Dean of the United States House of Representatives facts for kids

Don Young, House Representative from Alaska is the current Dean

The Dean of the United States House of Representatives is the representative that has been in office the longest. The current Dean is Don Young, a Republican from Alaska. He has served in the House since March 6th, 1973. The Dean is a symbolic job whose only customary duty is to swear in a Speaker of the House when he or she is elected. The Dean comes forward on the House Floor to administer (give) the oath to the Speaker-elect. The new Speaker then administers the oath to the other members. The Dean does not preside over the election of the Speaker, unlike the Father of the House in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and the Dean of the Canadian House of Commons.

Because of other privileges associated with seniority, the Dean is usually given some of the most desirable office space. The Dean is generally either chair or ranking minority member of an influential committee. Unlike the office of President pro tem, the Dean of the House of Representatives is not an official position.

List of Deans of the House

Years as Dean are followed by name, party, state, and start of service in Congress.

All the members of the First Congress had equal seniority (as defined for the purpose of this article). But Muhlenberg as the Speaker was the first member to be sworn in. Muhlenberg, Hartley and Thatcher were among the 13 members who attended the initial meeting of the House on March 4, 1789.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries some state delegations to the House were often not elected until after the term had begun. To avoid confusion, this fact is ignored in the list below.

• Hartley, Stanford, Williams, Kelley, Randall, Bingham, Payne, Jones, Cooper, Butler, Pou, Sabath, Rayburn, and Patman died in office.
• Vinson, Whitten, and Dingell entered the House to fill unexpired terms.
• Dingell served as Dean for longer than any other person—exactly 20 years.