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Guy Vander Jagt

Guy Vander Jagt

Guy Vander Jagt was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan. He was born in Cadillac on August 26, 1931. He began preaching at the Tustin Presbyterian Church while a high school student. He graduated from Hope College in Holland, in 1953, and won several state and national public speaking competitions. He next attended Yale Divinity School, graduating in 1957. He also studied for a year at the University of Bonn on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. VanderJagt next went back to school to study law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. but soon transferred to the law school at the University of Michigan, where he received his J.D. in 1960. He began practicing law in Grand Rapids. In 1964 he was elected to the Michigan State Senate. However, he almost immediately began considering a run for the United States Senate against 9th District Congressman Robert Griffin in 1966. Unable to raise the money for a Senate run, in 1966, he ran instead to fill his opponent's House seat and won. He was sworn in as soon as the results were certified, as Griffin had been appointed to the Senate. He was reelected 12 times, never facing truly serious opposition in a district widely considered to be the most Republican district in Michigan.

Committees

One of his earliest appointments was to the Space, Science and Astronautic Committee during the development of America's space program and the landing on the Moon. On the Conservation and National Resources Subcommittee, he worked to establish Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near his home, although he later had cause to note that park mismanagment illustrated "one of the most reprehensible aspects of the land acquisition process." As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, President Richard Nixon sent him on trade missions to Africa and Asia. Vander Jagt was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee in 1974 where he served on the Trade and Select Revenue Measures Subcommittees. He continued to serve on this committee throughout his House career. He also served on the Joint Tax Committee of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

National leadership

In 1980, Vander Jagt was chosen by Ronald Reagan to deliver the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Detroit. He was being considered as a potential Vice Presidential candidate. Using momentum from the convention speech, Vander Jagt ran for House Minority Leader after John J. Rhodes III of Arizona decided not to run for the post again, but lost to Bob Michel of Illinois. Vander Jagt served as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1975 until he left the House. Vander Jagt made a young Newt Gingrich the chairman of a Republican long-range planning committee before Gingrich was even sworn in, catapulting him ahead of sitting committee members.

Post-government career

In 1992, Vander Jagt lost the Republican primary to challenger Pete Hoekstra. He went back into private law practice and work as a public speaker. Reagan was quoted as saying "some call me the great communicator but if there was one thing I dreaded during my eight years in Washington it was having to follow Guy Vander Jagt to the podium."

Quote

:You know, there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats. By and large Democrats really do believe in more spending so government can do more good things for people. Republicans really do believe in less spending so the taxpayer can keep more. --In an interview with the PBS show, Frontline

References


- Hope College Joint Archives [http://www.hope.edu/resources/arc/collections/registers/hope/gvj.html], holder of most of his papers, others are held by Grand Valley State University
- Frontline interview "The Long March of Newt Gingrich" [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newt/newtintwshtml/vanderjagt1.html]
- Leading Authorities speaker's bureau information page[http://www.leadingauthorities.com/11485/Guy_Vander_Jagt.htm] Vander Jagt, Guy Vander Jagt, Guy

United States/Republican Party

:This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. For the earlier Republican Party, see Democratic-Republican Party (United States). The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for "Grand Old Party"), is a political party and is one of the two major political parties in the United States (the other being the Democratic Party). The party was first established in 1854 by Northerners who were opposed to the spread of slavery. In the modern political era, the GOP is usually considered the more socially conservative and economically neoliberal of the two major parties. The current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is the party leader. Since 2002 the Republican Party has held a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It also controls a majority of governorships, and a majority of state legislatures. The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol [http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7]. In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots. The party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stances on social and economic issues. Major policies that the party has recently supported include the 2003 Iraq War and across-the-board tax cuts. It has sought business deregulation, gun ownership rights, free trade and a partial privatization of Social Security. It favors the death penalty, calls for restricted access to abortion, and opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage. The Republican coalition is quite diverse, and "moderate" and "conservative" factions compete for power to frame platforms and select candidates. The "conservatives" are strongest in the South, where they draw support from religious conservatives. The "moderates" tend to dominate the party in New England, and are well represented in all states. In the 1940s and 1950s under such leaders as Thomas Dewey, Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller they usually dominated the presidential wing of the party. Since Barry Goldwater defeated them in 1964 they have been less powerful, though they were well represented in the cabinets of all Republican presidents.

History and trends

Birth

Both Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, claim the honor of setting up the first statewide Republican party organization in 1854. Delegates In Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854 declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories, as permitted by the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act.They selected a state-wide slate of candidates. The Republican Party is not to be confused with the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson or the National Republican Party of Henry Clay. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party drew on the previous traditions of the members, most of whom had been Whigs, and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties especially the Free Soil Party, and American Party. Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, which was formed in the 1830s. American Party–1865).]] John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of Andrew Jackson. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.

Late nineteenth century

With the end of the Civil War came the upheavals of Reconstruction. Republicans at first welcomed president Andrew Johnson; the Radical Republicans thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson however broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and some Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. In 1868 the Republicans united around Ulysses S. Grant. In 1872 the party split, as Liberal Republicans detested Grant's corruption and thought that Reconstruction had succeeded and should be ended. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated Horace Greeley, who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was handed to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877 to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the Solid South, giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964. The GOP, as it was now nicknamed, split into "Stalwart" and "Half-Breed" factions, but policy differences were slight; in 1884, "Mugwump" reformers split off and helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland. As the Northern post-bellum economy mushroomed with industry and immigration, and prosperous agriculture, support for hard money (i.e. gold), high tariffs, and high benefits for veterans became Republican policy. From 1960 to 1912 the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavernkeepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant the Catholics, especially the Irish, who staffed the Democratic party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the Copperheads in the North who sympathized with them. Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in 1884 and 1892). 1892 faction of the Republican Party.]]

