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AMERICAN GOVERNMENT > HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 208 views The History Book Club Comments (showing 143 of 43) (43 new) post a comment » date newest » message 1: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) May 26, 2011 08:12PM Group Home Events Invite People This is a thread which can be used to discuss the House of Representatives. Bookshelf Photos Members Discussions Videos Polls flag * message 2: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:50PM) (new) May 26, 2011 09:03PM search discussion posts search I recently purchased this book and am looking forward to reading it. unread topics | mark unread Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen Primeiro apê Conquiste seu sonho by Philip Dray com a MRV. Mensais a
Synopsis: partir de 299. Simule.
Reconstruction was a time of idealism and sweeping change, as the victorious Union created citizenship rights for the freed slaves and granted the vote to black men. Sixteen black Southerners, elected to the U.S. Congress, arrived in Washington to advocate reforms such as public education, equal rights, land distribution, and the suppression of the Ku Klux Klan. But these men faced astounding odds. They were belittled as corrupt and inadequate by their white political opponents, who used legislative trickery, libel, bribery, and the brutal intimidation of their constituents to rob them of their base of support. Despite their status as congressmen, they were sponsored books made to endure the worst humiliations of racial prejudice. And they have been largely forgotten— Bitter Truth often neglected or maligned by standard histories of the period. A story of hope: how one woman escaped from the clutches of In this beautifully written book, Philip Dray reclaims their story. Drawing on archival documents, bitterness through the power of contemporary news accounts, and congressional records, he shows how the efforts of black God and the hard road of Americans revealed their political perceptiveness and readiness to serve as voters, citizens, and repentance. elected officials. www.goodreads.com We meet men like the war hero Robert Smalls of South Carolina (who had stolen a Confederate vessel 7 five star ratings » and delivered it to the Union navy), Robert Brown Elliott (who bested the former vice president of the Confederacy in a stormy debate on the House floor), and the distinguished former slave Blanche THE CAT'S MAW ONLY K. Bruce (who was said to possess “the manners of a Chesterfield”). As Dray demonstrates, these men $1.99 'TIL JUNE 5th were eloquent, creative, and often effective representatives who, as support for Reconstruction For lovers of haunting mysteries, faded, were undone by the forces of Southern reaction and Northern indifference. fantasy, suspense...and CATS!
In a grand narrative that traces the promising yet tragic arc of Reconstruction, Dray follows these black representatives’ struggles, from the Emancipation Proclamation to the onset of Jim Crow, as "Burgess leaves readers clawing they fought for social justice and helped realize the promise of a new nation. for the sequel" KIRKUS REVIEWS flag *
message 3: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) May 26, 2011 09:12PM
Thank you very much Alisa for this add especially for this new thread. www.amazon.com view 60 reviews »
flag * more books... message 4: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (new) May 27, 2011 09:56AM
A history of the House: Books mentioned in this topic Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen (other topics) The House: The History of the House of Representatives Robert V. Remini (other topics) Rayburn (other topics) Booklist: Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of The unrivaled scholar of the Jacksonian era of American history, Remini is also a skillful popular Party Government (other topics) historian, as evident in accessibly vibrant histories such as The Battle of New Orleans (1999). The The Logic of Congressional Action (other topics) latter spirit infuses this chronicle of the U.S. House of Representatives. It bears no trace of dreary More... institutional history but, rather, emphasizes the most prominent figures among the 10,000 people who have been its members. Another successful strategy Remini adopts is his manner of illustrating Authors mentioned in this topic how the House operates. Rather than explain parliamentary procedure, he dramatizes it in episodes Philip Dray (other topics) such as the debate over the Wilmot Proviso. In the aggregate, Remini's narratives make memorable Robert V. Remini (other topics) how the pendulum of the House's powers has swung, both within its committees and the office of D.B. Hardeman (other topics) https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 1/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43)
speaker, and in its external power struggle with the presidency and the Senate. Published under the Jeffery A. Jenkins (other topics) aegis of the House itself, Remini's work is nonpartisan, civicminded, and deserving of every library's R. Douglas Arnold (other topics) consideration. More...
