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Joseph Guerney ("Uncle Joe") Cannon was a bearded, tyrannical Illinoisan who firmly believed that the majority should rule—and that the Republican Party should be the perpetual majority. He welcomed and roundly misused the Reed Rules, became the House's greatest despot—but managed to maintain a host of loyal friends in both parties. He once blandly ordered a third roll call on a motion because "the Chair is hoping a few more Republicans will come in." Eventually, the House revolted against Cannon, stripped him of many of his princely powers, and hobbled the speakership.
Champ Clark, a Missouri lawyer, was the Democratic floor leader in the insurrection against Uncle Joe Cannon. When he became Speaker, he was hamstrung by his own handiwork, and his fellow Democrats were reluctant to restore the powers that Clark had helped take from Cannon. He went a long way, however, toward restoring the speakership to its former prestige, and was noted for his rapid rulings. He never liked to explain his decisions, he said, because, like a country judge he had known back in Missouri, he might make the right ruling but give the wrong explanation.
Nicholas Longworth, a Cincinnati Republican, married "Princess Alice" Roosevelt, Teddy's daughter. He was an elegant, scrupulously fair presiding officer, and a skilled parliamentarian who won friends on both sides of the aisle and prestige for the House through his assumption that all Representatives were as honorable and gentlemanly as himself. With his bipartisan "Big Five," he set the pace for the famed "Board of Education," an informal gathering where the leaders of both parties could get together after each day's session for drinking and legislative planning.