John Andrew Boehner was born November 17, 1949 in Reading, Ohio to Mary Anne (Hall) and Early Henry Boehner. He is the second oldest of twelve siblings in a Catholic family of German descent. He graduated from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati in 1968. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1968 but was shortly thereafter discharged for medical reasons. He worked several jobs to pay tuition while attending the evening college at Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) beginning in 1971. In 1973, he married Debbie Gunlack. He graduated in 1977 with a degree in business administration. After graduation, Boehner worked at Nucite Sales, a plastics & packaging company, and eventually became president of the company.

John Boehner has stated that he became a Republican in the late 1970s, inspired by Ronald Reagan. Boehner’s political career began in 1981, when he successfully ran for the Board of Trustees of Union Township, Ohio. He served on that body 1981-1984, including as president in 1984. He was then elected a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, 57th district and served in it from 1985 to 1990. Boehner was elected to the United States Congress in 1990 and assumed office on January 3, 1991 as the Representative of the 8th District of Ohio. He served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1991 to 2015. In his first term in congress, Boehner was one of the “Gang of Seven,” a group of freshman Republican Representatives who advocated strongly for congressional reforms on such issues as internal spending. Most notably, the group was vocal about the House Bank Scandal that broke in 1991 and the House Post Office Scandal that broke in 1992.

During these early years, Boehner also joined the campaign to ratify the 27th Amendment to the United States constitution, which states that any time congress votes to raise members’ own pay, the change cannot take effect until after the next election. After ratification in 1992, Boehner tried to stop congressional cost-of-living adjustments (sometimes called COLAs), arguing they were unconstitutional once the 27th Amendment was passed. The result was the Boehner v. Anderson lawsuit, which Boehner lost.

In 1994, Boehner worked closely with Newt Gingrich on the drafting of the Contract with America, a Republican congressional platform for the 1994 midterm elections in which the Republicans gained the majority in congress for the first time since the 1950s. Boehner’s Chief of Staff, Barry Jackson, was heavily involved in the publicity campaign for the Contract with America signing event on September 27, 1994.

Boehner served as Republican Conference Chair from January 1995 to January 1999, the fourth-highest ranking position in the House Republican Conference. In that position, he helped shape congressional Republican platforms, strategy, and messaging. He was also involved in Boehner v. McDermott, a lawsuit resulting from an event his office designated “Tapegate.” In 1996 private citizens intercepted and recorded a phone call between John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and several other members of Republican leadership. The private citizens gave the recording to Democratic Representative James McDermott, who then shared it with the press to shine a light on how Gingrich and Republican leadership was handling (or mishandling) an ethics investigation. Boehner (whose cell phone had been intercepted) sued McDermott for sharing a private phone call. The lawsuit was finally settled in 2008, with the ruling that McDermott had violated federal wiretapping law and owed damages to Boehner.

Boehner lost re-election for Conference Chair in 1999, at the same time Newt Gingrich was ousted as Speaker of the House of Representatives. From 2001 to 2006 he served as Chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee. During that time, he helped architect, sponsor, and pass H.R. 1, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The act reflected Boehner’s position as a longtime advocate for school choice.

In February 2006, Boehner was elected House Majority Leader. When the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he served as House Minority Leader (January 2007-January 2011). In these leadership roles, he shaped Republican congressional strategy and messaging. In January 2011, he was elected and sworn in as the 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was re-elected Speaker in 2013 and 2015, but also faced challenges to his speakership from members of Congress in his own party, particularly the House Freedom Caucus, who argued that Boehner was not conservative enough. During that time, he was able to end and ban the practice of congressional earmarks, often called “pork barrel” spending. Also during that time, along with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, he invited Pope Francis to address a joint session of Congress on September 24, 2015, the first papal visit to Congress in United States history. Shortly after that visit, he announced his intention to resign from Congress, and resigned at the end of October 2015.

He joined the lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs in late 2016, and as of September 2022, he served as a Senior Strategic Advisor. He published a memoir of his time in the House, especially as Speaker, in April 2021 titled On the House. Xavier University awarded Boehner a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, in 2006 and the Charles P. Gallagher Leadership Medallion to Boehner in 2016.

Sources: Alberta, Tim. “John Boehner Unchained.” Politico. November/December 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/29/john-boehner-trump-house-republican-party-retirement-profile-feature-215741

Boehner, John. On the House: a Washington Memoir. New York: St Martin's Press, 2021.

Cassidy, John. “John Boehner: A Man out of Time.” The New Yorker. September 25, 2015. https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/john-boehner-a-man-out-of-time

Gibbens, Sarah and National Journal. “John Boehner’s Career in Photos.” The Atlantic. September 25, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/john-boehners-career-in-photos/447915/

“House Minority Leader Wins $1 Million Plus in Suit,” CNN Politics, April 1, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/01/boehner.call/.

“John A. Boehner.” Squire Patton Boggs. Accessed August 2021. https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/professionals/b/boehner-john “John Boehner Fast Facts.” CNN. December 1, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/us/john-boehner-fast-facts

Malone, Matt. “John Boehner has no Regrets.” America Magazine. December 2, 2019. https://www.americamagazine.org/america-profile-speaker-john-boehner-pope-francis-congress

Sloat, France Griggs. “Education of a Republican.” Xavier Magazine. Xavier University: Cincinnati, Ohio. January 2, 2003. https://xtra.xavier.edu/xavier-magazine/education-of-a-republican/

“Speakers of the House (1789 to present).” History, Art, & Archives, United States House of Representatives. Accessed September 16, 2022. http://history.house.gov/People/Office/Speakers/

Xavier University. “Take Two.” Xavier University: Cincinnati, Ohio. July 1, 2006. https://xtra.xavier.edu/xavier-magazine/take-two-4/

Xavier University. “Boehner Lands in School Chair.” Xavier Magazine. Xavier University: Cincinnati, Ohio. July 1, 2001. https://xtra.xavier.edu/xavier-magazine/take-two-4/

Xavier University. “Speaking of Speakers.” Xavier Magazine. Xavier University: Cincinnati, Ohio. January 1, 2011. https://xtra.xavier.edu/xavier-magazine/speaking-of-speakers/