Early twentieth century

The election of William McKinley in 1896 is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. He relied heavily on industry for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of business; his campaign manager, Ohio's Marcus Hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin. This emphasis on business was in part mitigated by Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley's successor after assassination, who engaged in trust-busting. Roosevelt did not seek another term in 1908, instead endorsing Secretary of War William Howard Taft as his successor, but the widening division between progressive and conservative forces in the party resulted in a third-party candidacy for Roosevelt on the Progressive, or "Bull Moose" ticket in the election of 1912. He finished ahead of Taft, but the split in the Republican vote resulted in a decisive victory for Democrat Woodrow Wilson, temporarily interrupting the Republican era. The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively, but the Great Depression cost Hoover the presidency with the landslide election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

Second half of the twentieth century

Dwight Eisenhower.]] The post-war emergence of the United States as one of two superpowers and rapid social change caused the Republican Party to divide into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in New England) – combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Midwestern Republicanism active throughout the century. A Republican like U.S. Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey represented the Northeastern wing of the party that was closer to liberalism and internationalism. In the end, the isolationists were marginalized by those who supported a strong U.S. role in opposing the Soviet Union throughout the world, as embodied by President Eisenhower. The conservatives made a comeback under the leadership of Barry Goldwater who defeated liberal Nelson Rockefeller as the Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy. On social issues Goldwater was a libertarian and did not seek support from the social conservatives. One element of the New Deal coalition was the "Solid South", a term describing the Southern states' reliable support for Democratic presidential candidates. Goldwater's electoral success in the South, and Nixon's successful Southern strategy in 1968 and 1972, represented a significant political turnabout, as Southern whites began moving into the party. Later, the Democratic Party's support for liberal social stances such as abortion, criminal law issues such as abolition of the death penalty, and same-sex marriage drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democratic Party. In The Emerging Republican Majority, Kevin Phillips, then a Nixon strategist, argued (based on the 1968 election results) that support from Southern whites and growth in the Sun Belt, among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is still solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates, and no Democratic presidential candidate who wasn't from the South has won a presidential election since 1960. realignment, providing conservative influence that continues to the present day.]] Any enduring Republican majority, however, was put on hold when the Watergate Scandal forced Nixon to resign under threat of impeachment. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon under the 25th Amendment and struggled to forge a political identity separate from his predecessor. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, a Washington outsider.

Reagan Era, 1980-1992

The trends Phillips described, however, could be seen in the 1980 and 1984 elections of Ronald Reagan - the latter being a landslide in which Reagan won nearly 59% of the popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states. The Reagan Democrats were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his strong foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not used to describe southern whites who became permanent Republicans in presidential elections. Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster analyzed white ethnic voters, largely unionized auto workers, in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

Capture the House 1994

House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich-led "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its Contract With America. It was the first time since 1952 that the Republicans secured control of both houses of U.S. Congress, which, with the exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, has been retained through the present time. This capture and subsequent holding of congress represented a major legislative turnaround, as Democrats controlled both houses of congress for the forty years preceeding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate). In 1994, Republican Congressional candidates on a platform of major reforms of government with measures, such as a balanced budget amendment and welfare reform. These measures and others formed the famous Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in an off-year election. The Republicans passed some of their proposals, but failed on others such as term limits. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed many of the social agenda initiatives, though he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also failed to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass one of the most popular proposals—a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. In 1995, a budget battle with Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election.

Present day

1996 election With the victory of George W. Bush in the closely contested 2000 election, the Republican party gained control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952, only to lose control of the Senate by one vote when Vermont Senator James Jeffords left the Republican party to become an independent in 2001 and chose to vote with the Democratic caucus. In the wake of the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush's popularity rose as he pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the invasion of Afghanistan and the USA PATRIOT Act. The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the war in Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934). On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected to a second term, receiving 51% of the popular vote and becoming the first presidential candidate to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988. Republicans gained additional seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats again in the minority. The Republican 2004 political platform was titled "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America".[http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf] It expressed commitment to:
- Winning the War on Terror
- Ushering in an Ownership Era
- Building an Innovative Economy to Compete in the World
- Strengthening Our Communities
- Protecting Our Families

Current structure and composition

The Republican National Committee (RNC) of the United States is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as for coordinating fundraising and election strategy. There are similar committees in every U.S. state and most U.S. counties (though in some states, party organization lower than state-level is arranged by legislative districts). It is the counterpart of the Democratic National Committee. The chairman of the RNC, since January of 2005, is Ken Mehlman. The Republican Party also has fundraising and strategy committees for House races (National Republican Congressional Committee), Senate races (National Republican Senatorial Committee), and gubernatorial races (Republican Governors Association).

Factions

Republican Governors Association Defining the views of any "faction" of any large political party is difficult at best, and any attempt to apply labels within a single political party is subject to some oversimplification. Nevertheless, there are several ideological groups recognized by some in the modern-day GOP, including the social conservatives, Republican In Name Only, paleoconservatives, neoconservatives, moderates, fiscal conservatives, Log Cabin Republicans, and libertarians.

