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'''Newton "Newt" Gingrich''' (born Harrisburg, Pa., June 17, 1943) served as [[Speaker of the House]] from 1995 until 1999, preceding [[J. Dennis Hastert]] and succeeding [[Thomas Foley]]. He is widely considered the mastermind of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/Bill_Clinton#1994_Republican_Revolution 1994 Republican Revolution] and "[[Contract with America]]" that led the [[Republican Party]] to capture the majority in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] for the first time since 1954. He was considered the chief Republican opposition to President [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1990s.

'''Newton "Newt" Gingrich''' (born Harrisburg, Pa., June 17, 1943) served as [[Speaker of the House]] from 1995 until 1999, preceding [[J. Dennis Hastert]] and succeeding [[Thomas Foley]]. He is widely considered the mastermind of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/Bill_Clinton#1994_Republican_Revolution 1994 Republican Revolution] and "[[Contract with America]]" that led the [[Republican Party]] to capture the majority in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] for the first time since 1954. He was considered the chief Republican opposition to President [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1990's.

Popular with conservatives, Gingrich is a television commentator and the author of nineteen books including 11 fiction and non-fiction [[New York Times]] best-sellers.  

Popular with conservatives, Gingrich is a television commentator and the author of nineteen books including 11 fiction and non-fiction [[New York Times]] best-sellers.  

== Personal Life ==

== Personal Life ==

[[Image:Newt Callista.jpg|thumb|Newt and his wife, Callista]]

[[Image:Newt Callista.jpg|thumb|Newt and Callista]]

Gingrich has been married three times. His first wife, Jackie Battley, was his geometry teacher while he was in high school. They began their relationship when he was 16 years old, and married in 1962 after he graduated.<ref name="poli">[http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Georgia/Newt_Gingrich/Scandals/Marital_Affairs/ Newt Gingrich: Marital Affairs] poligu.com, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> The couple had two daughters, and divorced in 1981, a year after he began having an affair with Marianne Ginther, whom he had met at a political fundraiser in Washington, D.C.<ref name="poli"/> Court records show that Gingrich was the one who filed for the divorce, and that his estranged wife had to appeal to the court for financial support for the family during the separation.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/26/politics/gingrich-divorce-file/index.html Newly recovered court files cast doubt on Gingrich version of first divorce] Duke, Alan, cnn.com, December 27, 2011, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> Gingrich was back in court in 1993 when his ex-wife filed papers asking, "this court issue an order directing the sheriff of Carroll County, state of Georgia, to arrest and seize the defendant and incarcerate him in the common jail until said individual complies fully and completely with this court's final judgment."<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-25/opinion/op-12904_1_family-values Gingrich Puts a Price on His Family Values:He sheltered his $4-million book bonanza from his struggling, non-trophy ex-wife.] Scheer, Robert, ''L.A. Times'', December 25, 1994, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref>

Gingrich, an orphan, has been married three times. His first wife, Jackie Battley, was his geometry teacher while he was in high school. They began their relationship when he was 16 years old, and married in 1962 after he graduated.<ref name="poli">[http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Georgia/Newt_Gingrich/Scandals/Marital_Affairs/ Newt Gingrich: Marital Affairs] poligu.com, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> The couple had two daughters, and divorced in 1981. Liberal and mainstream media sources have perpetuated a myth for years Jackie was served with divorce papers "on her deatbed," however, she is very much alive.

Gingrich married Ginther in 1981. The couple separated in 1988, and reconciled in 1994, around the time Gingrich began a six-year-long affair with Callista Bisek, then a 28-year-old congressional aide.<ref>[http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/newt-gingrich-affair-with-staffer-6165256 Gingrich Friend Dates Affair To '93] ''Chicago Tribune'', November 11, 1999, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref>

Gingrich married Ginther in 1981. The couple separated in 1988, and reconciled in 1994.

Newt Gingrich publicly admitted to having an extra-marital relationship. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder [[James Dobson]]. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich contrasted owning up to his shortcomings with President Clinton's perjury and criminal offenses, "''The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge''," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1597666,00.html?cnn=yes]</ref>

 

Newt Gingrich publicly admitted to having an extra-marital relationship. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder [[James Dobson]]. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich contrasted owning up to his shortcomings with President Clinton's perjury and criminal offenses, "The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1597666,00.html?cnn=yes]</ref>

== External links ==

== External links ==