Steve Test

Items

• Patronage assignments letter and card
  Patronage, or the awarding of government jobs on the basis of political ties or favors, was a common practice that started to decline after World War II. The trend in Congress has continued toward permanent, professional, and nonpartisan staff.
• Photograph of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee
  When the Senate convened with a new Democratic majority in 1933, Majority Leader Joe Robinson wanted them to commit to a “binding caucus” rule, meaning that if 2/3 of the caucus supported a proposal, they would vote en bloc. The southerners would not agree, so the caucus (pictured here) was infrequently called together for most of the early New Deal era. Instead, the Democrats created a policy committee to formulate legislative proposals.
• Photograph of Senator Rush Holt
  Rush Holt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934 at the age of 29. He waited six months into the 1935 session, until his 30th birthday, to be sworn in, making him the fourth youngest member in the Senate’s history.
• Waitman T. Willey diary entry
  Waitman T. Willey's diary entry regarding his election to the U.S. Senate, 1863 page 130
• Photograph of Kellion V. Whaley
• Photograph of William G. Brown
• Photograph of Waitman T. Willey
• Photograph of Peter Van Winkle
• Photograph of Senators Jay Rockefeller, Robert Byrd, and Jennings Randolph
  Senators Jay Rockefeller, Robert Byrd, and Jennings Randolph at Byrd’s birthday celebration
• Photograph of Senators Jennings Randolph, Mike Mansfield, Robert Byrd and Representative Nick Rahall
  Before he was elected to Congress, Nick Rahall worked in the office of then U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd and as assistant to the Majority Secretary of the Senate.
• Photograph of Senate Majority Whip Robert C. Byrd
  Robert C. Byrd holds the record for the longest serving senator in American history (1958-2010).
• Photograph of the West Virginia congressional delegation
  Back row, left to right: Representative John Mark Slack Jr., unidentified, Reps. Ken Hechler, Arch Moore, unidentified, Senator Robert C. Byrd; Front row, left to right: Senator Jennings Randolph, WV Governor Cecil Underwood, Rep. Maude Elizabeth Kee
• Photograph of Senator Jay Rockefeller being sworn into Congress
  Jay Rockefeller swearing-in to the Senate by Vice President George H.W. Bush Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV papers
• Photograph of Congressman Nick Rahall being sworn into Congress
  Photograph of Congressman Nick Rahall swearing-in by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
• Republican Congressional Committee Newsletter
  The RCC newsletter featured an image of President Lyndon Johnson holding a puppet Congress.
• Photograph of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressing Congress
  British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressing a joint session of Congress in the Senate Chamber
• Exhibit poster for the exhibit, For the Dignity of Man and the Destiny of Democracy: The Voting Rights Act of 1965
  This poster originally appeared in the Rockefeller Gallery exhibit.
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
  On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Act into law at the Capitol.
• Telegram from Martin Luther King Jr.
  House Republicans proposed a substitute bill, H.R. 7896. Known as the Ford-McCulloch bill, it removed the automatic triggers. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., sent a telegram to Congressman Arch Moore expressing strong opposition to the Ford-McCulloch bill. On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the substitute bill by a vote of 166 to 215.
• Telegram from Executive Director, NAACP
  House Republicans proposed a substitute bill, H.R. 7896. Known as the Ford-McCulloch bill, it removed the automatic triggers. Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, sent a Telex message to Congressman Arch Moore expressing strong opposition to the Ford-McCulloch bill. On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the substitute bill by a vote of 166 to 215.
• Telex message from Washington Bureau, NAACP
  House Republicans proposed a substitute bill, H.R. 7896. Known as the Ford-McCulloch bill, it removed the automatic triggers. Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, sent a Telex message to Congressman Arch Moore expressing strong opposition to the Ford-McCulloch bill. On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the substitute bill by a vote of 166 to 215.
• Republican Policy Committee Statement on Voting Rights Bills
  House Republicans proposed a substitute bill, H.R. 7896. Known as the Ford-McCulloch bill, it removed the automatic triggers. On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the substitute bill by a vote of 166 to 215.
• Amendments adopted by full House Judiciary Committee
  The document, "Amendments Adopted by Full Committee on Tuesday, May 4, 1965 to H.R. 6400 As Amended," shows some of the changes adopted by the House Judiciary Committee as it worked through the voting rights bill. The House Judiciary Committee reported a revised H.R. 6400 on June 1, 1965.
• Senate petition for cloture motion
  In the Senate, a 24-day filibuster of the bill ensued. Southern senators expressed the belief that the bill was unconstitutional and punitive to the South. On May 21, 1965, 29 Democrats and 9 Republicans signed a petition for a cloture motion. Four days later, the Senate approved debate-limiting cloture by a vote of 70 to 30. This was only the second time in its history, and the second time in two years, that the Senate had stopped debate in order to vote on a civil rights bill. On May 26, the Senate passed S. 1564 by a vote of 77 to 19.
• Letter from the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World, War, W.Va.
  As Congress debated the voting rights bill, the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World located in War, W.Va., wrote to Congressman Arch Moore to express support for the legislation.