The House
Robert V. Remini. The House: The History of the House of Representatives. New York, Smithsonian Books in association with HarperCollins, 2006. JK1319 .R46 2006
From the publisher: The United States House of Representatives is regarded by many as the finest deliberative body in existence. Throughout America’s history, the House has played a central role in shaping the nation’s destiny. In our own time the impeachment hearings of President Clinton and the rise and fall of Newt Gingrich revealed, quite starkly, just how vital the House’s constitutional powers remain. In this incomparable single-volume history, distinguished historian Robert V. Remini traces the development of this quintessential American institution from a struggling, nascent body to the venerable powerhouse it has become since America’s rise on the world stage. Violence, acrimony, triumph, and compromise litter the House’s varied and illustrious past. Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Randolph, “Czar” Thomas Reed, “Uncle Joe” Cannon, and, more recently, Sam Rayburn, Tip O’Neill, Gerald Ford, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Jim Wright, Patricia Schroeder, Dick Cheney, Tom Foley, Peter Rodino, and John Murtha are just a few of the figures who have played significant political roles. These leaders mastered the rules and folkways of the House and bent them to their own or the people’s wills and needs. Through their exploits, Dr. Remini shows the true brilliance of constitutional elasticity and the dangers inherent in it. The founders of our country created the House to reflect the will of the people. Out of chaos could emerge a national consensus that could bind the country together after first revealing the deep fissures between North and South and, in our day, among the Midwest, the South, and the coastal regions. For two centuries the powerful hold the Founding Fathers gave the House over the purse strings of the nation has forced its members to be conciliators and statesmen in times of crisis. The essential drama of democracy — the struggle between principle and pragmatism — is showcased throughout the book and through it the history of America’s successful experiment with democracy unfurls.