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Power in the House

Ronald M. Peters and Cindy Simon Rosenthal

in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics

This chapter analyzes Pelosi’s leadership of the House in the 110th Congress in relationship to her organization of the Democratic Caucus, her efforts in consensus building among Democrats, her ... More

This chapter analyzes Pelosi’s leadership of the House in the 110th Congress in relationship to her organization of the Democratic Caucus, her efforts in consensus building among Democrats, her attitude toward Republicans, her use of her power under the rules of the House (in policymaking and in crisis management). The picture that emerges from published accounts and informants is that of a Speaker who goes to extraordinary lengths to build bridges across the caucus divides and to foster consensus within it. This Speaker is willing to apply the levers of power when necessary in order to achieve her objectives, primary among which are to maintain and enlarge the Democratic majority while passing legislation that furthers policy objectives on which most Democrats can agree. To accomplish both of these goals, she relies on three integrated strategies: control, compromise, and sequencing.Less

The Outside Game

Ronald M. Peters and Cindy Simon Rosenthal

in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics

This chapter assesses Pelosi’s electoral role and message operation, beginning with its early evolution during her service as minority leader and then tracing its evolution since she became Speaker. ... More

This chapter assesses Pelosi’s electoral role and message operation, beginning with its early evolution during her service as minority leader and then tracing its evolution since she became Speaker. She led the Democrats to an electoral revival, and her communications team has been technologically savvy and disciplined. She is the chief campaign fund-raiser of her party—she raked in at least $26 million for the DCCC alone in the 2008 cycle—and its leading spokesperson, having made more House floor speeches than any other Speaker in recent history. She lives and breathes the mantra she has instilled in her closest political advisors—message, mobilization, money, and management. Nonetheless, her public persona and speaking style expose some of her limitations, which have been the targets of criticism and sometimes misogynist caricature.Less

Madam Speaker

Ronald M. Peters and Cindy Simon Rosenthal

in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics

This book seeks to understand Nancy Pelosi, not just as a Speaker of the House, or even as its first female Speaker, but also as a reflection of a new era in American politics. This chapter maps the ... More

This book seeks to understand Nancy Pelosi, not just as a Speaker of the House, or even as its first female Speaker, but also as a reflection of a new era in American politics. This chapter maps the terrain and introduces the themes that guide the narrative. Pelosi’s story opens a window on social, political, and institutional forces that have framed her career, shaped her leadership, and transformed the context within which the speakership has evolved. These trends are labeled as the “New American Politics.” Since Pelosi is the first woman to serve as Speaker, the chapter specifically explores the gender dimensions of this new incarnation of the political system. Finally, it turns to the implications of these trends for the speakership itself.Less

Leadership

Ronald M. Peters and Cindy Simon Rosenthal

in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics

This chapter addresses the most important issue of the current study: the capacity of American political institutions to provide the leadership the country requires. There is ample evidence to ... More

This chapter addresses the most important issue of the current study: the capacity of American political institutions to provide the leadership the country requires. There is ample evidence to suggest that the country faces a crisis of confidence in its leadership. The chapter considers the question of whether the speakership is able to provide the leadership the country so desperately requires. Toward this end, the chapter first assesses Speaker Pelosi from the perspective of congressional leadership theory, comparing her conduct as Speaker to that of her recent predecessors. It then situates the speakership in the theories of New American Politics, explaining the constraints this era imposes on the office. It argues that Pelosi’s low public approval ratings are a reflection of the era in which she serves. It concludes with a consideration of the factors that have shaped Pelosi’s speakership, and the lessons they offer future Speakers.Less

Gender

Ronald M. Peters and Cindy Simon Rosenthal

in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics

Nancy Pelosi’s career reveals much about what has changed and the challenges that remain for women who would aspire to the highest levels of governing. At strategic points in her public career, she ... More

Nancy Pelosi’s career reveals much about what has changed and the challenges that remain for women who would aspire to the highest levels of governing. At strategic points in her public career, she avoided talking about how being a woman shaped her rise to power. For a long time, she eschewed political candidacy in favor of the obligations and joys of motherhood. Later, as a party operative, she became the relentless organizer. Today, she wields unprecedented political power as a member of Congress. Her story illustrates many of the twists and turns confronting every woman pursuing a path into politics; but because of the magnitude of her ultimate success, hers is (so far) a unique narrative. This chapter analyzes the paradoxes of gender power that have played into the career of the first woman Speaker in an attempt to understand the transformation of American politics.Less

The Line of Succession Controversy

Brian C. Kalt

in Constitutional Cliffhangers

This chapter explains a notion that every American schoolchild learns: that the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate (PPT) follow the vice president in the line of ... More

This chapter explains a notion that every American schoolchild learns: that the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate (PPT) follow the vice president in the line of succession. Fictional portrayals of presidential disasters often draw on this rule, but they fail to acknowledge that it is constitutionally problematic for the Speaker and PPT to be in the line of succession. Not all legal experts agree on this point, but most of them do, and their criticism is harsh. They call the succession law “the single most dangerous statute in the United States Code,” “intolerable,” “disastrous,” and “an accident waiting to happen.” Even if one thinks that these experts are wrong, their arguments cast a dark shadow of uncertainty over presidential succession.Less

Robert Clark and the Ascendancy to Black Power: The Case of the Mississippi Black State Legislators

Byron D’Andra Orey

in The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi

This chapter examines Black Power in relation to the issues that have been addressed by African Americans who were elected to the Mississippi legislature since 1967, whether through influence or new ... More