Future trends, realignment?

Thus, as of 2006, Republicans will have controlled the White House for 26 of the previous 38 years, and both houses of Congress since 1994 (except for over a year in the Senate), leading some Conservative commentators to speculate about a permanent political realignment along the lines of the presidential election of 1896, in which Mark Hanna helped William McKinley construct a Republican majority that lasted for the next 36 years — Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political advisor, has been reported to be a keen student of this election. Evidence supporting this view includes Bush's relative success among Hispanic voters, winning 35% of their vote in 2000 and 44% in 2004, although the latter figure has been questioned by some analysts (most notably the anti-immigration Steve Sailer, whose analysis of several exit polls placed Hispanic support for Bush in 2004 at a maximum of 39%), and Bush's victory in 2004 in ninety-seven of the hundred fastest-growing counties in the country, evidence of Republican strength in quickly growing exurbs and in the booming metropolitan areas of the South. By 2010, the United States Census predicts that state population changes will cause states that voted for Bush in 2004 to gain six Congressional seats and electoral votes, while states that voted for Kerry will lose six.[http://www.willisms.com/archives/2005/06/checking_in_on_1.html] Others, such as left-wing commentators Ruy Teixeira and John Judis see prospects of a Republican realignment as unlikely, given the relative decrease in the proportion of white and rural voters, who traditionally have supported the GOP, and noting that Democrats have tended to win healthy majorities among Hispanics, African Americans, and city dwellers (among African American voters, Bush — like all recent Republican presidential candidates — lost overwhelmingly both times, though he did manage to increase his support from 9% in 2000 to 11% in 2004). Critics claim that an inconsistency in the views held within the Republican Party, which they see as a dramatic difference between anti-government libertarians and social conservatives, will undermine the Party's success. There are several outreach campaigns to attract more minorities to register Republican. Notably, that the head of the NAACP for Florida's Orange County, Derrick Wallace has responded to GOP outreach efforts by changing his party affiliation to Republican.[http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-maxwell1705nov17,0,2971218.column?coll=orl-news-col] There are other notable minorities who attract other minorities to the GOP. [http://www.gop.com/Teams/AfricanAmericans/]

Presidential tickets

Other noted Republicans

Present-day


- George Allen, Senator from Virginia.
- Howard Baker, Ambassador to Japan and former senator.
- Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi and former chair of the Republican National Committee.
- Michael Bloomberg, media entrepreneur and Mayor of New York City/ RINO.
- Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida.
- Saxby Chambliss, Senator from Georgia.
- Norm Coleman, Senator from Minnesota.
- Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader, from Texas.
- Elizabeth Dole, Senator from North Carolina, former Labor Secretary and Transportation Secretary, and former presidential candidate.
- John Engler, former Governor of Michigan and current head of National Association of Manufacturers.
- Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, from Tennessee.
- Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, from Georgia.
- Phil Gramm, former Senator from Texas.
- Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York/RINO.
- Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State.
- Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, from Illinois.
- Jesse Helms, former Senator from North Carolina.
- Mike Huckabee, current Governor of Arkansas.
- Thomas Kean, former Governor from New Jersey.
- Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State.
- Trent Lott, former Senate Majority Leader, from Mississippi.
- John McCain, Senator from Arizona and former presidential candidate.
- George Pataki, Governor of New York.
- Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.
- Colin Powell, former Secretary of State.
- Dan Quayle, former Vice President.
- Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security Secretary and former Governor of Pennsylvania.
- Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State.
- Dana Rohrabacher, Representative from California.
- Karl Rove, president George W. Bush's chief political strategist and deputy chief of staff.
- Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense.
- Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina.
- Rick Santorum, Senator from Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
- George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury.
- Arlen Specter, Senator from Pennsylvania.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California.
- Theodore Stevens, president pro tempore of the U.S. senate.
- Caspar Weinberger. former Secretary of Defense.
- Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Pete Wilson, former Governor of California.

Historical


- James G. Blaine (1830 - 1893), former Senator from Maine and Presidential candidate
- John Connally (1917 - 1993), a Governor of Texas
- Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836 - 1926), Speaker of the House
- Charles Curtis (1860 - 1936), Vice President
- Charles G. Dawes (1865 - 1951), Vice President
- George Frisbie Hoar (1826 - 1904), Senator from Massachusetts
- Robert G. Ingersoll (1833 - 1899), political activist
- Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) Senator from Massachusetts
- Joseph McCarthy (1908 - 1957), Senator from Wisconsin and noted anti-communist
- Thomas Brackett Reed (1839 - 1902), Speaker of the House
- Nelson Rockefeller (1908 - 1979), Vice President, Governor of New York, and repeated presidential candidate
- Leland Stanford (1824 - 1893), Governor of California, Senator, and founder of Stanford University
- Robert Alphonso Taft (1889 - 1953), Senator and former presidential candidate
- Strom Thurmond (1902 - 2003), the oldest serving Senator in history (from South Carolina)
- Arthur H. Vandenberg (1884 - 1951), Senator from Michigan
- Earl Warren (1891 - 1974), Governor of California and Chief Justice of the United States

Lists


- List of African American Republicans
- List of Latino Republicans
- List of state Republican Parties in the U.S.
- List of Republican National Conventions
- List of liberal U.S. Republicans
- List of Republican celebrities