flag * message 5: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) May 27, 2011 09:59AM
Great add Bryan.
flag * message 6: by Alisa (new) May 27, 2011 10:00AM
I can see that these threads are going to impact my toread list. Great addition Bryan, this looks really interesting.
flag * message 7: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (new) May 27, 2011 10:01AM
Robert V. Remini worked for the House when he wrote this. He was hired to write this book and from reviews, he did a good job. It is on my TBR list.
flag * message 8: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (new) May 27, 2011 10:07AM
I suspect this is hard to find, but a worthwhile read:
D.B. Hardeman
Publisher's Weekly: Sam Rayburn made available his congressional papers, personal correspondence and taped conversation with the late Hardeman to Bacon (Congress and You, who completed this biography. The book presents an intimate look at a man who had the longest lawmaking career in American history, having served in the House of Representatives for 49 years at the time of his death in 1961. As Speaker of the House, "Mr. Sam" epitomized honesty and integrity in public service. Referred to here as "arguably the most underrated public official in twentiethcentury politics," he is revealed as a major architect of New Deal legislation, adviser to presidents from Wilson to Kennedy, and a man whose "outrageously optimistic dreams came true." Rayburn's legislative battles are described in detail, from his confrontation with publicutility holding companies in the '30s to his last major victory, a showdown with conservatives over control of the House Committee on Rules. Also covered are Truman's reliance on the Speaker's counsel and the fatherson relationship between Rayburn and his protege, Lyndon Johnson. An inspiring portrait of a politician who may have been the last of his kind.
flag * message 9: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (last edited Nov 29, 2011 08:36AM) (new) Nov 29, 2011 08:35AM
The longtime Congressman Barney Frank (DMA) is retiring. Here is a link to an interesting Politico article. You can't help but think that we need to look in the mirror.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/...
Here is some more biographical info: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/...
flag * message 10: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (last edited Dec 11, 2012 10:36AM) (new) Dec 11, 2012 10:36AM
Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government
(no image)Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government by Jeffery A. Jenkins
Synopsis
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful partisan figure in the contemporary U.S. Congress. How this came to be, and how the majority party in the House has made control of the speakership a routine matter, is far from straightforward. Fighting for the Speakership provides a comprehensive history of how Speakers have been elected in the U.S. House since 1789, arguing that the organizational politics of these elections were critical to the construction of mass political parties in America and laid the groundwork for the role they play in setting the agenda of Congress today.
Jeffery Jenkins and Charles Stewart show how the speakership began as a relatively weak office, and how votes for Speaker prior to the Civil War often favored regional interests over party loyalty. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 2/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) While struggle, contention, and deadlock over House organization were common in the antebellum era, such instability vanished with the outbreak of war, as the majority party became an "organizational cartel" capable of controlling with certainty the selection of the Speaker and other key House officers. This organizational cartel has survived Gilded Age partisan strife, Progressive Era challenge, and conservative coalition politics to guide speakership elections through the present day. Fighting for the Speakership reveals how struggles over House organization prior to the Civil War were among the most consequential turning points in American political history.
flag * message 11: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:51PM) (new) Dec 27, 2012 01:58PM
This looks interesting:
The Logic of Congressional Action
by R. Douglas Arnold
Synopsis:
Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this book, the author offers a theory that explains not only why special interest frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. The author's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill.
flag * message 12: by Peter (new) Dec 27, 2012 03:47PM
Bryan wrote: "I suspect this is hard to find, but a worthwhile read:
D.B. Hardeman
Publisher's Weekly: Sam Rayburn made available his congressional papers, personal correspondence an..."
I just ordered a used copy.
flag * message 13: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:51PM) (new) Dec 28, 2012 02:13PM
Just added this to my toread list (always growing) and thought others might be interested.
24 Years of House Work And the Place Is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics
by Pat Schroeder (no photo)
Synopsis:
When Democrats in Colorado's First District were looking for a candidate to run against the Republican incumbent in 1972, no one saw Pat Schroeder as a viable candidateleast of all Schroeder herself. A lawyer by training and the mother of two, she was shocked at her triumph in the primary and further astonished when she actually won the election. But in an era when voters were calling for change, Schroeder rose to the challenge.Pat Schroeder's autobiography, 24 Years of House Work ... and the Place Is Still a Mess, details her struggle to find a place and a voice in the maledominated world of politics. The book is a fascinating look at how the longestserving woman in congressional history balanced politics and power with family and children.
