4Z SAM RAYBURN: TRIALS OF A PARTY MAN DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Edward 0. Daniel, B.A., M.A. Denton, Texas May, 1979 Daniel, Edward 0., Sam Rayburn: Trials of a Party Man. Doctor of Philosophy (History), May, 1979, 330 pp., bibliog- raphy, 163 titles. Sam Rayburn' s remarkable legislative career is exten- sively documented, but no one has endeavored to write a political biography in which his philosophy, his personal convictions, and the forces which motivated him are analyzed. The object of this dissertation is to fill that void by tracing the course of events which led Sam Rayburn to the Speakership of the United States House of Representatives. For twenty-seven long years of congressional service, Sam Rayburn patiently, but persistently, laid the groundwork for his elevation to the speakership. Most of his accomplish- ments, recorded in this paper, were a means to that end. His legislative achievements for the New Deal were monu- mental, particularly in the areas of securities regulation, progressive labor laws, and military preparedness. Rayburn rose to the speakership, however, not because he was a policy maker, but because he was a policy expeditor. He took his orders from those who had the power to enhance his own station in life. Prior to the presidential election of 1932, the center of Sam Rayburn's universe was an old friend and accomplished political maneuverer, John Nance Garner. It was through Garner that Rayburn first perceived the significance of the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" style of politics. During the 1932 Democratic Convention, Rayburn began to gravitate toward another more substantial source of power than Garner. When it became obvious that Franklin Roosevelt would be the choice of the Democratic Party and, indeed, the nation, Rayburn unhesitatingly gave up the presidential fight for Garner in order to build credits with his new source of power, Roosevelt. For the next eight tumultuous years, Sam Rayburn attempted to feed off both sources of power, catering when- ever possible to the interests of both Roosevelt and Garner. When his two mentors took issue with each other, Rayburn always sided with the highest authority--the president. His behavior during these years is unusual because of its lack of ideology. Consistent support of Garner might have revealed a predominantly conservative bias in Rayburn's political thinking. Likewise, consistent support of Roose- velt might have revealed a liberal bent in his philosophy. Consistent support of both men at the same time, however, is testimony to the absence of any true political philosophy in Rayburn's behavior. The best explanation of his actions is that his desire for political power was so compelling that he had no ideology, liberal or conservative. As majority leader and ultimately speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn never once took public issue with Franklin Roosevelt, not even during the Court-packing scheme, the attempted purge of the Democratic Party, the president's failure to deal decisively with the sit-down strikes of 1937, or his regular attempts to humiliate and embarrass John Nance Garner, all of which privately angered the man from Texas. As the leader of the president's party in Congress, Sam Rayburn came to act as a lieutenant of the president, accepting virtually his entire legislative package and working for its adoption. Sam Rayburn was not the only member of Congress taken in by a strong chief executive but because of the position he held and the thirty-odd years in which he dominated House proceedings, possibly no other man is as responsible as Sam Rayburn for the advent of presidential government and the emasculation of congressional autonomy. Through years of subservience to the president which he enforced among his own subordinates, Sam Rayburn may have circumvented and permanently damaged the constitutional restraints regarding the separation and balance of powers among the three branches of our government. PREFACE Several books have been written about Sam Rayburn, but thus far there has been no attempt to analyze Rayburn's rise to power. No one has delved sufficiently into his political philosophy, his motivations, and his personal convictions regarding the pivotal events of the turbulent 1930s. This dissertation endeavors to fill that void by tracing the course of events which led Sam Rayburn to the speakership of the United States House of Representatives. It records his triumphs, his shortcomings, the concessions he made, and the people he served in order to achieve his life's ambition. The scope of this study ranges from Rayburn's first expression of interest in the speakershiP to his elevation to that position in 1940. Brief coverage is given to his three terms in the Texas Legislature, beginning in 1906, and his election to Congress in 1912. A more extensive analysis is made of his early congressional association with John Nance Garner and its pivotal influence on his career. A brief analysis is offered of Rayburn's political