See also


- Republican National Convention
- College Republicans
- List of Republican Party Presidential nominees
- Republican Liberty Caucus
- Log Cabin Republicans
- Ripon Society
- South Park Republicans
- Rockefeller Republican
- Radical Republican
- International Democrat Union, of which the Republican Party is a member
- Teenage Republicans

External links


- [http://www.rnc.org/ Republican National Committee]
  - [http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf 2004 Platform] (PDF format)
- [http://www.crnc.org/ College Republican National Committee]
- [http://www.savethegop.com/ SavetheGOP.com]
- [http://www.pachyderms.org/ Grand Order of Pachyderm Clubs]
- [http://www.gopwing.com/ National Federation of Republican Assemblies]
- [http://www.republicanmainstreet.org/ Republican Main Street Partnership]
- [http://www.rlc.org/ Republican Liberty Caucus]
- [http://www.RepublicanIssues.com/ Republican Issues Campaign]
- [http://www.GOPToday.com/ Americans for a Republican Majority]
- [http://www.RepublicanLeadership.org/ Republican Leadership Coalition]
- [http://www.GOPinion.com/ GOPinion], conservative news from around the web
- [http://www.yrnf.com/ Young Republican National Federation]
- Thomas Frank, New Statesman, 30 August 2004, [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4703_133/ai_n6247127 "Bush, the working class hero"] - How the Republicans captured the working class vote

Scholarly Secondary Sources


- American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
- Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail.
- Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005)
- Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=90104191 online at Questia]
- Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005), an insightful but unflattering appraisal.
- Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (1987).
- Gould, Lewis. Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (2003), the best overview.
- Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971)
- Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (2001) well balanced scholarly synthesis.
- Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
- Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854-1966. 2d ed. (1967), older, well-balanced narrative.
- Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (1997) well balanced scholarly synthesis.
- Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore (2005) well balanced scholarly synthesis.
- Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican;: A biography of Robert A. Taft (1972)
- Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996), less useful than Gould.
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
- Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838-1893 (1991) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94090777 online at Questia]
- Teixeira, Ruy and John B. Judis. The Emerging Democratic Majority, (2002) ISBN 0743254783, by two liberal Democrats.
- Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004).

Primary Sources


- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-1984 (various multivolume editions, 1986). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Category:Conservative parties Republican Category:U.S. Republican Party Category:International Democrat Union ko:공화당 (미국) ja:共和党 simple:United States Republican Party

U.S. House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States. Each state is represented in the House proportional to its population, but each state is entitled to at least one Representative. The total number of Representatives is currently fixed at 435, each of whom serve two-year terms. Congress has the power to alter the total membership. The presiding officer of the House is known as the Speaker. The bicameral Congress arose from the desire of the Founding Fathers to create a "house of the people" that would closely resemble and follow public opinion, and a more deliberative, learned and reserved Senate which would be less susceptible to the frenzies of mass sentiment. It is conventional to consider the House as the "lower house", and the Senate as the "upper house", although the U.S. Constitution, does not use such language. The Constitution provides that the approval of both houses is necessary for the passage of legislation. The House is generally considered a more partisan chamber than the Senate. Many of the Founding Fathers intended the Senate (originally elected by the state legislatures) to be a check on the popularly elected House, just as the House was to be a check on the Senate. The "advice and consent" powers (such as the power to approve treaties) were therefore granted to the Senate alone. The House was granted its own exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the President in electoral college deadlocks. However, the Senate can propose amendments to spending bills, tries impeached officials, and chooses the Vice President in an electoral college deadlock. The Senate and its members generally have greater prestige than the House and its members. Senators serve longer terms, are less numerous, and (in most cases) represent larger constituencies than members of the House. Senate.]]

History

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in which each state held one vote. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon a Constitutional Convention in 1787; all states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates. The issue of how Congress was to be structured was one of the most divisive during the Convention. James Madison's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress; the lower house would be elected directly by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the lower house. The plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress (the House of Representatives) would provide proportional representation, whereas the other (the Senate) would provide equal representation. The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states (nine out of the 13) in 1788, but its full implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April 1, 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over sectionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Sectional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican-American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War (1861–1865), which began soon after several southern states declared secession from the Union. The war culminated in the South's defeat and in the abolition of slavery. The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War. Reconstruction ended in about 1877; the ensuing era, known as the Gilded Age, was marked by sharp political divisions in the electorate. Both the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw a dramatic increase in the power of the Speaker of the House. The rise of the Speaker's influence began in the 1890s, during tenure of Republican Thomas Brackett Reed. "Czar Reed," as he was nicknamed, attempted to put into effect his view that "The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch." The leadership structure of the House also developed during approximately the same period, with the positions of Majority Leader and Minority Leader being created in 1899. While the Minority Leader was the head of the minority party, the Majority Leader remained subordinate to the Speaker. The Speakership reached its zenith during the term of Republican Joseph Gurney Cannon, 1903 to 1911. The powers of the Speaker included chairmanship of the influential Rules Committee and the ability to appoint members of other House committees. These powers, however, were curtailed in the "Revolution of 1910" due to the efforts of Democrats and dissatisfied Republicans who opposed Cannon's arguably heavy-handed tactics. The Democratic Party dominated the House of Representatives during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), often winning over two-thirds of the seats. Both Democrats and Republicans were in power at various times during the next decade. However, after winning the elections of 1954, the Democratic Party would maintain control of the House for the next forty years. In the mid-1970s, there were major reforms of the House, strengthening the power of sub-commmittees at the expense of committee chairman and allowing party leaders to nominate committee chairs. These actions were taken to undermine the "seniority" system, and to reduce the ability of a small number of senior members to obstruct legislation they did not favor. There was also a shift from the 1970s to greater control of the legislative program by the majority party; in particular, the power of party leaders (especially the Speaker) grew considerably. The Republicans swept back into power only in 1995, under the leadership of Speaker Newt Gingrich (see Republican Revolution). Gingrich attempted to pass a major legislative program, the Contract With America on which the House Republicans had been elected, and made major reforms of the House, notably reducing the tenure of committee chairs to three two-year terms.

