Former House Speaker John Boehner officially retired from politics in October.

First elected in the midterm Republican wave in 1994, Boehner played a part in then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s revolution, then saw his quick rise to the stop falter when he lost his position as chairman of the House Republican Conference in 1998.

Rather than leave Congress, Boehner went to a House education committee, where he helped draft and pass the No Child Left Behind law with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy as his partner in the upper chamber.

In 2006, Boehner returned to House leadership, then, after Republicans regained control of the House in the 2010 midterms, he became the 61st Speaker of the House.

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