The Trouble With Congress
LANE, ROBERT E.
The Trouble With Congress The Congressional Party: A Case Study. By David B. Truman. John Wiley. 336 pp. $7.95. Reviewed by Robert E. Lane Department of Political Science, Yale...
...And Wallace White, aided more or less by Kenneth Wherry, provided experienced and skilful majority leadership during the tumultuous "do-nothing" 80th Congress...
...Reviewed by Robert E. Lane Department of Political Science, Yale University...
...Moreover, the decision not to examine blocs which cross party lines leaves out of account one of the most fruitful lines of inquiry...
...They do not have the command over the public attention that the President does: they are not properly in charge of the national party apparatus...
...the method simply takes over...
...The idea of such "bloc" analysis, devised by Rice some 30 years ago, is a good one and has never before been properly exploited—but unfortunately in this treatment, the data, not their meaning, dominate the discussion...
...Now it appears that, in a special sense, they have too much choice at present...
...The author is all too explicit in carrying his readers through the many possible combinations and comparisons: the original blocs in each party, the majority floor leader's position, the minority floor leader's position, the seniority leaders' positions and much more...
...Only with a President who can work with the Majority Leaders of the Congressional party does the structure of American government function properly...
...Author, "Political Life" IT IS IN explaining the circumstances influencing Congressional leadership that David Truman's new book, almost inadvertently and as an afterthought, makes its real contribution...
...David Truman, like Woodrow Wilson, finds Congress congenitally and institutionally incapable of providing its own leadership...
...But however benumbed the reader may be by this presentation of data, he will revive in those intervals when Truman searches the data for their significance and talks of politics with his charcteristic insight and understanding...
...Lyndon Johnson is commonly said to be remarkable in his capacity to handle the Senate and to keep the legislative mill grinding...
...Both sets of leaders held office when the President was not of their party and neither of these Majority Leaders, nor other leaders of the Senate or of the House under comparable circumstances, have been able to develop a comprehensive agenda for Congress, a program that they can take back to the people and say with satisfaction, "This is what we did...
...In short, they are thrust into positions of modest power and authority to accomplish matters of the very greatest moment...
...When they split their tickets, as they have done to an astonishing degree in the last two Presidential elections, they create a leadership vacuum...
...they must respect their own constituencies, which can unseat them in the midst of their glory, as was the case with Scott Lucas...
...Previously it was argued that party discipline in Congress was desirable because it meant that the voters would be offered a more meaningful decision between candidates who would do what they said they would do...
...One can imagine the problems of doing this analysis systematically so that the votes of each member of Congress are compared with the votes of each other member—but one does not have to imagine it...
...They are dealing with independent and "sovereign" legislators whose fortunes are only minimally influenced by what their party does in Congress...
...hence their leaders must negotiate, conciliate, and husband their resources...
...it must look across the separation of powers and find leadership in the White House, and this is possible only when the majority of Congress and the occupant of the White House are of the same party...
...Voters would then have a real choice...
...The reason for this, as Truman points out, is that the leaders of Congress are thrust into roles which hardly permit such programmatic leadership...
...What is missing in the two situations (1947-48 and 1955-59), then, is not high personal abilities of the Senatorial or other Congressional leaders, nor even that much talked about virtue, party discipline...
...Think twice, ticket-splitters, think again ! The Congressional Party starts out to be an analysis of Congressional "blocs" in the 80th Congress —that is, groups of Senators and Representatives who, each in their own chamber, tend to vote alike...
...they may have eccentric views of their own, as Wherry and William Know-land did...
...If this is true, and Truman is not alone in saying it, the question of party discipline emerges again to plague us, although this time it takes on a new dimension...
...The Congressional leaders, some elected and some achieving their position by seniority, are not a collegiate and generally cohesive body, since they are made up of men who arrive at their positions in different ways: Thus the leadership is fissiparous...
...What is missing is an agency which can formulate a clear program for Congress, reinforce the will and loyalty of the recalcitrant members, give drama to the program and command attention for it...
Vol. 43 • January 1960 • No. 1