Membership

Contract With America Under article one, section two of the constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of population, as determined by a census conducted every ten years. Each state, however, is entitled to at least one representative. The only constitutional rule relating to the size of the House is that it may consist of no more than one member for every thirty thousand people. As the US population increased, this minumum proved untenable (adhering to this mimumum would today fill the House with over 9800 members), and Congress fixed the size of the House at 435 seats in 1911 (see Public Law 62-5). The figure was temporarily increased to 437 in 1959 to reflect the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states, but returned to 435 four years later. The Constitution does not provide for the representation of the District of Columbia or of territories. However, Congress has passed legislation permitting them to elect delegates or Resident Commissioners. Delegates and Resident Commissioners are permitted to participate in debates and to vote in committees, but they may not vote on the floor of the House. The District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are represented by a delegate each. Only Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner. States that are entitled to more than one representative must be divided into single-member districts. Typically, states conduct redistricting after each census, though states are allowed to redraw the boundaries at other times as well (see Redistricting warrant). Each state determines its own district boundaries, either through legislation or by a non-partisan panel. "Malapportionment" is unconstitutional and districts must be approximately equal in population (see Wesberry v. Sanders). The Voting Rights Act prohibits states from gerrymandering districts to reduce ethnic minorities' voting power. Using gerrymandering for political gain is not prohibited, even when political gerrymandering incidentally involves the creation of racially concentrated districts. Due to gerrymandering, fewer than 10% of all House seats are seriously contested in each election cycle. The fact that over 90% of House members are nearly guaranteed reelection every two years due to lack of electoral competition, has been criticized because it can be seen as against one of the main principles of democracy (fair competition). The legal gerrymandering of the House, combined with the institutionalized gerrymandering of the Senate and the Electoral College, have been criticized as being antithetical to democracy and representative government. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets forth three qualifications for representatives: each representative must be at least twenty-five years old, must have been a citizen of the United States for at least the past seven years, and must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state he or she represents. It is not, however, requisite for the representative to live in his or her district. The age and citizenship qualifications for representatives are less stringent than those for senators. Furthermore, under the Fourteenth Amendment, any federal or state officer who takes the requisite oath to support the Constitution, but later engages in rebellion or aids the enemies of the United States, is disqualified from becoming a representative. This provision, which came into force soon after the end of the American Civil War, was intended to prevent those who sided with the Confederacy from serving. The Amendment, however, provides that a disqualified individual may still serve if two-thirds of both Houses of Congress vote to remove the disability. Elections are held in every even-numbered year, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (Election Day (United States)). Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates in primary elections, which are typically held several months before the general elections. Ballot access rules for independent and third-party candidates vary from state to state. For the general election, almost all states use the first-past-the-post system, under which the candidate with a plurality of votes (not necessarily an absolute majority) wins. The sole exception is Louisiana, which uses runoff voting. All vacancies that arise during a term must be filled by special elections, conducted in the same manner. Representatives and delegates serve for two-year terms, whereas the Resident Commissioner serves for four years. Once elected, a representative continues to serve until the expiry of his or her term, death, or resignation. Furthermore, the Constitution permits the House to expel any member with a two-thirds majority. In the history of the United States, only five members have been expelled from the House; three of them were removed in 1861 for supporting the Confederate secession, which led to the American Civil War. In 1980, Michael Myers was expelled for accepting bribes and James Traficant was expelled in 2002 following his conviction for corruption. The House also has the power to censure its members; censure requires only a simple majority, but does not remove a member from office. Representatives are entitled to prefix "The Honorable" to their names. A member of the House is commonly referred to as a "Congressman" or "Congresswoman". Although the Senate also forms a part of Congress, these terms are generally not applied to Senators. The term "Representative" is also used to refer to a member of the House, although this term is less frequently used. Among academics and journalists, the term "Member of Congress" (MC) is gaining popularity in reference to members of both houses, with "Representative" replacing "Congressman/woman". The annual salary of each Representative is $162,100. The Speaker of the House and the Majority and Minority Leaders earn higher salaries. By comparison, Senators earn the same as Representatives, cabinet members $180,100, and the President of the United States $400,000.