This candid autobiography begins with politics as they were when Schroeder first turned the political https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 3/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) scene on its ear twentyfive years ago and continues to the present day. The book traces her controversial fight for the Equal Rights Amendment and her passionate advocacy for social justice, equal opportunity, and children's welfare. Sprinkled throughout are humorous and amazing tales from her years on Capitol Hill, stories of how she kicked open doors for women and tried to level the playing field, and her views on politics and the politicians of the present day. And, just as in the days when she was the most quotable person in Washington, Schroeder doesn't think twice about sharing her views throughout 24 Years of House Work.
"Many things are much better than they were when I arrived in Congress in 1973. But before we all join hands and sing, 'Kumbaya, the autocracy is dead, ' let me tell you about Newt Gingrich".
Some peoplelove her. Some people revile her. But everyone responds to her.
In 24 Years of House Work, Schroeder dusts off dozens of fascinating stories, polishes her stances on a spectrum of controversial political issues, and even cleans a few clocks of her past and present political colleagues.
flag * message 14: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) Mar 05, 2013 09:31AM
Love the title
flag * message 15: by Alisa (new) Mar 05, 2013 10:35AM
Ha! Yes, it certainly is eyecatching. I thought it was great.
flag * message 16: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) Mar 05, 2013 11:20AM
I met her once in the Amtrak train in the first class car with Geraldine Ferraro who had gone back to talk to Mondale who was right across the aisle from me.
Boy was that car packed with all of them. Never forget it. They were like a bunch of gossiping honey bees.
flag * message 17: by Alisa (new) Mar 05, 2013 11:23AM
Wow, what a hoot, and how random! That must have been quite memorable. I love the image of gossiping honey bees. Ha!
flag * message 18: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) Mar 05, 2013 11:24AM
They were in their own element (like a hive) none of them was sitting in their own seat but working the car.
It was memorable to say the least.
flag * message 19: by Peter (last edited Mar 05, 2013 02:34PM) (new) Mar 05, 2013 02:18PM
D.B. Hardeman(no author photo) Sam Rayburn was born on January 6, 1882 and died on November 16, 1961. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives three times: From 1940 to 1947, from 1949 to 1953 and from 1955 to his death (the breaks were when Republicans had control of the House; in these periods Rayburn was Minority Leader).
Rayburn: A Biography is a good basic biography. Hardeman and his coauthor, Donald C. Bacon, trace Rayburn from his roots in rural Texas to the House and up its leadership hierarchy. They do a good job of portraying the man and his role in history. Rayburn didn't fit easily into the liberal conservative continuum he varied issue by issue, being conservative on civil rights, moderate on labor and liberal on many other issues. However, people of all political views realized that Rayburn was honest and politically wise. He famously ran the "Board of Education" which were meetings after hours in one of his offices, where he dispensed some of this wisdom in aphorisms such as "There are no degrees of honesty. Either a man is honest or he isn't".
The book is somewhat marred by an odd style that is hard to describe except by example; in particular, they use similar sentence constructions over and over in a way that is almost comical. The most common is (adjective)(adjective)(person's name or state he/she was from) "The crusty Texan", "The affable, kindhearted Missourian".
It was interesting to read this book just after reading Robert Caro's Master of the Senate about Lyndon Johnson. Rayburn was Johnson's mentor and reading both books makes for interesting comparisons of perspective. It was also interesting to compare the two on civil rights: Both came from https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 4/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) the same part of the world. One in which racism was universal. Johnson eventually overcame his opposition to civil rights, Rayburn never really did.
Robert A. Caro
flag * message 20: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) Mar 05, 2013 02:19PM
by D.B. Hardeman (no author's photo)
I found the book cover Peter under other editions.
flag * message 21: by Alisa (new) Mar 05, 2013 02:30PM
Peter, also make sure you add the Caro book you mentioned in your comment.
