73rd United States Congress

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from 73rd Congress)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox United States Congress The 73rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935, during the first two years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.[1][2] Because of the newly ratified 20th Amendment, the duration of this Congress, along with the term of office of those elected to it, was shortened by Script error: No such module "age". days. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1930 United States census.

The Democrats greatly increased their majority in the House, and won control of the Senate for the first time since the 65th Congress in 1917. With Franklin D. Roosevelt being sworn in as president on March 4, 1933, this gave the Democrats an overall federal government trifecta, also for the first time since the 65th Congress.

<templatestyles src="Template:TOC limit/styles.css" />

Major events

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote".

Major legislation

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote".

First Session

The first session of Congress, known as the "Hundred Days", took place before the regular seating and was called by President Roosevelt specifically to pass two acts:

  • March 9, 1933: The Emergency Banking Act (ch. 1, 48 Stat. 1) was enacted within four hours of its introduction. It was prompted by the "bank holiday" and was the first step in Roosevelt's "first hundred days" of the New Deal. The Act was drafted in large part by officials appointed by the Hoover administration. The bill provided for the Treasury Department to initiate reserve requirements and a federal bailout to large failing institutions. It also removed the United States from the Gold Standard. All banks had to undergo a federal inspection to deem if they were stable enough to re-open. Within a week 1/3 of the banks re-opened in the United States and faith was, in large part, restored in the banking system. The act had few opponents, only taking fire from the farthest left elements of Congress who wanted to nationalize banks altogether.
  • March 20, 1933: The Economy Act of 1933. Roosevelt, in sending this act to Congress, warned that if it did not pass, the country faced a billion-dollar deficit. The act balanced the federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by as much as 15 percent. It intended to reassure the deficit hawks that the new president was fiscally conservative. Although the act was heavily protested by left-leaning members of congress, it passed by an overwhelming margin.
File:Roosevelt signing TVA Act (1933).jpg
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act

The session also passed several other major pieces of legislation:

Second Session

Constitutional amendments

Hearings

"Merchants of Death"

The Senate Munitions Committee came into existence solely for the purpose of this hearing. Although World War I had been over for sixteen years, there were revived reports that America's leading munition companies had effectively influenced the United States into that conflict, which killed 53,000 Americans, hence the companies' nickname "Merchants of Death".

The Democratic Party, controlling the Senate for the first time since the first world war, used the hype of these reports to organize the hearing in hopes of nationalizing America's munitions industry. The Democrats chose a Republican renowned for his ardent isolationist policies, Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, to head the hearing. Nye was typical of western agrarian progressives, and adamantly opposed America's involvement in any foreign war. Nye declared at the opening of the hearing "when the Senate investigation is over, we shall see that war and preparation for war is not a matter of national honor and national defense, but a matter of profit for the few."

Over the next 18 months, the "Nye Committee" (as newspapers called it) held 93 hearings, questioning more than 200 witnesses, including J.P. Morgan Jr. and Pierre du Pont. Committee members found little hard evidence of an active conspiracy among arms makers, yet the panel's reports did little to weaken the popular prejudice against "greedy munitions interests."

The hearings overlapped the 73rd and 74th Congresses. They only came to an end after Chairman Nye provoked the Democratic caucus into cutting off funding. Nye, in the last hearing the Committee held in early 1936, attacked former Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, suggesting that Wilson had withheld essential information from Congress as it considered a declaration of war. Democratic leaders, including Appropriations Committee Chairman Carter Glass of Virginia, unleashed a furious response against Nye for "dirtdaubing the sepulcher of Woodrow Wilson." Standing before cheering colleagues in a packed Senate chamber, Glass slammed his fist onto his desk in protest until blood dripped from his knuckles, effectively prompting the Democratic caucus to withhold all funding for further hearings.

Although the "Nye Committee" failed to achieve its goal of nationalizing the arms industry, it inspired three congressional neutrality acts in the mid-1930s that signaled profound American opposition to overseas involvement.

Party summary

For details, see Changes in membership, below.

Senate

There were 48 states with two senators per state, thus giving the Senate 96 seats. Membership changed with four deaths, one resignation, and two appointees who were replaced by electees.

Party
(shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color"|
Democratic Farmer–Labor Progressive Republican Vacant
End of previous Congress 46 1 0 style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | 48 95 1
Begin (March 4, 1933) rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 58 1 0 36 95 1
March 11, 1933 35 94 2
March 13, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 59 95 1
May 24, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 60 96 0
June 24, 1933 rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 59 95 1
October 6, 1933 34 94 2
October 10, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 60 95 1
November 3, 1933 rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 59 94 2
November 21, 1933 35 95 1
January 1, 1934 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 60 96 0
Final voting share style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Script error: No such module "Percentage". Script error: No such module "Percentage". Script error: No such module "Percentage". Script error: No such module "Percentage".
Beginning of next Congress style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 70 1 1 23 95 1

House of Representatives

Membership changed with twelve deaths and three resignations.