Officers

The party with a majority of seats in the House is known as the majority party; the next-largest party is the minority party. The Speaker, committee chairmen, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. The Constitution provides that the House may choose its own Speaker. Although not explicitly required by the Constitution, every Speaker has been a member of the House. The Constitution does not specify the duties and powers of the Speaker, which are instead regulated by the rules and customs of the House. The Speaker has a role both as a leader of the House and the leader of his or her party (always the majority party). Under the Presidential Succession Act (1947), the Speaker is second in line behind the Vice President to succeed the President. The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House, but does not preside over every debate. Instead, he or she delegates the responsibility of presiding to other members in most cases. The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the House chamber. The powers of the presiding officer are extensive; one important power is that of controlling the order in which members of the House speak. No member may make a speech or a motion unless he or she has first been recognized by the presiding officer. Moreover, the presiding officer may rule on any "point of order" (a member's objection that a rule has been breached), but the decision is subject to appeal to the whole House. The Speaker is the chair of his or her party's steering committee, which chooses the chairmen of standing committees. The Speaker determines which committees consider bills, appoints most of the members of the Rules Committee, and appoints all members of conference committees. When the Presidency and Congress are controlled by different parties, the Speaker can become the de facto "leader of the opposition." Since the Speaker is a partisan officer with substantial power to control the business of the House, the position is often used for partisan advantage. Each party elects a floor leader, who is known as the Majority Leader or Minority Leader. While the Minority Leader is the full leader of his or her party, the same is not true of the Majority Leader. Instead, the Speaker is the head of the majority party; the Majority Leader is only the second-highest official. Each party also elects a whip, who works to ensure that his or her party's members vote as the party leadership desires. Representatives are generally less independent of party leaders than senators, and usually vote as the leadership directs. Incentives to cooperate include the leadership's power to select committee chairmen. As a result, the leadership plays a much greater role in the House than in the Senate, and the atmosphere of the House is regarded by many as more partisan. The House is also served by several officials who are not members. The House's chief officer is the Clerk, who maintains public records, prepares documents, and oversees junior officials. The Clerk also presides over the House at the beginning of each new Congress pending the election of a Speaker. Another officer is the Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for the day-to-day administrative support to the House of Representatives. This includes everything from payroll to food service. The last House official is the Sergeant-at-Arms, who, as the House's chief law enforcement officer, maintains order and security on House premises. Routine police work is actually handled by the Capitol Police, which is supervised by the Capitol Police Board, a body to which the Sergeant-at-Arms belongs. The position of Chief Administrative Officer was created following the 1994 takeover of the House by Republicans replacing the positions of Doorkeeper and Postmaster.

Procedure

Like the Senate, the House of Representatives meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the chamber of the House is a rostrum from which the Speaker presides. The lower tier of the rostrum is used by clerks and other officials. Members' desks are arranged in the chamber in a semicircular pattern; the desks are divided by a wide central aisle. By tradition, Democrats sit on the right of the center aisle, while Republicans sit on the left, as viewed from the presiding officer's chair. Sittings are normally held on weekdays; meetings on Saturdays and Sundays are rare. Sittings of the House are generally open to the public and are broadcast live on television by C-SPAN. The procedure of the House depends not only on the rules, but also on a variety of customs, precedents, and traditions. In many cases, the House waives some of its stricter rules (including time limits on debates) by unanimous consent. Any member may block a unanimous consent agreement, but in practice, objections are rare. The presiding officer enforces the rules of the House, and may warn members who deviate from them. The presiding officer uses a gavel to maintain order. The Constitution provides that a majority of the House constitutes a quorum to do business. Under the rules and customs of the House, a quorum is always assumed to be present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. Any member may make a point of order that a quorum is not present; if the presiding officer accepts the point of order, a quorum call may be held. Although a majority of members are not normally present during debates, objections that a quorum is not present are rarely made. During debates, a member may only speak if called upon by the presiding officer. The presiding officer may determine which members to recognize, and may therefore control the course of debate. All speeches must be addressed to the presiding officer, using the words "Mr. Speaker" or "Madam Speaker." Only the presiding officer may be directly addressed in speeches; other members must be referred to in the third person. In most cases, members do not refer to each other by name, but by state, using forms such as "the gentleman from Virginia" or "the gentlewoman from California." Before legislation reaches the floor of the House, the Rules Committee normally passes a rule to govern debate on that measure. For instance, the committee determines if amendments to the bill are permitted. An "open rule" permits all germane amendments, but a "closed rule" restricts or even prohibits amendment. Debate on a bill is generally restricted to one hour, equally divided between the majority and minority parties. Each side is led during the debate by a "floor manager," who allocates debate time to members who wish to speak. On contentious matters, many members may wish to speak; thus, a member may receive as little as one minute, or even thirty seconds, to make his or her point. When debate concludes, the motion in question is put to a vote. In many cases, the House votes by voice vote; the presiding officer puts the question, and Members respond either "Aye" (in favor of the motion) or "No" (against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote. Any member, however, may challenge the presiding officer's assessment and "request the yeas and nays" or "request a recorded vote." The request may be granted only if it is seconded by one-fifth of the members present. In practice, however, congressmen second requests for recorded votes as a matter of courtesy. Recorded votes are automatically held in some cases, such as votes on the annual budget. The House may vote in three manners. Firstly, the House may vote by electronic device; each member uses a personal identification card to record his or her vote at one of 44 voting stations in the chamber. Votes are almost always held by electronic device. Secondly, the House may conduct a teller vote. Members hand in colored cards to indicate their votes: green for "Yea," red for "Nay," and orange for "Present" (i.e., to abstain). Teller votes are normally held only when the computer system breaks down. Finally, the House may conduct a roll call vote. The clerk reads the list of members of the House, each of whom announces his or her vote when his or her name is called. This procedure is reserved for very formal votes (such as the election of a Speaker) due to the time consumed by calling over four hundred names. Voting traditionally lasts for fifteen minutes, but it may be extended if the leadership needs to "whip" more Congressmen into alignment. The 2003 vote on the Prescription Drug Benefit was open for three hours, from 3:00 to 6:00 AM. The 2005 vote on CAFTA was open for one hour, from 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM. An October 2005 vote on facilitating refinery construction was kept open for forty minutes. The presiding officer may vote, like any other member. If a vote is tied, the presiding officer does not have a casting vote (unless he or she has not yet cast his or her vote). Instead, motions are decided in the negative when ties arise.

