There was a time when partisanship was kept in check and Congress could legislate. Former House Speaker Tom Foley loved to talk about those days and the institution that he loved. He had big Democratic majorities during the five and a half years he was speaker, from June 1989 to January 1995, and though there were danger signals, he had no inkling of what was coming when the Republicans won the House in ’94—and he became the first speaker since the Civil War to be defeated in his own district.