December 18, 2013
The History and Lessons of Congressional Crises
Debaters
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Rules Remembered and Forgotten
Despite the different circumstances, senators today might well keep Thomas Reed’s filibuster rulings in 1890 at hand as they contemplate their way forward.
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Lessons From the First Shutdown
In 1879, a cabal of ex-Confederates was willing to starve the government to get their way, but their extremism cost them the next presidential election.
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Wilson, the Senate and Cloture
President Woodrow Wilson's fight for legislative efficiency led to the Senate adoption of cloture, which came at the price of curtailing freer debate.
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Street Protests Can Foil Congress
A lesson to be learned from the use of filibusters to block civil rights reform in the 1950s is that social movements can sometimes fix dysfunction in Congress.
Introduction
J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press With fights over cloture, changes to the filibuster rules and government shutdowns, it’s been an interesting year in the House and the Senate. What does the past suggest about how Congress responds to breaks in its norms? And what can the current Congress learn from its history?
Gregory P. Downs, an associate professor of history at the City University of New York, suggested this discussion.
Read the Discussion »
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