75th Congress (1937 - 1939)

House of Representatives

House Majority: Democrat

House Majority Seats: 334 out of 435

House Speaker: Rep. Joseph W. Byrns (D-TN) / Rep. William D. Bankhead (D-AL)

Senate

Senate Majority: Democrat

Senate Majority Seats: 78 out of 96

Senate Majority Leader: Sen. Joseph T. Robinson (D-AR) / Sen. Alben Barkley (D-KY)

Executive

President: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D-NY)

Vice President: John Nance Garner (D-TX)

portrait

Member Spotlight

Featured: Rep. Dewey Jackson Short (R-MO) was a staunch defender of congressional authority and a vigorous conservative voice in the House of Representatives. Born in 1898, he served Missouri in Congress from 1929 to 1931 and then again from 1935 to 1957, becoming known for his fierce advocacy of legislative independence and constitutional principles. Short famously warned against the overreach of executive power, declaring: “God pity America in the future if we continue to refuse to shoulder the responsibility that is ours, and cowardly, both directly and indirectly, by surreption and every other means, turn over our constitutional prerogatives and surrender not only our rights but also our duties to some individual at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.” His commitment to checks and balances and his unyielding rhetoric made him a memorable and influential figure in mid-twentieth-century American politics.

Enactments