Robert A. Caro
Great addition, thanks for adding your perspective.
flag * message 22: by Alisa (new) Mar 05, 2013 10:19PM
Jeannette Rankin
On this day in 1916, Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States Congress, remarkably before the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was even passed! Her success sparked a long line of women in Congress whose presence on the Hill continues to grow.
Known for doing things that women weren't supposed to do, Rankin graduated from high school and from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. From there she attended the New York School of Philanthropy, becoming involved with the New York Women's Suffrage Party and then becoming a lobbyist for the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
A driving force in the Women's Suffrage movement, Rankin successfully rallied for Montana to grant women the right to vote in 1914. With the support of her brother, a powerhouse in the Montana Republican Party, Rankin led a campaign for a 1916 Congressional seat. Despite an early announcement by the press that she lost, Rankin wound up winning by over 7,500 votes.
During her time in Congress she helped to pass the Nineteenth Amendment, and as an ardent pacifist, voted against entering both World Wars explaining that "as a woman I can't go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else."
Rankin's legacy as a groundbreaker in U.S. politics has continued to shine on as a record number of women are currently represented in Congress like MAKERS Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator; Ileana Ros Lehtinen, the first Latina elected to Congress; Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold office as Speaker of the House; and previously, Pat Schroeder, the longest serving woman in Congress.
Source: www.makers.com
by Gretchen Woelfle
by Norma Smith
by James J. Lopach
flag * message 23: by Alisa (new) Mar 06, 2013 08:17PM
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 5/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) This is more a reflection on what goes on daily on Capitol Hill, but I like the mix of routine, politics, and a little history.
A Lunchroom Called Capitol Hill
The epicenter of eating on the House side of the Capitol is the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building. In Washington, lawmakers are largely too busy to eat out.
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER Published: March 5, 2013
WASHINGTON — All American cities have their lunch spots where deals are sealed and careers are upgraded over Cobb salads and tuna rolls. On Capitol Hill, the powerful eat in.
Voting With Their Forks He who can leave for an extensive lunch is not writing a bill, strongarming a senator, hectoring a committee witness or doing a spot on Fox Business Network. Let the lowlevel staff members trek to Seventh Street for pizza. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, has his lunch (usually chicken) brought in from the Senate dining room. (That’s a double power play: the dining room is for senators only, yet a staff member carts food to him.)
And so the sprawling Capitol complex is both our nation’s legislative center and its food court. While House members often repair to their partisan clubs for lunch, coffee and postvote martinis, and senators can sometimes be found eating and drinking at the Monocle restaurant, which has fed generations of them, lawmakers are largely too busy to eat out. For them and their staffs — and the tour guides, reporters, art restoration experts, hairdressers and others among the cast of thousands who work on Capitol Hill — lunch is generally a quick inhouse affair.
There are more than a dozen restaurants, cafes, sandwich bars and formal dining rooms on the Hill — most of them prosaic, some a little weird and almost all good for people watching, when you can get in. (The House and Senate dining rooms are generally reserved for members and their guests; many others are open to the public, but those in the Capitol building require an escort from someone who works there.)
Where one eats here is driven mostly by convenience, but also a bit by sociology, with food quality a rare consideration.
“The Capitol is sort of like a little town,” said Don Ritchie, the Senate historian, noting its collection of hair salons, gift shops and post offices. “Food has always been part of that.”
Most of the eating spots are run by Restaurant Associates, the New Yorkbased company, and much of the fare has mild Southern influences like barbecue and stewed greens, perhaps reflecting the District of Columbia’s location south of the MasonDixon Line and its large AfricanAmerican population. It takes time to master the offerings, but for every overcooked hamburger and depressing excuse for pizza, there is the odd sublime slice of coconut cream pie, the perfectly cooked saladbar brussels sprouts, the daring chicken tikka masala.
Still, the real pleasure, for those who care about such things, is observing, and listening to the confluence of policy and politics that dribbles into the lunch break. It’s a place of salad and sequester. Standing in line to pay for your greens, you will hear people speaking in bill numbers, or gossiping about which member from a Southern state is really mean to her staff.
