Items22The creator’s order
  1. 1Henry ClayHenry ClayBorn 12 Apr 1777'The Great Compromiser' built the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as Speaker and, as a senator, the Compromise Tariff of 1833 that ended the nullification crisis and the Compromise of 1850, an omnibus package that Stephen Douglas finally passed in separate bills after Clay's version failed. Clay's…0i
  2. 2George W. NorrisGeorge W. NorrisBorn 11 Jul 1861A Nebraska Republican progressive who later sat as an independent, Norris wrote the Twentieth Amendment, ratified in 1933, which ended long 'lame duck' sessions by moving inaugurations and the start of Congress to January. He fought for a decade to keep the Muscle Shoals dams in public hands, which…0i
  3. 3Robert F. WagnerRobert F. WagnerBorn 8 Jun 1877The New York Democrat was the New Deal's legislative engine in the Senate. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, still known as the Wagner Act, guaranteed private-sector workers the right to organise and bargain collectively and created the National Labor Relations Board; he also co-sponsored…0i
  4. 4Arthur VandenbergArthur VandenbergBorn 22 Mar 1884A pre-war isolationist, the Michigan Republican announced his conversion in a 1945 Senate speech and, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in a Republican Congress, delivered votes for a Democratic president: ratification of the UN Charter, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan in 1948…0i
  5. 5Robert A. TaftRobert A. TaftBorn 8 Sept 1889'Mr Republican' co-wrote the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which banned closed shops, allowed states to pass right-to-work laws and let the president seek injunctions against strikes; Congress passed it over Truman's veto, and it still shapes American labour law. Less remembered, Taft also co-sponsored…0i
  6. 6Margaret Chase SmithMargaret Chase SmithBorn 14 Dec 1897The Maine Republican, the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress, had already pushed through the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 as a House member, giving women permanent status in the military. In the Senate her 1950 'Declaration of Conscience' speech, co-signed by six…0i
  7. 7Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. JohnsonBorn 27 Aug 1908Before the presidency, Johnson was the most effective Senate majority leader of the century, using 'the treatment' of personal persuasion, committee assignments and a mastery of rules. His landmark was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first since Reconstruction, which he passed by weakening it…0i
  8. 8Everett DirksenEverett DirksenBorn 4 Jan 1896The Republican minority leader from Illinois delivered the votes that broke the months-long Southern filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first successful cloture vote on civil rights. Dirksen negotiated amendments in his office that let conservative Republicans support the bill,…0i
  9. 9Hubert HumphreyHubert HumphreyBorn 27 May 1911As Democratic whip, Humphrey was floor manager of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, running a daily organisation to keep enough senators present to defeat quorum calls and courting Dirksen patiently rather than attacking him. His earlier proposals for health insurance for the elderly and a volunteer peace…0i
  10. 10J. William FulbrightJ. William FulbrightBorn 9 Apr 1905Fulbright's 1946 amendment funding international educational exchange from surplus war property created the Fulbright Program, which has since sent hundreds of thousands of students and scholars abroad. As Foreign Relations chairman his televised 1966 hearings on Vietnam gave respectability to…0i