Nancy Pelosi: an American icon or polarizing political figure?

Nancy Pelosi has proven to be one of the most pivotal American politicians of her generation but she's also considered by some to be a polarizing figure that has pushed the boundaries of government since she was elected back in 1987.

Nancy Pelosi has been one of the most transformative politicians in modern American history but she's also been one of the most polarizing, pushing the political and social spheres forward since she entered national politics in 1987.

Despite the hate, Pelosi will be remembered as a feminist and civil liberties icon who broke the glass ceiling on many congressional office positions. 

Pelosi pioneered the legalization of gay marriage in the United States and she has spent 36 years getting results for her constituents in San Francisco. Here is a short history of her time in Congress, accompanied by some of her greatest moments in the House. 

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Pelosi was elected to Congress on April 7th, 1987 after winning against fellow Democratic Harry Britt and beating Republican candidate Harriet Ross in a runoff election.

Prior to becoming speaker, Pelosi made waves when she voted in favor of the 1988 Civil Rights Restoration Act, a bill that forced federal funds to comply with American civil liberties legislation. 

In 2001, Pelosi was elected House minority whip and became the second-in-command behind House Democratic Leader D. Gephardt. 

This was the first time a woman was ever elected to the position of House minority whip in the United States, something that would become a running theme with Pelosi and her time in government.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

In 2002, D. Gephardt retired and Pelosi was elected to replace him, making her the first woman to lead a major party in either chamber of Congress. 

The Democratic Party took control of the House in 2006 and after some political glad-handing, Pelosi was elected as Speaker of the House in January of 2007.

This election made Pelosi the number three in the line for presidential succession and the first woman, Californian, and Italian-American to ever hold the office of Speaker of the House. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

This is a historic moment—for the Congress, and for the women of this country,” Pelosi said in her first speech as Speaker, “It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years.”

Pelosi's first speech as Speaker of the House has indeed gone down in history as a major moment for women in American politics, as she said: “We waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights. But women weren't just waiting; women were working. "

“We worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and granddaughters, today, we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters, the sky is the limit, anything is possible for them.” Pelosi continued."

Before making history with her speech, Pelosi was caught on camera flexing her muscles in victory! 

During her first term as Speaker, Pelosi became known for her contentious nature and was considered a politically polarizing figure in Congress, especially when she came to blows with then-President George W. Bush over his plans to reform Social Security. 

Pelosi was a stark critic of President Bush’s war in Iraq and sent a fierce letter to Bush in 2007, rebuking the President for requesting a troop surge into the devastated country to finish the war. 

“There is no purely military solution in Iraq,” Pelosi wrote in conjunction with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “There is only a political solution. Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain."

“Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection, and counter-terror.” Pelosi and Reid continued. 

But Pelosi never really went as far as she could have against the former President. She officially blocked any discussion about impeaching Bush in 2007, telling the Washington Post that the option was “off the table.”

After the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency, Pelosi began to publicly support broad healthcare reform in the United States and spearheaded the writing of the 2010 Affordable Care Act even after it seemed doomed to failure. 

In 2011, the Democrats lost a majority in the House, and Pelosi was reelected as the minority leader of the House Democrats. 

In an unprecedented 60 minutes interview, Pelosi shocked the nation when she alleged that several Republican members of Congress had used information from closed-door sessions to make money on the stock market, something she and her husband would be accused of doing a decade later. 

When Pelosi’s Democrats lost their fourth consecutive special election in 2017, she shocked journalists with her response when asked why she should remain as leader, sternly saying, “ I'm a master legislator. I am a strategic, politically astute leader. My leadership is recognized by many around the country, and that is why I'm able to attract the support that I do."

In 2018, Pelosi broke the record for the longest House speech ever made when she spent more than eight hours recounting stories of people brought to the United States as undocumented minors. Known as DREAMers, Pelosi made her speech to highlight a budget deal under the Trump administration that threaten to deport many of the undocumented individuals she spoke about. 

Pelosi had an extremely contentious relationship with President Donald Trump after Democrats won back the House majority in 2018, which led to a number of interesting moments in front of the camera. 

In the middle of impeachment proceedings against President Trump, Pelosi showed her grace when rebuking a journalist during a press conference for asking her if she “hated” Trump. “I don’t hate anyone,” Pelosi said, and warned the journalist that they shouldn’t mess with her “when it comes to words like that.”

During Trump's impeachment vote, Pelosi remained silent and professional despite cheer from her fellow Democrats. When the outcome was revealed she looked sternly into the crowd and silenced them with her famous wooden gavel. 

One of Pelosi’s most memorable moments as Speaker came during Trump’s third State of the Union. Pelosi, along with several female Democratic members of the House came dressed in all white, paying homage to women’s suffrage and signifying their solidarity against the misogyny of President Trump. 

In Pelosi’s greatest moment of defiance, she stood up during Trump’s State of the Union Speech and tore a paper copy of it in half on live television, later calling it a “manifesto of mistruths.”

During the storming of the Capital on January 6th, Pelosi was credited with remaining calm and helping her fellow Congressmen and Congresswomen escape to safety, though video evidence has recently been revealed showing she was ready and willing to “punch” Trump in the face if showed up in the halls of Congress. 

Under President Joe Biden, Pelosi came under increasing scrutiny by her political rivals over a number of political missteps, the biggest of which occurred in 2020 when she was caught unmasked at a salon during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Though Pelosi worked hard to change the political system in America with President Biden in her final days in office, it wasn't enough to persuade American voters and her party again lost the House majority in 2022. 

This prompted one of Pelosi’s final greatest moments, she took to the House podium at midday and announced her retirement, recapping the incredible changes that had occurred during her near half-century in office.