The history of dining in the Capitol mirrors the culinary and social history of the District. In the 19th century, senators ate at the Hole in the Wall, near the Old Senate chamber, where they lunched on oysters and wine. “Oysters were abundant in the Chesapeake,” Mr. Ritchie said. “They were easy to transport and an affordable delicacy.” Long before buzzers signaled to lawmakers that it was time to vote, pages were dispatched there to pull senators away from their boozy snacks.
Also on the Senate side was one of the first Capitol Hill restaurants to be integrated; in 1947, when the first black reporter was admitted to the press gallery, he joined the white reporters for lunch in their cafeteria.
Contemporary politics still infuse the restaurants. In 2003, displeased with the French government’s opposition to the Bush administration’s Iraq policies, the chairman of the House Administration Committee ordered that French fries be renamed freedom fries. This did not last.
When Republicans took over the House in 2010, one of their first moves was to end a composting program started by the former speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing its high cost. The return of plastic foam and the jettisoning of noncompostable forks, which Republicans insisted could not stand up to aggressive salad fixings, presaged the next two years of deep divide.
Today, the divisions over lunch are many: between chambers, parties and castes. On the House side of the Capitol, cafeterias are primarily outposts of young staff members and lobbyists waiting for midday meetings. The epicenter of eating is the large cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building, where House members often dine together on sandwiches or offerings from the various hot stations, and young staff members train their eyes on BlackBerries as they sip from their (plastic foam) cups of soda. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 6/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) On the Senate side, the equivalent is in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, where a cafeteria featuring a giant salad bar and an “international station” of ethnic foods attracts a broad swath of members and their staff. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, has been spotted there, but a reporter who runs into him is not fooled into thinking that he will be inclined to make small talk; he will almost certainly regard her as a raccoon he just discovered in the attic, and glance around for someone to dispose of her.
Just as they compete for dominance elsewhere, the House and Senate have dueling takeout spots in the building. On the Senate side, Miss Shawnee will whip up bacon in the morning and grilled cheese sandwiches during lunch. Yes, you do want a pickle. Miss Rose will ring you up.
Senate bean soup, as elsewhere, is always available at many places around the Capitol, and routinely oversalted.
The Houseside Capitol Market attracts Senate staff members because it has a salad bar, as well as Noodle Bowl Tuesday, which ignites undue excitement. Both sides have Taco Salad Thursday, and there is intense debate over which side makes the superior version.
Over at the newly constructed Capitol Visitor Center, the same fare available elsewhere is for sale at higher prices. Visitors should avoid it and head to the National Museum of the American Indian, which has the best food on the Mall.
There are two crown jewels in the Capitol culinary complex. One is Cups & Company, a New York Koreandelistyle joint in the Russell Senate Office Building, which has been operated by Charles and Kathy Chung for more than a dozen years. Their excellent coffee (a rare commodity here) and demonlike efficiency with their hot sandwiches are Washington’s most convincing arguments for private enterprise on government property. Secretary of State John Kerry, on his last day as a senator, stopped at Cups for lunch.
“Everything is made fresh here every day,” Mrs. Chung said. “Nothing is processed. That is what makes us different.”
While its food is less exciting, the cafeteria in the Library of Congress is the bestkept secret. There, vistas of the Potomac River and a good swath of the city can be viewed from a window seat on the sixth floor of the Madison Building.
It’s a trek to get there, but a bowl of chili or a slice of pedestrian pumpkin pie nibbled as you peer out into the foggy city provides a bracing reminder of the rest of the world just outside, which lives by the rules set inside this impenetrable sprawl.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/din...
flag * message 24: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (last edited Mar 07, 2013 10:21AM) (new) Mar 07, 2013 08:03AM
What an interesting story. Politics reign supreme even in the choice of cutlery and the environment.
We live in a contradictory country when the first black reporter was not allowed to be in the press gallery until 1947. Really telling.