Party
(shading indicates majority caucus)
Total
style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" | style="background-color:Template:Party color" |
Democratic Farmer–Labor Progressive Republican Vacant
End of previous Congress style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 220 1 0 206 428 8
Begin (March 4, 1933) style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 311 5 0 117 433 2
April 22, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 312 434 1
April 29, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 311 433 2
May 12, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 310 432 3
May 17, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 309 431 4
June 19, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 308 430 5
June 22, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 307 429 6
June 24, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 308 430 5
July 5, 1933 rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 309 431 4
August 27, 1933 116 430 5
September 23, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 308 429 6
October 3, 1933 rowspan=3 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 309 430 5
October 19, 1933 115 429 6
November 5, 1933 114 428 7
November 7, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 310 429 6
November 14, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 311 430 5
November 28, 1933 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 312 431 4
December 19, 1933 rowspan=4 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 313 113
December 28, 1933 114 432 3
January 16, 1934 115 433 2
January 30, 1934 116 434 1
April 1, 1934 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 312 433 2
May 1, 1934 rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 313 434 1
May 29, 1934 115 433 2
June 8, 1934 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 312 432 3
July 7, 1934 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 313 433 2
August 19, 1934 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 312 432 3
August 22, 1934 rowspan=2 style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 309 431 4
September 30, 1934 113 427 8
Final voting share style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 72.4% 1.2% 0.0% 26.4%
Beginning of next Congress style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | 322 3 7 102 435 1

Leadership

Template:Congress leadership TOC

Senate

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Members

Senate

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election, In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1934; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1936; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1938.

<templatestyles src="Col-begin/styles.css"/>

House of Representatives

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The names of representatives are preceded by their district numbers. Template:TOC top

<templatestyles src="Col-begin/styles.css"/>

Changes in membership

Senate

Template:Ordinal US Congress change

|- | Montana
(2) | Vacant | Thomas J. Walsh (D) died in office.
Successor appointed March 13, 1933, to continue the term.
Successor later lost nomination to finish the term, see below. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John Erickson (D) | March 13, 1933

|- | Nebraska
(1) | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Robert Howell (R) | Died March 11, 1933.
Successor appointed May 24, 1933, to continue the term.
Successor later retired, see below. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | William H. Thompson (D) | May 24, 1933

|- | New Mexico
(2) | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Sam Bratton (D) | Resigned June 24, 1933, when appointed Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Successor appointed October 10, 1933, and then elected November 6, 1934. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Carl Hatch (D) | October 10, 1933

|- | Vermont
(3) | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Porter Dale (R) | Died October 6, 1933.
Successor appointed November 21, 1933, and then elected January 17, 1934. | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Ernest Gibson (R) | November 21, 1933

|- | Wyoming
(1) | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John Kendrick (D) | Died November 3, 1933.
Successor appointed December 18, 1933, to finish the term. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" nowrap | Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D) | January 1, 1934

|- | Nebraska
(1) | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" nowrap | William Thompson (D) | Interim appointee did not run in the special election to finish the term.
Successor elected November 6, 1934. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Richard Hunter (D) | November 7, 1934

|- | Montana
(2) | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John Erickson (D) | Interim appointee lost nomination to finish the term.
Successor elected November 6, 1934. | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | James E. Murray (D) | November 7, 1934

|}

House of Representatives

Template:Ordinal US Congress change

|- | Template:Ushr | Vacant | John Garner had resigned at the end of the previous Congress | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Milton H. West | April 22, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | Vacant | Lewis W. Douglas (D) had resigned at the end of the previous Congress | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Isabella Greenway (D) | October 3, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Clay Stone Briggs (D) | Died April 29, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Clark W. Thompson (D) | June 24, 1933 |- | Arkansas 5th | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Heartsill Ragon (D) | Resigned May 12, 1933, upon appointment as a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | David D. Terry (D) | December 19, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Charles H. Brand (D) | Died May 17, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Paul Brown (D) | July 5, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Bolivar E. Kemp (D) | Died June 19, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Jared Y. Sanders Jr. (D) | May 1, 1934 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Edward B. Almon (D) | Died June 22, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Archibald Hill Carmichael (D) | November 14, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Henry Winfield Watson (R) | Died August 27, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Oliver Walter Frey (D) | November 7, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Lynn Hornor (D) | Died September 23, 1933 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Andrew Edmiston Jr. (D) | November 28, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | J. Earl Major (D) | appointed as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois October 6, 1933 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Ernest W. Gibson (R) | Appointed U.S. Senator November 21, 1933 | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Charles A. Plumley (R) | January 16, 1934 |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | John D. Clarke (R) | Died November 5, 1933 | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Marian W. Clarke (R) | December 28, 1933 |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | James S. Parker (R) | Died December 19, 1933 | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | William D. Thomas (R) | January 30, 1934 |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Joseph L. Hooper (R) | Died February 22, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Edward W. Pou (D) | Died April 1, 1934 | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Harold D. Cooley (D) | July 7, 1934 |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | George F. Brumm (R) | Died May 29, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Idaho 2nd | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Thomas C. Coffin (D) | Died June 8, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Frank Oliver (D) | Resigned June 18, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Henry T. Rainey (D) | Died August 19, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | William A. Ayres (D) | Resigned August 22, 1934, after being appointed a member of the Federal Trade Commission | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |- | Template:Ushr | style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | James M. Beck (R) | Resigned September 30, 1934 | colspan=2 | Seat remained vacant until next Congress |}

Committees

Senate

House of Representatives

Joint committees

Caucuses

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

Employees include:Template:Efn

See also

References

Template:Notelist

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  2. Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  3. Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. The Vice President of the United States serves as the President of the Senate. See U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 4
  5. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader also serves as the Chairman of the Democratic Conference.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Navbox".