Robert Michel, Illinois Republican leader skilled at compromise, dies at 93 - Chicago Tribune
RIP.
Congressman Michel served as House Minority Leader from Jan. 1981 to Jan. 1995. His successor in the leadership position was Newt Gingrich, with whom he often clashed. (Michel felt that Gingrich was too confrontational, and Gingrich believed that Michel's conciliatory attitude would doom the House GOP to permanent minority status.)
Michel had the misfortune of getting elected to Congress in 1956, two years after the Democrats began a 40-year run as the majority party. He decided to retire in 1994, so he just missed out on being in the majority. In any event, even if he had remained in Congress, there's zero chance that he would have been Speaker in Jan. 1995; the new GOP caucus (which consisted of 54 freshmen) was much more conservative than past Republican caucuses, and Gingrich would have prevailed regardless.
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