[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> you're watching american history tv, 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on >> 114 congress convene on tuesday, january 6. over the next three hours, "american history tv" looks back at the opening remarks of the house speakers. first we hear about the house because role from former house historian, raymond smock. >> the constitution requires the house of representatives to

choose the speaker. what is the speaker's job? >> the speaker has a big job. it started out as a constitutional office. the constitution says the house will choose its speakers. there were no other duties mentioned. it was assumed, since the founders knew all about speakers, that what the speaker wires __ was a presiding officer. in our congress, the speaker was not only presiding officer, he quickly became a powerful person because he appointed committees. that evolved into __ as party systems of all, first congress did not have organized parties.

as the two_party system evolved, the speaker became the leader of the majority party, and took on political ramifications. the constitution is very silent on this __ the powers of the speaker are what the speaker make of them. that is the unique part of it. some speakers have exercise great power __ even rivaling the president. most recently, but even long ago. there were powerful figures who set the agenda of the country. the first speaker __ of pennsylvania in the first congress __ he was simply a presiding officer.

he was paid two dollars more than the other members __ he got eight dollars per day. for eight dollars, he said i spent most of it on suppers for the members. he did not feel like it was much of a bonus. t cell acute losing money __ he felt like he was losing money on the deal. even he felt like he was elevated above other members. >> the door to the house of changes behind you __ the speaker is the second line to succeed the president after the vice president. what does that say about the speaker's authority? >> the speaker has great authority in the constitution. that would change in 1947 with the succession act __ it brought the speaker up to the highest elected officer after the present down and vice president. then it goes to the president

of the senate. that 47 act was an effort to look at having someone in line that was an elected official. in the old days, it was the secretary of state. but since 1947, it is a speaker. >> how has the job evolved? >> as i mentioned before, it has evolved into something in which the modern speaker __ their role is to be the chief administrative officer of the house. even though they have other officers that are elected, the speaker is where the buck stops. the seeker is also the head of the party. if that party is opposite of

the president of the united states, it means he is the highest ranking officer of that party. the speakers have also had at times great power to bring legislation to the floor __ that depends on committees, but with the speakers say so. they controlled the agenda. the speaker is a person who has the final authority. >> what qualities make for successful speaker? >> the best speakers through history have been those who try to find a way to be problem solvers, compromises, to work with the president of their own party, and the opposite party. those who understand the

relationship with the chairman of the committees, of the house. that is a tough job to balance all those forces. speakers do not always have complete control of their own caucus. there are divisions within the system. the house run by the numbers for the most part. if you have the majority, you can push the legislation of the majority party, and control virtually everything that goes on in the house. that is why the differences between house and the senate. the senate, no matter what party is in charge, each senator has more individual power. the house run by numbers. if you're the speaker, you can control the agenda. if you do it against the best interest of the most members of your caucus, or sometimes where

your party is in opposition to a national agenda. >> in a few minutes we will see speaker tip o'neil's opening remarks from 1995. what is the purpose of the opening day remarks, and how long does the tradition? >> i do not know how long we have been doing it. my guess is that it is a fairly modern device. a lot of things have started since radio and television. otherwise, the house and the senate __ even though their chambers were open, they do not do a lot of ceremonial events. even the state of the union address was not resurrected __ until woodrow wilson did in 1913. lbj made it an evening event on television in 1965.

theese other things, like opening day, it is an important event, it has been televised for many years, but it is a wonderful day. despite the differences, this is when the members try to put their best foot forward. they try to be cooperative. they try to hand the olive branch to the other party. they bring their parties onto the floor. you will see a lot of children __ some of them sleeping __ some of them paying attention. it is a family day. also, former members come onto the floor. it is like meeting old friends, and putting them on the back. it has a serious tone in the sense that __ sometimes speakers have used it to just

say, hi, i'm glad to be here. other times, they want to speak of what their agenda will be like. this is the first opportunity. it is usually a light handed approach, and a friendly exchange. the minority party __ the person who has lost the speakership __ has to hand the gavel over to the winner. that is usually done with grace and dignity. >> where was tip o'neil from? >> he was from massachusetts. he is a classic liberal politician of the old school. a new dealer from the fdr days. he was born in 1912. in his first campaign, he worked for our smith in 1928. tip o'neil's cold __ whole life

with politics. he was born in cambridge. a district that was mostly irish. that was his power base forever, he never forgot where he came from. he said all politics was local. that was a very true observation of the nature politics __ whether you are fixing a pothole in a local street, or dealing with the national budget. some may have to have the money to fix the problem, and set the priority of what problem to fix. >> what kind of speaker was he? >> he was affable. he could be partisan and tough

on the floor, but he was the kind of guy that like to put his arm around you and call you pal. if it was a lady, he would say darling. sometimes you go out on the floor just to sit on the floor. he would just make an appearance on the floor. he was a classic liberal in the sense that he believes government could do things for people. he grew up during the depression watching franklin roosevelt changed america, and put people back to work. it was the government that was leading the struggle to restore the economy of the country. he always thought that was important. that was the hallmark of his politics. >> ronald reagan was in the white house in 1985. what was happening in the house

of representatives? >> his relationship with ronald reagan was really quite interesting. both irishmen. after hours, they would have a drink together. they were twos and nail against one another. by 1985, tip o'neil had survived the reagan revolution. of course, the senate went to republican in 81. it was very hard for the speaker to stop reagan politics. he simply said, i do not have the votes. in the early years, the reagan agenda of cutting taxes and other programs went through without trouble. even though tip