and legislative activities prior to the election of 1932. The primary emphasis of this study, however, revolves around Rayburn's activities during the years 1932-1940-- the first two terms of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the period in which Sam Rayburn completed his methodical iii odyssey to the speakership. It was during this period that Rayburn registered his greatest legislative achievements and successfully curried the favor of both Franklin Roosevelt and John Nance Garner, men of radically different political views who assisted Rayburn in his quest for power. His relationship with these two political antagonists, the resulting conflict of wills, ani the effect they had on Rayburn in the perform- ance of his duties is the focal point of this paper. The primary source of information for this study was the Sam Rayburn Memorial Library at Bonham, Texas. The library contains virtually all of the personal papers of Sam Rayburn, including the correspondence and memorandums of over fifty years of public service. The library staff has systematically endeavored to accumulate all pertinent materials written by or about Sam Rayburn. Bascom Timmons, a former journalist and biographer of Sam Rayburn, left to the library a valu- able collection of newspaper articles pertaining to the Rayburn career, which was quite useful to this study. Another indispensable source of information was an extensive microfilm collection, compiled by the staff of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Library of Hyde Park, New York, containing all of President Roosevelt's correspondence with Rayburn, or about Rayburn. The Archives of the Texas State Historical Society in rallas, Texas, was another valu- able source of information. Housed within the Archives are the papers of Hatton W. Sumners, the former chairman of the iv House Judiciary Committee, Sam Rayburn's closest friend and colleague and a pivotal figure in several of the great legislative and political battles of the 1930s. Interviews with the Honorable Elmore Whitehurst, Federal Bankruptcy Judge for the North Texas District and former executive assistant to Congressman Hatton W. Sumners, were also useful. H. G. Dulaney, the director of the Sam Rayburn Memorial Library in Bonham, and a former executive assistant to Con- gressman Rayburn, offered valuable assistance in the com- pletion of this study. His cooperation in seeking out pertinent information within the library and his willingness to submit to lengthy interviews concerning Sam Rayburn were most helpful and I gratefully acknowledge his candor and hospitality. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE . ................... ii Chapter I* A BEGINNING ................... 1 II. THE PRESIDENT'S MAN ..... ...... 34 III. 1937: RAYBURN'S TRIAL BY FIRE . 78 IV. 1938: CONGRESS REALIGNS .... ....... 124 V. TURMOIL..o...................... .......... 188 VI. "MR. DEMOCRAT".......... ............ 251 VII. A RETROSPECT. ................ 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY . .................. 318 vi CHAPTER I A BEGINNING Looking back over a long, productive congressional career as speaker of the House and confidant of presidents, Sam Rayburn once reminisced, "You can't really say how you lead. You feel your way, receptive to those rolling waves of sentiment. And if a man can't hear, and see, and feel, why then, of course, he's lost."1 The story of Rayburn's legislative odyssey is an intriguing one, marked with monu- mental accomplishments, but also dominated by an overriding compulsion to achieve personal ends, even if it meant sub- verting his own political principles. As Sam was fond of 2 saying, "To get along, go along." Early in his life, Sam Rayburn established some significant career objectives which, to a large extent, were to contro most of the important decisions he made in 1 Sam Rayburn, speech delivered to the student body of Austin College, Sherman, Texas, upon receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree, May 23, 1950, Sam Rayburn Library, Bonham, Texas (hereafter references to documents in the Sam Rayburn Library, Bonham, Texas, will be cited Sam Rayburn Library) . 2 Bascom Timmons, "Rayburnisms," Bascom Timmons Collection, Sam Rayburn Library. The Timmons Collection contains not only a comprehensive scrapbook of newspaper and magazine articles about Rayburn, but also numerous speeches delivered by Rayburn, along with letters and tape recordings. 1 2 his rise to power. It all began in 1894, when, at the age of twelve, Sam Rayburn traveled from the family farm to the nearby county-seat at Bonham, Texas, to hear his congress- man, Joseph Weldon Bailey, address a gathering at a local tabernacle. The magnificence of Bailey's oratory enthralled Rayburn. Upon his return home, he announced to his parents and ten brothers and sisters that he, too, would someday be a congressman and that he intended to preside over the House of Representatives.3 The fulfillment of that prophecy became the all-encompassing objective of Rayburn's existence.