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Editor's note: This article is part of a series reviewing Utah and U.S. history for KSL.com's Historic section.
SALT LAKE CITY — History was made on Tuesday when Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, became the first House Speaker to be ousted from the role by his colleagues during a rare vote to vacate the position led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, and supported by Democratic rivals after congressional leaders were only able to push across a temporary agreement to avoid a government shutdown.
The Associated Press reported it was only the third time the motion was ever considered, following failed attempts in 1910 and 2015 — the latter never reached the floor for a vote.
Utah's congressional delegation immediately blasted the unprecedented measure, as its members argued that the same people who led the charge to remove McCarthy from the top House leadership position were the "biggest saboteurs" in budget discussions.
"It's based on attention, it's based on narcissism," said Utah Rep. Blake Moore, after the vote.
McCarthy's term, which began earlier this year, came to a close after 270 days, the third-shortest on record, according to Axios.
So who had shorter terms and why?
Rep. Michael Kerr, a Democrat from Indiana, held the speaker title for 258 days in 1876 before he died from tuberculosis. Utah newspaper archives show that local outlets tracked his illness up until his death in August of that year, many of which noted flags were lowered to half-staff across the nation after he died.
The shortest term, however, belongs to Rep. Theodore Pomeroy, who served in the position for just one day in 1869 in an interesting turn of events.
The House of Representatives elected Pomeroy, a Republican who through most of the 1860s represented a section of central New York, as the chamber's 30th speaker on March 3, 1869 — after the prior speaker, Rep. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, resigned, to be sworn in as the vice president to then-President Ulysses S. Grant.
But Pomeroy had already planned to retire on March 4, according to Politico, which rehashed the story of this odd shift of power in 2017 by piecing together old U.S. House of Representatives records. It appears that the measure to elect him was nothing more than a friendly gesture by his colleagues, who approved his appointment without dissent during one of the most tumultuous eras in U.S. political history.
"By all accounts, Pomeroy was an affable politician, well-liked by his fellow members on both sides of the aisle," the outlet wrote. "After taking office, Pomeroy gave a brief speech thanking his colleagues 'for the kind personal consideration which is involved in my unanimous election to this most honorable position.'"
He retired as planned, and Rep. James Blaine, R-Maine, went on to be selected to succeed him as House Speaker.
Pomeroy's life in public service didn't end there. He briefly served as the mayor of Auburn, New York, and also as a New York state senator in the 1870s. In the private sector, he also became the vice president and general counsel at a company that would eventually become American Express, Politico also pointed out. He died in 1905 at the age of 80.
As members of the House of Representatives now search for who will be the chamber's 119th speaker, it's likely whomever they choose won't break Pomeroy's record. His is a record that may never be broken.
