadership of Speaker Joseph Cannon, R-Ill., the power to designate the floor leader was taken away from the Speaker. In 1911, with Democrats in charge of the House, Oscar Underwood of Alabama became the first elected (by the party caucus) majority leader in the House's history. (Subsequently, all Democratic floor leaders have been selected in this manner.) Underwood also chaired the Ways and Means Committee and his party's committee assignment panel. The political reality was that Majority Leader Underwood's influence in the House exceeded that of the Speaker, Champ Clark of Missouri. "For the first time the leader of the House was not at the rostrum, but was on the floor." Probably no majority leader ever has matched Underwood's party power and institutional influence. (Underwood left the House for the Senate in 1915.) When Republicans reclaimed majority control of the House in 1919, Franklin Mondell of Wyoming, a high ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, became majority leader upon nomination by the GOP committee assignment panel. (Four years later the GOP Conference began the practice of electing their majority leader.) Mondell set the contemporary practice of majority leaders usually relinquishing their committee positions, and always any committee chairmanships, upon assuming this important and busy post. To be sure, there have been exceptions to the practice of majority leaders not serving on standing committees. April 15, 1929, the start of the 71 st Congress, witnessed a first-ever event that remains the practice to this day: the official announcement in the House of the selection of the majority leader. Representative Willis Hawley of Oregon, the chairman of the majority Republican caucus addressed the presiding officer: "Mr. Speaker, the Republican caucus of the House has reelected Hon. John Q. Tilson, of Connecticut, majority leader for the Seventy-first Congress." As House precedents state, "this was the first occasion of the official announcement of the selection of party leaders in the House." Separate election of the majority leader by the party caucus elevated the status and influence of the person who held this position. The majority leader soon became the "heir apparent" to the speakership. In the modern House, no Democrat has been elected Speaker without having been the majority leader immediately prior to his or her elevation. Republicans, the minority party for 40 consecutive years until the mid-1990s, do not have as well-defined a leadership succession ladder. When Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-GA., retired from the House at the end of the 105 th Congress, Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, R-LA., moved quickly and lined up the necessary votes to be the next Speaker. However, when Livingston announced that he planned to resign from the House for personal reasons soon after the 106 th Congress began, Republicans chose their chief deputy whip, Dennis J. Hastert of Illinois, to be the next Speaker. Unfortunately, there is scant scholarly commentary about the duties and functions that devolved upon the informal floor leaders of the pre-20 th century period. Nor are the duties and functions of today's majority leaders spelled out in any detail in the House rulebook or in party rules, although those sources make brief reference to the position. As a recent majority leader stated, "[E]ach leadership position is defined by the person who holds it. It's not defined by a job description." In short, factors such as tradition, custom, context, and personality have largely defined the fundamental institutional and party roles and responsibilities of the majority leader. Several of the most important of these two overlapping categories merit mention. However, it bears repeating that the scope of the majority leader's role in carrying out these assignments is shaped significantly by the Speaker and the sentiments of the majority party caucus or conference. The style and role of any majority leader is influenced by a plethora of elements, including personality and contextual factors, such as the closeness of his relationship with the Speaker, the size and cohesion of the majority party, whether the party controls the White House, the general political environment in the House, and the controversial nature of the legislative agenda. Despite the variability of these factors, a number of institutional assignments are now associated with the majority leader, and Members of each party expect him or her to perform them. To be sure, the majority leader is provided with extra staff resources beyond those accorded him or her as a House member to assist in carrying out these diverse leadership functions. Majority Leader Armey even established a new leadership post—"assistant majority leader"—at the start of the 106 th Congress and named two Republican colleagues as assistant majority leaders. Their assignment was to assist him on "floor scheduling, legislative and communications strategy, the policy agenda, and leadership decisions."