Former speaker Boehner’s memoir gets publish date, cover released

Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will release a new memoir this spring.

“On the House: A Washington Memoir” will be released by St. Martin’s Press on April 13, 2021, which will tell stories about legislative battles won and lost and interactions with presidents from Gerald Ford to Donald Trump.

“I’ve never really been interested in doing your typical political memoir kind of book. And this won’t be that kind of book,” said Boehner, 70, a southwest Cincinnati native and West Chester Twp. resident. “This is going to be a book people might want to actually read, no matter where they’re coming from politically, or where they’re coming from in life.”

According to a release from St. Martin’s Press, Boehner’s upcoming memoir is “filled with fascinating anecdotes from a colorful career and written in his trademark style, the book is sometimes warm, sometimes gruff, but always honest, and a reminder of the time when the adults were firmly in charge of Washington.”

Boehner always described himself as “a regular guy with a big job,” though he was two heartbeats from the presidency when he became the 53rd U.S. House Speaker in January 2011. He was the first speaker from Ohio since Republican Nicholas Longworth (1925-1931). Before his speakership, Boehner was the House Minority Leader from January 2007 until his election as speaker in January 2011. He served as House Majority Leader from February 2006 to January 2007.

Boehner resigned from Congress in October 2015, announcing the decision on Sept. 25, 2015, the day after Pope Francis addressed Congress, a moment Boehner has said was the highest point in his legislative career.

Boehner was first elected to represent the 8th Ohio Congressional District in November 1990, serving from January 1991 until his retirement. He drove for a smaller, more accountable federal government in his nearly 25-year career.

Boehner grew up in Reading, Ohio in Hamilton County, and worked at his family-owned bar and cafe mopping floors and waiting tables. He graduated from Moeller High School in 1968 and Xavier University in 1977. He’s married to his wife, Debbie, and they have two daughters.

Boehner now serves as Senior Strategic Advisor for Squire Patton Boggs LLP, a law and public policy firm.

About the Author