It is not a wonder how proud we were of the country when they voted and put in office the first black president (even if he is half white) this was still a day forward for our country and in putting into action what we have so proudly stated as one of our principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all".
flag * message 25: by Peter (new) Mar 07, 2013 10:20AM
Bentley wrote: "What an interesting story. Politics reigns supreme even in the choice of cutlery and the environment.
We live in a contradictory country when the first black reporter was not allowed to be in the..."
I agree that we were proud to elect a Black man to the highest office; we will also be proud when we finally elect a woman.
But I'll be most proud when we no longer find it remarkable to elect Blacks or women or members of any other group and when we finally fulfill Martin Luther King's dream to judge people "not by the color of their skin but the content of their character". We're making progress but we're not there yet
flag * message 26: by Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief (new) Mar 07, 2013 10:22AM
True Peter, very true.
Cannot but agree with your statements.
flag * https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 7/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43) message 27: by Alisa (new) Mar 07, 2013 10:29AM
Peter, well stated.
flag * message 28: by Peter (new) Mar 07, 2013 03:43PM
Here's another good book for this thread:
James Grant(no photo).
Tom Reed may be the most important historic figure that almost no one has heard of (although that risks being a "world's shortest giant" type statement). He helped create the modern speakership. I read this book back in 2011 (before I joined Goodreads).
Reed was a Republican in the Gilded Age (back when Republicans were one in favor of more government) from Maine, and rose to be speaker of the House. He was way ahead of his time, being a proponent of women's suffrage and equal rights for Blacks, among other things. As speaker, he broke the ability of the minority party to fillibuster in the House. House members used to be able to prevent a quorum by sitting in the House but not giving their names in roll calls. Reed started recognizing people himself. He also resigned from the House on a matter of principle he opposed the USA starting and fighting in the Spanish American war.
flag * message 29: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (new) Mar 07, 2013 03:46PM
Nice Peter, thanks
flag * message 30: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (last edited Mar 12, 2013 06:51AM) (new) Mar 12, 2013 06:51AM
Here is a nice interview with the House historian, Matthew Wasniewski, from the History News Network:
http://hnn.us/articles/matthewwasnie...
flag * message 31: by Bryan, Assisting Moderator Presidential Series (new) Apr 09, 2013 07:41AM
Contemporary history:
Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
Robert G. Kaiser
Synopsis
In the wake of the 2008 economic collapse, the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act introduced the most sweeping changes to financial regulation since the New Deal. In Act of Congress, longtime Washington Post reporter Robert G. Kaiser chronicles the journey of this bill from its introduction to its signing into law by President Obama in 2010. Never before has the birth of a major bill been dissected in such vivid detail.
Kaiser focuses on two of the major players behind the legislation: colorful, wisecracking congressman Barney Frank, and careful, insightful senator Christopher Dodd, both of whom met regularly with Kaiser while they worked on the bill. Taking us beyond these key figures, he shows how congressional staff play a critical role, writing the legislation and often making the crucial deals. And he also had access to the key Republican actors in this story, which enables him to illuminate the hidden intricacies of legislative enterprise and offer a clearer picture than before of how Congress works best —or sometimes doesn’t work at all.
flag * message 32: by Alisa (new) Aug 05, 2013 11:45AM
Due out this fall:
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked
by Chris Matthews https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 8/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43)
Synopsis:
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Jack Kennedy—and Tip O’Neill’s former chiefof staff—comes the firsthand, oneofakind story of the friendship between President Reagan and the Speaker of the House. They were the political odd couple—the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who, in author Chris Matthews’s words, “couldn’t be more different or more the same.” For six years Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Their philosophies were miles apart—Reagan intent on scaling back government, O’Neill fervent in defending it. Yet there was common ground too: long lunches shared on St. Patrick’s Day and a mutual respect—political and personal. Three days after Reagan’s shooting, Tip was the first outsider at the president’s bedside.
Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice, rendering as lively and novelistic a read as Jack Kennedy and a timely object lesson in how bipartisan cooperation can work.
mentioned:
by Chris Matthews
flag * message 33: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:36PM) (new) Aug 05, 2013 01:35PM
As long as we are on Tip . . .
Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill
by Tip O'Neill (no photo)
Synopsis:
Canny folk hero O'Neill alludes here to another such, the legendary mayor of Boston: ``When the good Lord made James Michael Curley, He broke the mold''; and if you substitute his own name, you have the flavor of this knowing, pietistic, jolly, seductive memoir, written with Novak, coauthor of Iacocca. In the allbutvanished tradition of ward healer, the retired Speaker of the House, writing in the first person, blends treacle (``I would work to make sure my own people could go to places like Harvard'') and shrewdness (``power accumulates when people think you have power''), idealism and pragmatism, humor and heft as he relates anecdotes about the national figures he has dealt with in Washington, D.C., and politicians in Massachusetts where he spent eight terms in the legislature before joining Congress in 1952. Like ``a good Irish pol who can carry on six conversations at once,'' O'Neill talks about baseball, poker and his boyhood gang, issues of governance and the functioning of Congress, in which he served for 34 years. ``All politics is local,'' he writes, and this memoir makes that a truism, bringing national imperatives back home to the national constituency.
flag * message 34: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:49PM) (new) Aug 05, 2013 01:46PM
Short and sweet, this story is still being written.
Nancy Pelosi: First Woman Speaker of the House
by Lisa Tucker McElroy (no photo)
Synopsis:
Mother of five, grandmother of six, and Speaker of the House! Nancy Pelosi made history when she became the first woman Speaker of the House in January 2007. As second in the line of succession for the U.S. presidency, should something happen to the president and vice president, she has attained the highest political position ever held by a woman.
flag * message 35: by Alisa (last edited Aug 05, 2013 01:55PM) (new) Aug 05, 2013 01:55PM
Another one on Nancy Pelosi ~
Woman of the House: The Rise of Nancy Pelosi
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 9/12 29/04/2015 Goodreads | The History Book Club AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (showing 143 of 43)
by Vincent Bzdek (no photo)
Synopsis:
While the Democratic nominee for President will likely emerge from the 2008 primaries bloody and bruised, the alwayssmiling, confoundingly popular Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will be front and center as the party heads to its National Convention in August. Not only has she somehow won the confidence of the boys' club of the House and returned her party to majority status after twelve years of Republican rule, but she has managed, in her first 100 hours on the job, to pass much of the legislation she promised. Pelosi is also leading the vocal, inyourface opposition to the Iraq War, this generation's defining event, and is likely one of the most important political figures of the last few decades.
In this balanced, thoroughly researched biography, Bzdek chronicles the career of the country's most powerful woman, shining a light on the woman who is two heartbeats away from the presidency, and whose incredible example is already inspiring a new generation of American women.
flag * message 36: by Alisa (new) Aug 05, 2013 01:55PM
Honor in the House: Speaker Tom Foley
by Thomas S. Foley (no photo)
Synopsis:
One of the nation's most influential and respected members of Congress in the postWorld War II period reflects on his 30 years in office, including five years as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Biggs and Foley have provided an unusual collaboration of reminiscences in a book that reveals how Congress and the nation's government really work.
flag * message 37: by Jill, Assisting Moderator Military Hist L/Global NF/Eur/Brit/Music (new) Dec 11, 2013 10:46AM
Aaaah, the machinations of politics within the House.
Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives
by Gary W. Cox (no photo)
Synopsis:
Scholars of the U.S. House disagree over the importance of political parties in organizing the legislative process. On the one hand, nonpartisan theories stress how congressional organization serves members' nonpartisan goals. On the other hand, partisan theories argue that the House is organized to serve the collective interests of the majority party. This book advances a partisan theory and presents a series of empirical tests of that theory's predictions (pitted against others). The evidence demonstrates that the majority party seizes agenda control at nearly every stage of the legislative process in order to prevent bills that the party dislikes from reaching the floor.
flag * message 38: by Jill, Assisting Moderator Military Hist L/Global NF/Eur/Brit/Music (new) Mar 06, 2014 05:23PM
You may agree with this author or you may disagree, but it is still worth the read no matter what side you take.
Do Not Ask What Good We Do
by Robert Draper
Synopsis:
The U.S. House of Representatives;a large, often unruly body of men and women elected every other https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/562850houseofrepresentatives 10/12