65th United States Congress Totally Explained

Everything about 65th United States Congress totally explained

65th United States Congress
United States Capitol (1906)
Session:	March 4, 1917 – March 4, 1919
President of the Senate:	Thomas R. Marshall
President pro tempore of the Senate:	Willard Saulsbury, Jr.
Speaker of the House:	Champ Clark
Members:	435 Representatives 96 Senators
House Majority:	Republican
Senate Majority:	Democratic
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The Sixty-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, comprised of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1917 to March 4, 1919, during the first two years of the second administration of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Thirteenth Census of the United States in 1910. The Senate had a Democratic majority, and the House had a Republican plurality but the Democrats remained in control with the support of the Progressives.

Dates of sessions

March 4, 1917 - March 4, 1919

Special session of the Senate: March 5, 1917 - March 16, 1917
First session: April 2, 1917 - October 6, 1917
Second session: December 3, 1917 - November 21, 1918
Third session: December 2, 1918 - March 4, 1919 — a lame duck session Previous congress: 64th Congress
Next congress: 66th Congress

Major events

ť Main article: Events of 1917; Events of 1918; Events of 1919

The brief special session was called by President Wilson in March 1919, because of a filibuster that had successfully blocked appropriations bills needed to fund day-to-day government operations. The official Senate website provides the full story of this filibuster as part of a biography of Charles P. Higgins (External Link

), the colorful Senate Seargant at Arms who was the only Democrat to fill that office in a space of almost forty years.

Major legislation

Migratory Bird Treaty Act, an agreement between the US and Great Britain designed to protect endangered fowl

Espionage Act and Sedition Act, which made certain kinds of criticism of the US government a treasonable offense

War Resolution that brought America into World War I.

Party summary

ť Senate

Republican (R): 42

Democratic (D): 54 (majority) TOTAL members: 96

ť House of Representatives

Democratic (D): 214

Republican (R): 215 (plurality)

Progressive (Prog.): 3

Prohibition (Proh.): 1

Socialist (S): 1

Independent (I): 1 TOTAL members: 435

Leadership

Senate

President of the Senate - Thomas R. Marshall

President pro tempore - Willard Saulsbury, Jr.

House of Representatives

Speaker of the House - Champ Clark

Members

Senate

At this time, most Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six year terms with each Congress. A few senators were elected directly by the residents of the state.

ť Alabama

John H. Bankhead (Dem.)

Oscar W. Underwood (Dem.) ť Arizona

Henry F. Ashurst (Dem.)

Marcus A. Smith (Dem.) ť Arkansas

William F. Kirby (Dem.)

Joseph T. Robinson (Dem.) ť California

Hiram W. Johnson (Rep.)

James D. Phelan (Dem.) ť Colorado

John F. Shafroth (Dem.)

Charles S. Thomas (Dem.) ť Connecticut

Frank B. Brandegee (Rep.)

George P. McLean (Rep.) ť Delaware

Willard Saulsbury, Jr. (Dem.)

Josiah O. Wolcott (Dem.) ť Florida

Duncan U. Fletcher (Dem.)

Park Trammell (Dem.) ť Georgia

Thomas W. Hardwick (Dem.)

Hoke Smith (Dem.) ť Idaho

William E. Borah (Rep.)

James H. Brady (Rep.) Brady died 13 January 1918. John F. Nugent was appointed and then elected to take his vacant seat.

John F. Nugent (Dem.) Nugent took the place of James H. Brady, who died during his term in this Congress. ť Illinois

James Hamilton Lewis (Dem.)

Lawrence Y. Sherman (Rep.) ť Indiana

Harry S. New (Rep.),

James E. Watson (Rep.) ť Iowa

Albert B. Cummins (Rep.)

William S. Kenyon (Rep.) ť Kansas

Charles Curtis (Rep.)

William H. Thompson (Dem.) ť Kentucky

J. C. W. Beckham (Dem.)

Ollie M. James (Dem.) James died 28 August 1918; George B. Martin was appointed to take his place.

George B. Martin (Dem.) Martin was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ollie M. James. ť Louisiana

Robert F. Broussard (Dem.) Broussard died 12 April 1918. Walter Guion was appointed to take his seat, although Edward J. Gay was soon elected for the position.

Edward J. Gay (Dem.) Gay was elected to fill Robert F. Broussard's seat after Broussard's death, taking the place of the temporary appointee Walter Guion.

Walter Guion (Dem.) Guion was appointed to the Senate upon Robert F. Broussard's death, but wasn't elected to take his place.

Joseph E. Ransdell (Dem.) ť Maine

Bert M. Fernald (Rep.)

Frederick Hale (Rep.) ť Maryland

Joseph I. France (Rep.)

John Walter Smith (Dem.) ť Massachusetts

Henry Cabot Lodge (Rep.)

John W. Weeks (Rep.) ť Michigan

William Alden Smith (Rep.)

Charles E. Townsend (Rep.) ť Minnesota

Frank B. Kellogg (Rep.)

Knute Nelson (Rep.) ť Mississippi

James K. Vardaman (Dem.)

John Sharp Williams (Dem.) ť Missouri

James A. Reed (Dem.)

Selden P. Spencer (Rep.) Spencer was elected to take William J. Stone's seat after Stone's death. He took over from appointee Xenophon O. Wilfley.

