Editor's note: This piece from the February 6, 1995 issue of Fortune details the rise of Newt Gingrich at a time when he had just managed to unite Republicans in seizing control of the House of Representatives. CEOs surveyed by Fortune saw Gingrich's party not just as anti-big government, but anti-big business, and feared the consequences of its newfound power. Writer Rik Kirkland, later a Managing Editor of Fortune, detected an ideological split among Republicans even then, one that perhaps sowed the seeds for the Tea Party movement more than a decade later.
When Dick Cheney kicked off his New Year by deciding not to make a run for the White House in 1996, business executives lost their favorite candidate for President. But corporate America has a much bigger problem than that: it's losing its party.
