“I’m willing to lead, but I’m not willing to preside over people who are cannibals,” said House Speaker Newt Gingrich as he stepped down in 1999. Speaker John Boehner might have said something similar when announcing his retirement, though he offered a more generous explanation: “I don’t want my members to go through this, and I certainly don’t want the institution to go through this.” With the Republican leadership succession still in doubt weeks later, Boehner’s decision seems unfortunately not to have spared his members prolonged turmoil. Although a sitting House speaker hasn’t been challenged by his own party since 1910, Boehner’s departure from top party leadership is actually pretty normal - for Republicans. Below is a table listing all the top party leaders in the House of Representatives since World War II, along with the reason why each left office. In nearly every case, the Republican leader left his position due to dissatisfaction within his conference. The only case where the Republican leader departed without any push or challenge from within his party was Gerald Ford, who was appointed
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