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When you walk into the Speaker’s Lobby,
what you're entering is a space that most people never go into.
The first thing you see are a long row of portraits
of the Speakers who have served the House of Representatives.
There are portraits of every Speaker who has ever served,
after his assignment as Speaker has been completed,
right from the very first—Speaker Muhlenberg, who served in 1789.
The Speaker’s Lobby actually originally was a whole bunch of rooms.
It was a long hallway, called a lobby,
and several rooms—that were the Members’ Retiring Room, offices for the Speaker—
and the Members got a lot of *** for their buck
in the architecture and the decorations there. It’s a wonderful space. It’s light and airy.
But, because it was originally a bunch of spaces,
it looks a little bit different everywhere you go.
And so, it’s a wonderful example of the many ways in which American decoration
had evolved in the 19th century.
Right up against the wall, where the Speaker sits on the other side in the Chamber,
is one of the desks that was designed
to be used in the House Chamber when it was first built, in the 1850s.
When that was in use in 1857, that was the only office a Member of Congress had.
Just what he could fit in that desk,
and maybe what he could pile up around his feet and on top of it.
He had a chair, he had a desk, and if you think about it,
you realize that he was cheek by jowl, with a Member on either side of him.
Sometimes they had double desks—they had to share a desk.
If a Member only had just one little desk,
like that desk that you can see in the Speaker's Lobby,
where else were constituents going to see him?
Well, in fact, in the Speaker’s Lobby.
And, this very space, the Speaker’s Lobby,
is thought to be the origin of the term, “lobbying”.
Everything that we have that has to do with history here
is part of the constant reminder to all of us, Members and the citizenry,
that we’ve dealt with problems before. We’ve done a lot of this before.
So, it’s just a little nudge to people whenever they’re here that there’s a long tradition
of coming together and solving problems, just inside this Chamber.
And, this stuff is seated right behind where the Speaker’s rostrum is.
So, it’s a nice sort of continuity of history.