Editing Newt Gingrich (section)

=== Leadership challenge ===
[[File:Dick Gephardt.jpg|thumb|[[Dick Gephardt]] tried to replace Gingrich as Speaker of the House.]]
In the summer of 1997, several House Republicans attempted to replace him as Speaker, arguing Gingrich's public image was a liability. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting of Republican conference chairman [[John Boehner]] of [[Ohio]] and Republican leadership chairman [[Bill Paxon]] of New York. According to their plan, [[House Majority Leader]] [[Dick Armey]], [[House Majority Whip]] [[Tom DeLay]], Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out.

However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/07/21/time/gingrich.html |publisher=[[CNN]]|title=Attempted Republican Coup: Ready, Aim, Misfire |access-date=May 20, 2010 |archive-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121040531/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/07/21/time/gingrich.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker. This would allow for the possibility that Democrats, along with dissenting Republicans, would vote in Democrat [[Dick Gephardt]] as Speaker.

On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position{{snd}}by Gingrich{{snd}}instead of elected.<ref name=Lessons159>{{cite book |title=Lessons Learned the Hard Way |last=Gingrich |first=Newt |year=1998 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-06-019106-1 |pages=159–160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34J4AAAAMAAJ |access-date=March 18, 2014 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806184804/https://books.google.com/books?id=34J4AAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Gingrich accepted Paxon's resignation and directed Paxon to immediately vacate his leadership office space.<ref name=Lessons159/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Erlanger|first=Steven|date=July 21, 1997|title=Paxon Says He Doesn't Want Speaker's Post Despite Revolt|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/21/us/paxon-says-he-doesn-t-want-speaker-s-post-despite-revolt.html|access-date=June 10, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=June 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610132953/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/21/us/paxon-says-he-doesn-t-want-speaker-s-post-despite-revolt.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=AllPolitics - Paxon Resigns From GOP Leadership - July 17, 1997|url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/07/17/paxon.gingrich/|access-date=June 10, 2020|website=www.cnn.com|archive-date=September 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907031540/https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/07/17/paxon.gingrich/|url-status=live}}</ref>