Page "Robert Smith Walker" Paragraph 4

Walker was also responsible for a rare punishment of the Speaker of the House and aiding in the rise of Gingrich.

When C-SPAN began televising the House, Walker, Gingrich, and other conservatives found they could reach a national audience with special order speeches, given at the end of the day after the House finished its legislative program.

In these speeches, they assailed the Democrats and their leadership in the House.

On May 10, 1984, Walker gave one such fiery oration that irritated Speaker Tip O ' Neill because the cameras did not show Walker was speaking to a deserted chamber.

O ' Neill ordered Representative Charlie Rose, whose committee oversaw television coverage, to have the cameras pan the chamber and show Walker and his allies were talking to nobody.

No notice of this change was given to the Republicans when it was implemented on May 14, 1984.

When the Republicans found out what was going on, Walker, who was speaking when the panning began, and Bob Michel, the Republican leader, angrily complained on the floor.

The next day, Gingrich was speaking and Speaker O ' Neill lost his cool, resulting in O ' Neill's words being taken down and ruled out of order.

No Speaker had been so punished since 1795.

These events made Gingrich a household name.

Gingrich would later bring Walker into the Republican leadership ; Walker was chief deputy whip.