This chapter examines Black Power in relation to the issues that have been addressed by African Americans who were elected to the Mississippi legislature since 1967, whether through influence or new laws. It considers how African American legislators progressed from Robert Clark’s initial failure to gain recognition on the floor to their becoming head of five committees in the late 1980s and the role they played in choosing the Speaker of the House. It argues that most black legislators have been able to tackle issues related to education, suffrage, and health care, and that they often resorted to political pragmatism in response to either inattention or racial prejudice.Less

Speaker of the House Lynch

John Roy Lynch

John Hope Franklin (ed.)

in Reminiscences of an Active Life: The Autobiography of John Roy Lynch

This chapter highlights the nomination of John Roy Lynch by the House Republican caucus for Speaker of the House. In the organization of the House, the contest was not between white and colored, but ... More

This chapter highlights the nomination of John Roy Lynch by the House Republican caucus for Speaker of the House. In the organization of the House, the contest was not between white and colored, but between Democrats and Republicans. No one had been elected, at least on the Republican side, because he was a white man or because he was a colored man, but because he was a Republican. After a preliminary canvass, the fact was developed that Lynch was not only the choice of the colored members for Speaker of the House, but of a large majority of the white Republican members as well. They believed and voted in accordance with that belief, both in the party caucus and in the House, that he was the best equipped man for that responsible position. This fact had been demonstrated to their satisfaction during the two sessions of the preceding legislature.Less

“A Temporary ‘Third Party’”: Antislavery Whig Dissidents in the 1841 Speakership Contest

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This section shows how antislavery Whigs including John Quincy Adams, Seth Gates, Joshua Giddings, and William Slade bucked their party leadership and refused to support another slaveholder in the ... More

This section shows how antislavery Whigs including John Quincy Adams, Seth Gates, Joshua Giddings, and William Slade bucked their party leadership and refused to support another slaveholder in the 1841 election for Speaker of the House. Though this small protest was unable to block the election of Kentucky’s John White, political abolitionists cautiously praised this step as evidence that the Slave Power’s demands were beginning to wear on the most committed antislavery members of the Whig congressional majority.Less

“Glorious Confusion in the Ranks”: The Free Soil Balance of Power, 1849

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This vignette describes the disruptive role the Free Soil Party played by controlling a balance of power in the closely divided 31st House of Representatives. In their refusal to vote for a ... More

This vignette describes the disruptive role the Free Soil Party played by controlling a balance of power in the closely divided 31st House of Representatives. In their refusal to vote for a Democratic or Whig candidate in the 1849 election for Speaker of the House, Free Soilers showcased the influence their new independent antislavery congressional bloc might wield and further mobilized congressional controversy to call attention to the Slave Power’s sway over both major parties. Ultimately, however, a majority of representatives agreed to circumvent traditional majoritarian rules and abide by a plurality vote, thereby enabling the election of slaveholding Democrat Howell Cobb over the incumbent Whig speaker Robert Winthrop.Less

“A New Era in Our History”: The Longest Speakership Contest in American History and the First Republican National Victory, 1855–1856

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This section chronicles the long and contentious contest for speaker of the 34th House. The discussion here demonstrates the vital role that this 1855-56 election for Speaker of the House played in ... More

This section chronicles the long and contentious contest for speaker of the 34th House. The discussion here demonstrates the vital role that this 1855-56 election for Speaker of the House played in consolidating the Republican Party and ensuring that the antislavery Republican Party and not the nativist American Party would emerge as the Democrats’ main opposition in the northern states. Radical and moderate anti-Nebraska men alike united behind Massachusetts Republican Nathaniel P. Banks, and, after two months and 133 roll calls, the Republicans triumphed when the House adopted a rule to select its speaker by plurality. In this fight for the speakership, a much deeper Republican Party unity was forged in advance of the 1856 presidential election. When Banks finally won his plurality, political abolitionists widely celebrated the fulfilment of their longstanding hope of placing in the speaker’s chair a man pledged against the Slave Power.Less

“Let the Lines Be Drawn”: Conscience Whig Insurgency and the 1847 Speakership Election

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This vignette describes the briefly delayed 1847 election for Speaker of the House. Antislavery Conscience Whigs Joshua Giddings and John G. Palfrey, along with independent antislavery representative ... More

This vignette describes the briefly delayed 1847 election for Speaker of the House. Antislavery Conscience Whigs Joshua Giddings and John G. Palfrey, along with independent antislavery representative Amos Tuck, opposed northern Whig nominee Robert Winthrop because he rejected the insurgents’ demand for a pledge to constitute key House committees so as to favor the reporting of antislavery legislation. Though the stalemate only lasted a matter of hours, it demonstrated to Liberty Party activists that they might soon sunder the party ties that yet bound antislavery Whigs. The protest of Giddings, Palfrey, and Tuck also called further national attention to the power House Speakers wielded over congressional committees and the importance of electing a Speaker who would nominate antislavery majorities to the key House Committees on the Judiciary, Foreign Policy, District of Columbia, and Territories.Less

“Bowing Down to the Slave Power”: Northern Whigs, Slavery, and the Speakership, 1839

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This section narrates the controversial 1839 election for Speaker of the House. The demands of an ultra-proslavery States’ Rights faction deadlocked the House, but the stalemate was broken when the ... More

This section narrates the controversial 1839 election for Speaker of the House. The demands of an ultra-proslavery States’ Rights faction deadlocked the House, but the stalemate was broken when the entire Whig Party, including professed antislavery men, supported proslavery candidate Robert M.T. Hunter. Political abolitionists, like Joshua Leavitt, highlighted this disappointing conclusion to the much anticipated speakership election as evidence of all Whigs’ complicity with the Slave Power. Political abolitionists, however, also appreciated the evidence this contest provided that a small, committed ideological bloc could wield a balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives.Less