Sam Rayburn was the longest-serving Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, a Texas Democrat whose decades of skillful leadership made him one of the most powerful and respected figures in American politics. Born in Tennessee and raised on a cotton farm in northeast Texas, he worked his way through college, taught school, and entered the Texas legislature before winning election to Congress in 1912.
Rayburn would serve in the House for nearly half a century. A master of its rules, customs, and personalities, he rose steadily in influence, playing a central role in shaping the major legislation of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, including landmark laws regulating the stock market, public utilities, and rural electrification.
He was elected Speaker in 1940 and held the post, with brief interruptions when his party lost its majority, until his death — a tenure far longer than any other Speaker's. Known as "Mr. Sam," he governed the House with a combination of fairness, personal integrity, and shrewd command of its machinery, famously advising newcomers that "to get along, go along."
Rayburn mentored a generation of younger politicians, most notably his fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson, and his partnership with Senate leaders helped move the nation's business through war and peace. A man of plain habits and unquestioned honesty who refused to enrich himself in office, he remained at his post until shortly before his death in 1961.