Newt Gingrich represented Georgia’s Sixth District (Alpharetta, Roswell, Canton, and environs) in the U.S. Congress for two decades, first elected in 1978. He was named House speaker in 1995 after he crafted the Republican “Contract with America” policy and led a resurgence of GOP control in Congress. His time as speaker was marked by conflict with the Clinton administration including budget showdowns and impeachment hearings.
After leaving Congress, Gingrich has worked as a consultant, speaker, political advisor, and author. Historian by background, his oeuvre includes both serious political tomes (Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History) and historical fiction (Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th, co-authored with William Forschten).
Gingrich married Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide with whom he’d had an affair while married to second wife, Marianna Ginther, whom he married in 1981. He married his first wife, Jackie Battley, while still in high school; she had been his geometry teacher. Gingrich graduated from Emory University in 1965 and earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Tulane in 1968 and 1971.