1. Serving With Presidents Never Under: The Eight Presidencies of Bonham’s Sam Rayburn,
Garrison Nelson
University of Vermont

2. Woodrow Wilson,
Sam elected to the 63rd Congress in 1912 as Woodrow Wilson is elected President.
One of five Democratic freshmen assigned to the Interstate and Foreign Commerce chaired by William C. Adamson (Dem-Ga.). Cactus Jack Garner on the Ways and Means Committee sponsored Sam’s selection.
Sam (b. 1882) was in the 12th slot just below fellow freshman and future Senate Majority Leader and Vice President Alben W. Barkley (b. 1877) of Kentucky in the 11th slot.
It would be Sam’s only committee assignment.

3. Adamson Act, 1916
Drafted by Commerce Committee Chair William C. Adamson (Dem-Ga.), the Adamson Act was a United States federal law passed in 1916 that established an eight-hour workday, with additional pay for overtime work, for interstate railroad workers.

4. Moving up the Ladder,
64th Congress ( ) Sam was in the 8th Majority slot while Barkley was in the 7th.
Wilson narrowly re-elected over Charles Evans Hughes in 1916.
65th Congress ( ) Sam was in the 6th
Majority slot while Barkley was in the 5th.
66th Congress ( ) Now in the Minority, Sam was in the 4th Minority slot while Barkley was in the 3rd.

5. Sam Rayburn and Alben Barkley Pre-Leadership Photos

6. Harding, 1921-23 and Coolidge, 1923-27
67th Congress ( ), Barkley was Ranking Minority Member; Sam in 2nd Minority slot on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.
68th Congress ( ) Barkley was Ranking Minority Member; Sam in 2nd Minority Slot and elected Chair of Democratic Caucus. Sam supports Finis Garrett for Minority Leader.
69th Congress ( ) Barkley was Ranking Minority Member; Sam in 2nd Minority slot

7. Coolidge, and Hoover,
70th Congress ( ), Barkley was Ranking Minority Member; Sam in 2nd Minority slot
71st Congress ( ), Hoover is President; Cactus Jack Garner is Minority Floor Leader; Barkley elected U.S. Senator and Sam becomes Ranking Minority Member on Commerce.
72nd Congress ( ) Now in the Majority, Cactus Jack Garner elected Speaker of the US House and Sam becomes Chair of Interstate and Foreign Commerce. .

8. 1932 Democratic Convention
Sam is Floor Manager for Cactus Jack Garner
who is supported by the Texas and California delegations for the first three ballots over NY Governor FD Roosevelt and ex-NY Governor Al Smith. William Randolph Hearst and US Senator William Gibbs McAdoo agree with Jim Farley and Joe Kennedy to break the deadlock by moving California (and Texas) to FD Roosevelt on the 4th ballot with Garner named as vice president.

9. Joe Kennedy with Al Smith
Garner support
Roosevelt support
Speech for garner support
Senator William G. McAdoo
William Randolph Hearst
Smith support
1932 Convention
Joe Kennedy with Al Smith

10. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
73rd and 74th Congresses ( ), FDR is President; Cactus Jack Garner is Vice President; and Sam is Chair of Interstate and Foreign Commerce.
Sam floor manages the Federal Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of Both bills drafted by Ben Cohen and “Tommy the Cork” Corcoran with Joe Kennedy elected Chair of Securities and Exchanges Commission.

11. Ben Cohen, Tommy Corcoran, and Sam Rayburn

12. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
President FD Roosevelt and Vice President Garner
are re-nominated by acclamation at 1936 Convention as the century-old “2/3 Rule” is voided.
They are re-elected by a landslide in the election of 1936 with largest ever House Democratic majority.
Majority Floor Leader Will Bankhead of Alabama replaces the deceased Joe Byrns of Tennessee as Speaker of the House in 1936.
Sam defeats Rules Committee Chair John J. O’Connor of New York for election as House Majority Floor Leader in 1937

13. Floor Leadership Contest, 1937
The House Majority Leader fight: Rules Committee Chair Rep. John J. O’Connor (NY) was defeated by Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Sam Rayburn (TX) with McCormack delivering New England to Rayburn, January 5, 1937

14. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
75th Congress ( ) Speaker Will Bankhead and Majority Leader Sam Rayburn are obliged to manage the largest House Democratic majority in history while FDR tries to “pack” the US Supreme Court by enlarging it from nine members to fifteen. The Senate tables the bill and apart from John O’Connor, FDR fails to “purge” Democrats who opposed it in 1938.
The ensuing result is to create the Conservative Coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans that will end the forward motion of the New Deal.
With the death of Senate Leader Joe Robinson of Arkansas in 1937, FDR supports Alben Barkley over Pat Harrison of Mississippi for Senate Majority Leader.

