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University Microfilms, a XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1971 POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOR A LIBERAL CONGRESS Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Fleming, James S., 1943- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 06:41:45 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/287688 71-22,643 FLEMING, James Sipe, 1943- POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOR A LIBERAL CONGRESS. The University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1971 Political Science, general University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © COPYRIGHTED BY JAMES SIPE FLEMING 1971 111 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILHED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOR A LIBERAL CONGRESS by James Sipe Fleming A Dissertation Submitted tp the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by James Sipe Fleming entitled POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOR A LIBERAL CONGRESS be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy tL * - f-7/ Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* ^ -7 QJ -7/ ^^ F-Jb-. / 9~~71 This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. Please Note: Some pages have very light type. Filmed as received. University Microfilms. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial ful­ fillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allow­ able without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permis&ion for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manu­ script in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank a number of people who assisted me in a variety of ways in the course of my researching and writing this dissertation. First, I wish to acknowledge my appreciation to Professor Charles 0. Jones for supervising my graduate education for three years at The University of Arizona and for directing my Masters Thesis. The example of academic excellence always set by Professor Jones provided me a great deal of inspiration. Second, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Professor Conrad Joyner for allowing me a considerable degree of freedom in his direction of the dis­ sertation. Also, I would like to thank Professors Currin V. Shields and Edward Williams for reading the entire manu­ script and for their valuable comments. In addition I am indebted to Congressman Walter Jones from the First Congressional District in North Carolina for having the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress compile statistics for me on the number of bills introduced, and the number and percentage passed by each Congress in this century. And to Mi3s Rita Artz of the Department of Sociology at The University of Arizona I say a special thanks for her assistance in using the computer. A number of my fellow graduate students also were of great assistance. They are too many to mention here by iv V name, but to all of them I say thanks, especially to my good friend John Travis who never was too busy to talk about con­ ditions for a liberal congress and to criticize my ideas on the legislative process and the enactment of public poli­ cies. TABLE OP CONTENTS . Page LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS ix ABSTRACT x 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Deviations: Periods of Rapid Change 3 Purpose of the Study ........ 8 Definition of Liberalism 9 Theoretical Framework, Questions, Hypotheses 15 Temper of the Times 18 Nature of Presidential Leadership .... 20 Organization of Congress 20 Majority Party size and Organization ... 21 Minority Party Size and Organization ... 22 " Approach: Relation to a Theory of Politics and Policy Making 23 2. COMPARATIVE CONGRESSIONAL OUTPUT 27 Quantitative Similarities 27 Number Public Bills Introduced 30 Number of Public Bills Enacted 3^ Percentage of Public Bills Enacted .... 39 Limitations to Quantification M Qualitative Similarities i|2 63rd Congress (1913-1915) kb 73rd Congress (1933-1935) 53 88th Congress, 2nd Session (1961|.) .... 63 89th Congress (1965-1967) 69 3. WILSON CONGRESS: 63RD 82 Temper of the Times: Progressive Era .... 82 Presidential Leadership: Influence of Woodrow Wilson 90 Organization of Congress 98 Majority Party in Congress . .. 105 House 109 Senate ............ 116 vi vii TABLE OP CONTENTS—Continued Page Minority Party 121 1*. ROOSEVELT CONGRESS: 73RD 127 " Temper of the Times: Policy Effects of the Depression 127 Presidential Leadership: Influence of * Franklin D. Roosevelt 135 Organization of Congress 11Ul Majority Party 1l|B Party Organization in the House 150 Party Organization in the Senate . • • • • 153 Minority Party 151+ 5. JOHNSON CONGRESSES: 2ND SESSION OP THE 88TH AND 89TH 158 Temper of the Times: Policy Effects of Kennedy Assassination 158 Presidential Leadership: Influence of Lyndon B. Johnson 168 Organization of Congress 180 House . 180 Senate 185 Majority Party in Congress 190 Organization in the House •••••••• 197 Senate . • 200 Minority Party in Congress 201+ 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 21 1+ Similar Political Conditions 211+ Temper of the Times 211+ Nature of Presidential Leadership 217 Organization of Congress 221 Majority Party Size and Organization 223 Minority Party 226 Lessons for Liberals and Conservatives .... 227 APPENDIX A: NUMBER PUBLIC BILLS INTRODUCED, PASSED, AND PERCENTAGE PASSED, 1855-1969 230 LIST OF REFERENCES 233 LIST OP TABLES Table Page I. Correlation Matrix: Correlation of Bills Introduced, Passed, and Percentage Passed with 20 Independent Variables 35 II. Major Legislation of the 63rd Congress .... 51 III. Major Legislation of the 73rd Congress .... 55 IV. Major Legislation of the 88th Congress, 2nd Session 66 V. Major Legislation of the 89th Congress .... 73 VI. Immediate Reactions to News of Assassination . 162 VII. Physical and Emotional Symptoms 1 6I4. VIII. Presidential-Congressional Boxscore Records--!953-1968 176 IX. Potential Voting Strength of the Conservative Coalition . 194 X. Conservative Coalition Scores 1961-1968 .... 195 viii LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1• Number Public Bills Introduced, 1900-1968 • • • . 31 2. Number Public Bills Enacted, 1900-1968 • • • . • 37 3* Percentage Public Bills Enacted, 1900-1968 • • • lj.0 ix ABSTRACT The American political system, and particularly the congressional system, was designed to frustrate and delay major policy changes. Occasionally, however, the system deviates from a pattern of 3low, gradual change and moves to enact a major change of social purpose. There have been in this century three such periods of congressional history: the 63rd Congress (1913-1915); the 73rd Congress (1933— 1935)J and the Second Session of the 88th Congress (196I4.) continuing into 89th Congress (1965-1967). In terms of number of bills introduced, the number and percentage passed, these Congresses have not been significantly produc­ tive. However, the type of legislation enacted by these Congresses has been what most observers regard as the most liberal of the twentieth century. This study compares these four Congresses in terns of five political variables: temper of the times, nature of presidential leadership, innovations in congressional organ­ ization, majority party size and organization, and minority party size and organization. The underlying purpose is to uncover similarities that might help explain why these Con­ gresses enacted so much major liberal legislation. The variables have been selected from political science x xi literature as being the most likely to explain congressional liberalism. Five similar political conditions are noted. First, each period was preceded by a crisis or unusual conditions which strained the political system and which functioned to increase public and congressional demands for change. Sec­ ond, strong dynamic liberal leadership from the White House was an important factor explaining the liberalism of all three periods. All three Presidents—-Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson--tended to accept the proposition that great social change comes rapidly in periods of intense activity before the impulse slows. The doors Qf change swung open through a combination of circum­ stances. Once they were open, however, presidential leader­ ship was very important in keeping them open. Third, two of the three periods, 63rd and the 88th (2nd), were preceded by alterations in the congressional organization intended to facilitate majority coalition-building and the passage of liberal legislation. The doors opened in 1933 though with­ out any major alterations of the congressional structure. The intense nature of
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