William J. Stone (Dem.) Stone died 14 April 1918; his vacant seat was filled at first by Xenophon O. Wilfley and then by Selden P. Spencer.

Xenophon P. Wilfley (Dem.) Wilfley was appointed to take the place of William J. Stone upon Stone's death. ť Montana

Henry L. Myers (Dem.)

Thomas J. Walsh (Dem.) ť Nebraska

Gilbert M. Hitchcock (Dem.)

George W. Norris (Rep.)

ť Nevada

Charles B. Henderson (Dem.) Henderson was appointed and elected after the death of Francis G. Newlands.

Francis G. Newlands (Dem.) Newlands died 24 December 1917; Charles B. Henderson took his place.

Key Pittman (Dem.) ť New Hampshire

Irving W. Drew (Rep.) Drew was appointed to Jacob H. Gallinger's seat after Gallinger's death, but wasn't elected to take his place.

Jacob H. Gallinger (Rep.) Gallinger died 17 August 1918; his successors were Irving W. Drew and George H. Moses.

Henry F. Hollis (Dem.)

George H. Moses (Rep.) Moses was elected to take the seat of the deceased Jacob H. Gallinger, taking over from Irving W. Drew. ť New Jersey

David Baird (Rep.) Baird was the successor to William Hughes after his death in 1918.

Joseph S. Frelinghuysen (Rep.)

William Hughes (Dem.) Hughes died 30 January 1918 and was replaced by David Baird. ť New Mexico

Albert B. Fall (Rep.)

Andrieus A. Jones (Dem.) ť New York

William M. Calder (Rep.)

James W. Wadsworth, Jr. (Rep.) ť North Carolina

Lee S. Overman (Dem.)

Furnifold M. Simmons (Dem.) ť North Dakota

Asle J. Gronna (Rep.)

Porter J. McCumber (Rep.) ť Ohio

Warren G. Harding (Rep.)

Atlee Pomerene (Dem.) ť Oklahoma

Thomas P. Gore (Dem.)

Robert L. Owen (Dem.) ť Oregon

George E. Chamberlain (Dem.)

Harry Lane (Dem.) Lane died 23 May 1917. Charles L. McNary was appointed, and Frederick W. Mulkey was elected, to fill his vacant seat.

Charles L. McNary (Rep.) McNary was appointed at first to Harry Lane's seat after Lane's death, and replaced by the elected Frederick W. Mulkey. McNary was later appointed to take the seat again after Mulkey's resignation.

Frederick W. Mulkey (Rep.) Mulkey served for a brief period in 1918, after being elected to Harry Lane's seat; Mulkey resigned the next month. ť Pennsylvania

Philander C. Knox (Rep.)

Boies Penrose (Rep.) ť Rhode Island

LeBaron B. Colt (Rep.)

Peter G. Gerry (Dem.) ť South Carolina

Christie Benet (Dem.) Benet was appointed to Benjamin R. Tillman's seat after Tillman's death, but lost the election for the seat to William P. Pollock.

William P. Pollock (Dem.) Pollock was elected to fill the vacant seat caused by the death of Benjamin R. Tillman.

Ellison D. Smith (Dem.)

Benjamin R. Tillman (Dem.) Tillman died 3 July 1918; Christie Benet was appointed, and William P. Pollock was elected, to fill his vacant seat. ť South Dakota

Edwin S. Johnson (Dem.)

Thomas Sterling (Rep.) ť Tennessee

Kenneth D. McKellar (Dem.)

John K. Shields (Dem.) ť Texas

Charles A. Culberson (Dem.)

Morris Sheppard (Dem.) ť Utah

William H. King (Dem.)

Reed Smoot (Rep.) ť Vermont

William P. Dillingham (Rep.)

Carroll S. Page (Rep.) ť Virginia

Thomas S. Martin (Dem.)

Claude A. Swanson (Dem.) ť Washington

Wesley L. Jones (Rep.)

Miles Poindexter (Rep.) ť West Virginia

Nathan Goff (Rep.)

Howard Sutherland (Rep.) ť Wisconsin

Paul O. Husting (Dem.) Husting died 21 October 1917 while duck hunting; his vacanct seat was filled by Irvine L. Lenroot.

Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (Rep.)

Irvine L. Lenroot (Rep.) Lenroot was appointed and elected to fill Paul O. Husting's seat after Husting's death. ť Wyoming

John B. Kendrick (Dem.)

Francis E. Warren (Rep.)

House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives elected statewide on the general ticket or otherwise at-large, are preceded by an "A/L," and the names of those elected from districts, whether plural or single member, are preceded by their district numbers.
Many of the congressional district numbers are linked to articles describing the district itself. Since the boundaries of the districts have changed often and substantially, the linked article may only describe the district as it exists today, and not as it was at the time of this Congress.

ť Alabama

. Oscar Lee Gray (Dem.)

. S. Hubert Dent, Jr. (Dem.)

. Henry B. Steagall (Dem.)

. Fred L. Blackmon (Dem.)

. J. Thomas Heflin (Dem.)

. William B. Oliver (Dem.)

. John L. Burnett (Dem.)

. Edward B. Almon (Dem.)

. George Huddleston (Dem.)

. William B. Bankhead (Dem.) ť Arizona

: Carl Hayden (Dem.) ť Arkansas