The Dean of the United States House of Representatives is the longest continuously serving member of the House. The present Dean is John Dingell, a Democrat of Michigan.

The only duty customarily associated with this position is to swear in a Speaker of the House when he or she is elected. The Dean comes forward on the House Floor to administer the oath to the Speaker-elect before the new Speaker then administers the oath to the other members. The Dean does not preside over the election of the Speaker, unlike the Father of the House in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the Dean of the Canadian House of Commons.

Because of the other privileges associated with seniority, the Dean is usually allotted some of the most desirable office space, and is generally either chair or ranking minority member of an influential committee.

It is unclear when the position first achieved concrete recognition, though the seniority system and increasing lengths of service emerged in the early 20th century. As late as 1924, Frederick H. Gillett was Dean, and also Speaker, before becoming a Senator; modern Deans move into their positions so late in their careers that a move to the Senate is highly unlikely.

The Deanship can change hands unexpectedly; in the 1952 election, Adolph J. Sabath became the first Representative elected to a 24th term, breaking the record of 23 terms first set by former Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon, whose service had been discontinuous whereas Sabath's was not. North Carolina's Robert L. Doughton had not contested that election, as he was retiring at the age of 89 years and two months (a House age record broken only in 1998 by Sidney R. Yates, though Claude Pepper, who died early in his final term in 1989, holds the record for oldest winner of a House election). However, Sabath died before the new term began, and Doughton was Dean for the old term's final months, before Speaker Sam Rayburn became Dean in the new Congress.

More recently, Texas Democrat Jack Brooks was defeated for reelection in the year he was expected to succeed Jamie L. Whitten as Dean.

The second-longest serving member of the house is John Conyers (D-Michigan), since 1965; the third is Dave Obey (D-Wisconsin), 1969.

[edit] List of Deans of the House

Years as Dean are followed by name, party, state, and start of service in Congress.

All the members of the First Congress had equal seniority (as defined for the purpose of this article), but Muhlenberg as the Speaker was the first member to be sworn in. Muhlenberg, Hartley and Thatcher were among the 13 members who attended the initial meeting of the House on March 4, 1789.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries some state delegations to the House were often not elected until after the term had begun. To avoid confusion this fact is ignored in the list below.

• Hartley, Stanford, Williams, Kelley, Randall, Bingham, Payne, Jones, Cooper, Butler, Pou, Sabath, Rayburn, and Patman died in office.
• Vinson, Whitten, and Dingell entered the House to fill unexpired terms.
• Sabath served as Dean longer than any other person: 18 years, 7 months, and five days.

[edit] See also

• Oldest living United States president
• List of oldest surviving members of the House of Representatives
• Dean of the United States Senate
• Longest living United States Senator
• Earliest serving United States Senator
• Oldest living United States governor
• Earliest serving United States governor
• List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service

[edit] References

1. ^ Boyd had previously served 1835-37

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