Committees

The Houses uses committees (as well as their subcommittees) for a variety of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive branch. The appointment of committee members is formally made by the whole House, but the choice of members is actually made by the political parties. Generally, each party honors the preferences of individual congressmen and congresswomen, giving priority on the basis of seniority. Each party is allocated seats on committees in proportion to its overall strength. The largest committee of the House is the Committee of the Whole, which, as its name suggests, consists of all members of the House. The Committee meets in the House chamber; it may consider and amend bills, but may not grant them final passage. Generally, the debate procedures of the Committee of the Whole are more flexible than those of the House itself. Most committee work is performed by twenty standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a specific field such as Agriculture or International Relations. Each standing committee considers, amends, and reports bills that fall under its jurisdiction. Committees have extensive powers with regard to bills; they may block legislation from reaching the floor of the House. Standing committees also oversee the departments and agencies of the executive branch. In discharging their duties, standing committees have the power to hold hearings and to subpoena witnesses and evidence. The House also has one permanent committee that is not a standing committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Furthermore, the Congress includes joint committees, which include members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Some joint committees oversee independent government bodies; for instance, the Joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress. Other joint committees serve to make advisory reports; for example, there exists a Joint Committee on Taxation. Bills and nominees are not referred to joint committees. Hence, the power of joint committees is considerably lower than those of standing committees. Each House committee and subcommittee is led by a chairman (always a member of the majority party). Prior to the reforms of the 1970s, committee chairmen were very powerful. Woodrow Wilson suggested: :Power is nowhere concentrated; it is rather deliberately and of set policy scattered amongst many small chiefs. It is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven seigniories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court-baron and its chairman lord-proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within the reach of the full powers of rule, may at will exercise almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself. Formerly, committee chairmanship was determined purely by seniority; however, the rules were changed in 1975 to permit party caucuses to elect chairmen. In 1995, Republicans under Newt Gingrich set a limit of three two-year terms for committee chairmen. The chairman's powers are extensive; he or she controls the committee's agenda, and may prevent the committee from approving a bill. Modern committee chairmen are typically not forceful in exerting their influence, although there have been some exceptions. The second-highest member, the spokesperson on the committee for the minority party, is known in most cases the Ranking Member.

Legislative functions

Most bills may be introduced in either House of Congress. However, the Constitution provides that "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, whenever the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. The constitutional provision barring the Senate from introducing revenue bills is based on the practice of the British Parliament, in which only the House of Commons may originate such measures. Although it cannot originate revenue bills, the Senate retains the power to amend or reject them. As Woodrow Wilson wrote: :[T]he Senate's right to amend [revenue bills] has been allowed the widest possible scope. The upper house may add to them what it pleases; may go altogether outside of their original provisions and tack to them entirely new features of legislation, altering not only the amounts but even the objects of expenditure, and making out of the materials sent them by the popular chamber measures of an almost totally new character. The approval of both the Senate and the House of Representatives is required for any bill, including a revenue bill, to become law. Both Houses must pass the exact same version of the bill; if there are differences, they may be resolved by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies. For the stages through which bills pass in the Senate, see Act of Congress.

Checks and balances

The Constitution provides that the Senate's "advice and consent" is necessary for the President to make certain appointments and to ratify treaties. The House has no constitutional role in either process. Thus, the powers of the Senate are more extensive than those of the House. The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Senate to try such impeachments. The House may approve "articles of impeachment" by a simple majority vote; however, a two-thirds vote is required for conviction in the Senate. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future. No further punishment is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (Another resigned before the Senate could complete the trial.) Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the House has the power to elect the President if no presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the electoral college. The Twelfth Amendment requires the House to choose from the three candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. The Constitution provides that "the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote." Electoral college deadlocks are very rare; in the history of the United States, the House has only had to break a deadlock twice. In 1800, it elected Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr; in 1824, it elected John Q. Adams over Andrew Jackson and William H. Crawford. The power to elect the Vice President in the case of an electoral college deadlock belongs to the Senate.

Current composition

:
- Bernie Sanders of Vermont :
  - California's 50th District, vacated by Randy Cunningham on November 28, 2005 :
    - Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico

See also


- List of former members of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Closed sessions of the United States House of Representatives

References


- Berman, Daniel M. (1964). In Congress Assembled: The Legislative Process in the National Government. London: The Macmillan Company.
- Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Congress, 5th ed. (2000). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.
- [http://www.c-span.org/questions/ C-SPAN. (2003). "Capitol Questions."]
- Story, Joseph. (1891). Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. (2 vols). Boston: Brown & Little.
- Wilson, Woodrow. (1885). Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
- [http://www.house.gov/hastert/speaker/speaker.shtml "The Speaker of the House House Officer, Party Leader, and Representative"]

External links


- [http://www.house.gov The United States House of Representatives. Official Website.]
- [http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present.]
- [http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/bwcongress.html Best & Worst of Congress, as chosen by their aides.] Category:National lower houses ja:アメリカ合衆国下院



August 26

August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). There are 127 days remaining.