15. Congressional Majority Leaders Sam Rayburn and Alben Barkley, 1939

16. Congressional Southern hierarchy: Speaker Bankhead (AL), VP Garner (TX), Senate Majority Leader Barkley (KY),House Majority Leader Rayburn (TX)
January 9, 1939

17. President Roosevelt addressing Congress
Front (L to R): President Roosevelt, Senate Majority Leader Barkley, Reps. Rayburn and Bloom.
Back: Vice President John Garner and Speaker William Bankhead
1940

18. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
76th Congress ( ) Democrats lose 70+ seats in the 1938 mid-term election and the Conservative Coalition gains philosophical control of the House.
John McCormack is elected by voice vote to be Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the party’s 4th ranking post.
World War Two erupts in September, 1939.
FDR is nominated for a 3rd term at the 1940 Convention over Jim Farley and Jack Garner.
Garner is replaced as VP by Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace who defeats Speaker Will Bankhead.
Bankhead’s September 1940 death leads to Sam’s election by acclamation as Speaker of the House.
The election of House Democratic Chair John W. McCormack of Massachusetts over Clifton Woodrum of Virginia as Majority Leader creates “the Austin-Boston Connection.”

19. “The three of us …” December 18, 1940
“You and I and John McCormack are facing a very difficult session. On the success of that session will depend the future reputation of the President and the Speaker and the majority leader. It will not help any of the three to meet with a series of defeats in the next Congress. 
“That is especially true if the three of us, or any one of the three, accepts prospective defeat tamely. Therefore, I renew my ancient feeling that it is better to be defeated while going down fighting than it is to accept defeat without fighting.”

20. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
77th Congress ( ) With FDR’s re-election in 1940, Speaker Sam Rayburn and Majority Leader John McCormack will begin their 21 year stint as the top two House Democratic leaders.
In 1941, Rayburn and McCormack produce House majorities for Lend-Lease, the Draft Extension, and Neutrality Repeal.
The Pearl Harbor attack of December, 1941 will lead to Declarations of War against Japan, Germany, and Italy.

21. A Joe Kennedy Fabrication, August 8, 1951
You have achieved great heights in American politics. I have always felt a great pride in it because I was at the meeting that determined Rayburn for Speaker and McCormack for Leader, and I still feel that was one of the finest political moves that Roosevelt ever made. Jack is some years younger than you. He took up politics not because it was natural for him or that it was his desire, but because he felt that his brother, Joe, had made up his mind to dedicate his life to public service, and as the next oldest Jack took up a great many other obligations and desires of Joe’s. I am sure there is nothing in Jack’s hopes for the future that would ever conflict with your wishes. He may not follow your advice or suggestions as well as he should, but then, he doesn’t follow mine and I assume that is a natural instinct. It’s his responsibility and it’s his future.

22. An Inconvenient Truth
Joe’s claim to John that he had been present when FDR helped put together the “Austin-Boston Connection” of Rayburn and McCormack stretched the truth. According to Bob Clark of the F.D. Roosevelt Library, Joe and Mrs. Kennedy were guests at the White House on October 27, Kennedy met with FDR from 6:55 to 10:20 PM. At 11:10 the other guests, Sam Rosenman, Harry Hopkins, and Robert Sherwood, left the White House.
But the Austin-Boston Connection of Rayburn and McCormack had already been forged: Sam Rayburn was elected Speaker on September 16, 1940 and John McCormack was elected Majority Leader on September 25, 1940 a full month earlier than Joe Kennedy contended. John may not have known that particular sequence of events but he did know that Joe claimed some credit for John’s success and now he owed Joe Kennedy big time.

23. FDR meets with newly-elected Speaker Sam Rayburn and Majority Leader John McCormack
To discuss legislation for the 77th Congress, 1941.

24. Yesterday, Dec. 7, a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.
Shortly after the speech, House Majority Leader John McCormack introduced the resolution declaring war on the Empire of Japan.

25. 4.C. Same Party Power Balance: Cooperative
President Franklin Roosevelt and Speaker Sam Rayburn,

26. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
78th Congress ( ). A narrow Democratic mid-term victory keeps Sam as Speaker and John as Majority Leader but domestic legislation is shelved to address war-time exigencies.
In 1944, FDR sends Secretary of War Henry Stimson, Joint Chiefs Head George Marshall, and Manhattan Project Head Vannevar Bush to meet Sam, John, and Republican Minority Leader Joe Martin to gain secret funding for the atomic bomb.

27. 4.C. Same Party Power Balance: Cooperative
President Franklin Roosevelt and Speaker Sam Rayburn,
Majority Leader John McCormack, Speaker Sam Rayburn, Vice President Henry Wallace, and Acting Senate Minority Leader Warren Austin and FDR meet after FDR’s return from Tehran Conference with Churchill and Stalin, December 17, 1943

28. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Doctors’ warnings are concealed and FDR is nominated for a 4th term but southern and urban Democrats vote to replace Vice President Henry Wallace with US Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri, a bourbon drinking buddy of Sam Rayburn and a “poker pal” of John McCormack.
FDR wins re-election to his 4th term over NY Governor Thomas Dewey in 1944.
Three months after the 79th Congress opens in January, 1945, FDR dies on April 12. Vice President Truman is in Sam’s Capitol Hill hideaway awaiting John’s arrival when he is summoned to the White House. Harry will be sworn in later that evening with FDR’s Cabinet and House leaders in attendance.

