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Introduction to Roundtable

The U.S. Congress in the Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Julian E. Zelizer
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Extract

The claim that contemporary historical scholarship has ignored the twentieth-century U.S. Congress is a great understatement. During the past two decades, most social and cultural historians minimized the study of government institutions, policy makers, and policies. They characterized these aspects of American history as elitist, irrelevant, and even illegitimate (Leff 1995; Leuchtenburg 1986).The ultimate villain in this scholarly narrative was Congress, considered to be an insulated haven for white male elites who sub-vert the democratic process in favor of vested interest groups.When Congress appeared in a few academic books, it was treated as an archaic institution that functions as either a road block or a rubber stamp to proposals that emanate from the executive branch or from mass social movements.Those interested in the modern history of Congress can turn only to the work of journalists such as John Jacobs (1995) and Richard Cohen (1999) who rely on political biography in attempts to understand the institution’s past.

Type
Roundtable: The U.S. Congress in the Twentieth Century
Information
Social Science History , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , summer 2000 , pp. 307 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2000 

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