Events


- The Chinese invent first toilet paper (official date unknown)
- 55 BC - Julius Caesar invades Britain
- 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert
- 1278 - Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in Moravia.
- 1346 - Hundred Years' War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights is established at the Battle of Crécy.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc enters Paris.
- 1498 - Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.
- 1778 - The first ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain of Slovenia.
- 1789 - Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by Constituent Assembly at Palace of Versailles
- 1839 - The ship Amistad is captured off Long Island.
- 1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph.
- 1862 - American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run begins.
- 1883 - Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.
- 1914 - World War I: Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg.
- 1914 - World War I: The British Expeditionary Force briefly checks the German advance at Le Cateau.
- 1914 - World War I: The German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.
- 1920 - 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gives women the right to vote.
- 1939 - The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.
- 1940 - Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.
- 1944 - World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
- 1957 - The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM - a "super longdistance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket ... a few days ago," according to Tass Soviet News Agency.
- 1968 - Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, Illinois
- 1968 - The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is released as a single in the United States under the Apple Records label.
- 1972 - Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.
- 1976 - Raymond Barre becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1978 - Papal conclave, 1978 (August): Pope John Paul I is elevated to the Papacy.
- 1978 - Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft.
- 1986 - Toxic gas kills 1700 in Cameroon.
- 1987 - President Ronald Wilson Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.
- 1988 - Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
- 1997 - Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
- 2002 - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Éric Gagné converts his first of a record 84 consecutive successful save opportunities.
- 2002 - Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 2003 - Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
- 2005 - Fiji's High Court rules that the island's sodomy law is unconstitutional.

Births


- 1469 - Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)
- 1540 - King Magnus of Livonia (d. 1583)
- 1676 - Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1745)
- 1694 - Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (d. 1755)
- 1743 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
- 1775 - William Joseph Behr, German writer (d. 1851)
- 1792 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857)
- 1850 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1873 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (d. 1961)
- 1874 - Zona Gale, American novelist (d. 1938)
- 1875 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
- 1880 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet and art critic (d. 1918)
- 1882 - James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- 1896 - Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1990)
- 1897 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea (d. 1990)
- 1898 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
- 1900 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
- 1901 - Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
- 1904 - Christopher Isherwood, English-born writer (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Albert Sabin, American polio researcher (d. 1993)
- 1909 - Jim Davis, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1914 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (d. 1984)
- 1921 - Benjamin Bradlee, American journalist
- 1922 - Irving R. Levine, American journalist
- 1923 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist
- 1934 - Tom Heinsohn, American basketball player and commentator
- 1935 - Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
- 1936 - Yvette Vickers, American actress
- 1940 - Don LaFontaine, movie trailer announcer
- 1941 - Barbet Schroeder, Swiss film director
- 1941 - Akiko Wakabayashi, Japanese actress
- 1942 - Vic Dana, American singer
- 1942 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- 1944 - Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
- 1946 - Valerie Simpson, American singer
- 1946 - Tom Ridge, first United States Secretary of Homeland Security
- 1952 - Michael Jeter, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1956 - Brett Cullen, American actor
- 1957 - Dr. Alban, Nigerian singer
- 1960 - Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist and bandleader
- 1965 - Chris Burke, American actor
- 1965 - Jon Hensley, American actor
- 1966 - Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player
- 1966 - Shirley Manson, Scottish singer
- 1971 - Thalía, Mexican actress
- 1979 - Jamal Lewis, American football player
- 1980 - Macaulay Culkin, American actor

Deaths


- 1278 - King Otakar II of Bohemia
- 1346 - Killed in the Battle of Crécy:
  - Charles II of Alençon (b. 1297)
  - Louis I of Flanders (b. 1304)
  - John I, Count of Luxemburg (b. 1296)
  - Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1320)
- 1349 - Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1551 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1516)
- 1595 - Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
- 1666 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter
- 1714 - Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632)
- 1723 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (b. 1632)
- 1785 - George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
- 1850 - Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
- 1915 - John Bunny American comedian (b. 1863)
- 1930 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
- 1944 - Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat opposing the Nazi regime (executed)
- 1945 - Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
- 1968 - Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1974 - Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- 1978 - Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
- 1978 - José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)
- 1979 - Mika Waltari, Finnish author (b. 1908)
- 1980 - Rosa Albach-Retty, German actress (b. 1874)
- 1980 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (b. 1908)
- 1981 - Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
- 1986 - Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1987 - Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1989 - Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)
- 1990 - Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer (b. 1913)
- 1998 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
- 2004 - Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
- 2005 - Robert Denning, Interior designer (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances


- RC saints - St Zephyrinus, Saint Ninian, David Lewis (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
- Namibia - Namibia Day or Heroes' Day
- Zanzibar - Sultan's Birthday

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/26 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 25 - August 27 - July 26 - September 26 -- listing of all days ko:8월 26일 ms:26 Ogos ja:8月26日 simple:August 26 th:26 สิงหาคม

1931

1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday.

Events

January-March


- January 4 - Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa
- January 6 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
- January 22 - Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia
- January 25 - Mohandas Gandhi released again
- January 27 - Pierre Laval forms a government in France
-