Second Session of the Seventy-fourth Congress, January 3, 1936, to June 20, 1936

Extract

The high command of the present Administration stipulated that all controversial reform legislation on the President's “must” list should be enacted during the first session of the Seventy-fourth Congress, leaving for its second meeting only the inevitable appropriation bills and whatever measures the exigencies of politics and government might make necessary. In accordance with this strategy, the President compelled Congress to remain in Washington until late August, 1935. When the legislators reassembled last January, there was common agreement that the second session would be brief, the “bonus” paid to the exservice men, routine administrative bills enacted, and that the members would then dash off to the quadrennial political war. After a White House conference, the House majority leader, Mr. Bankhead, announced that “the President wants as short a session as possible consistent with the public interest and any eventualities that may arise, caused by possible decisions of the Supreme Court affecting New Deal legislation.” Within a week the high court had invalidated the New Deal farm program and set in motion forces which could be depended upon to prolong and make turbulent the Congressional session. Throughout its duration, debate raged over implications of the separation of powers doctrine. Prominent Democrats asserted that the courts had exceeded their authority in nullifying certain acts passed by the representatives of the people. The Republican orators, on the other hand, generally welcomed the judicial check on the legislative branch but bewailed the “supine surrender of Congressional prerogatives to Executive dictation.” The inexorable rules of politics in an election year preordained that political considerations be given prominence in every legislative deliberation. Thus, directed by the President, pushed by organized minorities, challenged by the Supreme Court, tormented by fear of electoral repulse, our legislators stumbled unhappily through a hectic session.