29. Dr. Frank Lahey’s personal letter with the diagnosis that FDR will not survive to the end of a fourth term. FDR’s physician Admiral McIntyre would not share this diagnosis with FDR.

30. Senator Harry Truman (D-Mo
Senator Harry Truman (D-Mo.) and Resolutions Chair John McCormack (D-Mass.) plotting to dump VP Wallace at the 1944 Convention
July 20, 1944

31. Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Harry S
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Harry S. Truman and President Roosevelt conversing on August 18, 1944.
Vice President Henry Wallace loses nomination to U.S. Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO).

32. FDR Nears the End

33. April 12, 1945
Truman Being Sworn into Office by Harlan F. Stone (NH) on April 12, FDR cabinet members on the left, US House members on right.

34. President Truman and Speaker Rayburn

35. 1948 Democratic Convention:
Sam Presided over the Nominations of Harry Truman and Alben Barkley

36. 4.C. Same Party Power Balance: Cooperative
President Harry Truman and Speaker Sam Rayburn, ,
President Truman, House Majority Leader McCormack, Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas, and House Speaker Sam Rayburn, 81st Congress

37. State of the Union, 1951

38. Jane Rucker, Alben Barkley’s Second Wife, became Sam’s Later Consort

39. 4.C. Same Party Power Balance: Cooperative
President Harry Truman and Speaker Sam Rayburn, ,
Left: Vice President Alben Barkley, President Truman, House Speaker Sam Rayburn, Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland, and House Majority Leader John McCormack, 82nd Congress

40. Sam and Harry

41. The Speaker and the General

42. Eisenhower of Texas or Kansas?
From Joe Martin's autobiography, My First Fifty Years in Politics:
“Unquestionably, there were some delegates who had voted for Eisenhower in Chicago [in 1952] while still uncertain about the authenticity of his Republicanism. Any doubts that I may have entertained had been resolved many years before when he was still in uniform. The time was, I suppose, soon after World War II. The place was Sam Rayburn's office in the Capitol. General Eisenhower was there in the presence of a number of members of the House, of whom I was the only Republican. For some reason or other someone referred to him as 'Eisenhower of Texas.' That is where he was born. The general corrected the speaker. 'Eisenhower of Kansas,' he said. This was all I needed to convince me that he was a Republican."

43. President Eisenhower and Speaker Rayburn

44. Sam Praises Ike, 1957

45. President Dwight Eisenhower and Speaker Sam Rayburn, 1955-61
5.G. Different Parties: Power Balance/Cooperative
President Dwight Eisenhower and Speaker Sam Rayburn,
State of the Union, 1957 Democratic-dominated 85th Congress with President Eisenhower, Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (Dem-Tex.)
CQ Presidential Support House Scores
% 33rd of 61
% 25th
% 35th
% 24th
% 37th
% 32nd

46. 1960 Democratic Convention

47. 1960 Democratic Convention

48. 1961 Inauguration

49. 4.C. Same Party Power Balance: Cooperative
President John F. Kennedy and Speaker Sam Rayburn, 1961
Right: President Kennedy delivers the State of the Union address January 30, Vice President Lyndon B. Johns and US House Speaker Sam Rayburn seated behind him.
Kennedy/Rayburn 1961
CQ Presidential Support
House Score
% 7th of 61

50. President Kennedy and Speaker Rayburn

51. October 9, 1961
At Baylor, with only a nurse present, Rayburn and Kennedy had their final tête-à-tête. The handsome millionaire president and the dying bachelor from Bonham conversed about their common interest: politics. They hoped for some FDR magic in the 1962 midterms. Press secretary Pierre Salinger said that the two men talked about 1934, Franklin Roosevelt's first midterm election, when the Democrats beat the odds to pick up seats.
Walking out of Baylor a few minutes later, the grim-faced president hurried past reporters, then paused at the door of his car. "He's sick, of course," he said in low voice, "but I was glad I could be with him. He showed enough courage for anybody.“
Air Force One had arrived at 3:42 p.m. and was back in the air at 5:01 p.m.
Two days later, Rayburn was in a coma.”

52. President Kennedy Arrives in Bonham

53. Farewell, Mr. Sam

54. The Austin-Boston Connection The Austin-Boston ConnectionF A C
The Austin-Boston Connection
The Austin-Boston Connection
Key:
Mentor Relationship
Ally Relationship G D
Austin
A: Joe Bailey
B: Jack Garner
C: Sam Rayburn
D: Carl Albert
E: Jim Wright
Boston
F: James Curley
G: John McCormack
H:Tip O’Neill H E

55. Want to Learn More?

56. John William McCormack: (New York: Bloomsbury, 2015)
A Political Biography
Garrison Nelson
(New York: Bloomsbury, 2015)