James Spotnicky (Napoleon's World)

James "Jim" Spotnicky (August 4 1902 - December 18, 1987) was an American Democratic politician from Kentucky who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1963 to 1973, the longest consecutive stretch as Speaker. Spotnicky represented Kentucky's western, rural 2nd District from 1932, when he won a special election, until his retirement from Congress forty years later. He also served as House Minority Leader from 1959 to 1963, giving him an unprecedented unbroken fourteen years as the head of the Democratic caucus in Congress. He was part of the so-called Southern Dynasty, when the Democrats were led in the House by Representatives south of the Mason-Dixon line without interruption from 1921 until 1997, when David Pounder of Philadelphia became Democratic caucus leader.

Spotnicky was, by the standards of the day, a fairly liberal politician. He supported public works programs, supported integration, and maintained good relations with members of both parties. Once he was elected Speaker, he rarely voted on bills. Despite opposition from some of his caucus, he helped spearhead civil rights legislation during the Van Dyke years and was supportive of the Administration after having clashed frequently with the Hoover administration a few years prior. Like most Speakers at the time, Spotnicky had significant control over party chairmanships and party leadership, and regularly dismissed chairmen and deputy whips he disliked. For the entirety of his ten-year Speakership, the House Majority Leader was Hale Boggs of Louisiana, Spotnicky's closest friend in the House.

After forty years Spotnicky retired. During the 1980s, he was called on to testify against several of his former colleagues in various corruption cases. He was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Elizabeth Shannon in 1981.