73rd United States Congress

The Seventy-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935, during the first two years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. Because of the newly ratified 20th Amendment, the duration of this Congress, along with the term of office of those elected to it, was shortened by the interval between January 3 and March 4, 1935 (61 days). The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Fifteenth Census of the United States in 1930. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.

73rd United States Congress
72nd ←
→ 74th
March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935
Senate PresidentJohn N. Garner (D)
Senate President pro temKey Pittman (D)
House SpeakerHenry T. Rainey (D), until Aug. 19, 1934
Members96 senators
435 members of the House
5 non-voting delegates
Senate MajorityDemocratic
House MajorityDemocratic
Sessions
Special: March 4, 1933 – March 6, 1933
1st: March 9, 1933 – June 15, 1933
2nd: January 3, 1934 – June 18, 1934

Major events
Main articles: 1933 in the United States, 1934 in the United States, and 1935 in the United States

Major legislation
Main article: List of United States federal legislation § 73rd United States Congress

First Session

The first session of Congress, known as the "Hundred Days", took place before the regular seating and was called by President Roosevelt specifically to pass two acts:

  • March 9, 1933: The Emergency Banking Act (ch. 1, 48 Stat. 1) was enacted within four hours of its introduction. It was prompted by the "bank holiday" and was the first step in Roosevelt's "first hundred days" of the New Deal. The Act was drafted in large part by officials appointed by the Hoover administration. The bill provided for the Treasury Department to initiate reserve requirements and a federal bailout to large failing institutions. It also removed the United States from the Gold Standard. All banks had to undergo a federal inspection to deem if they were stable enough to re-open. Within a week 1/3 of the banks re-opened in the United States and faith was, in large part, restored in the banking system. The act had few opponents, only taking fire from the farthest left elements of Congress who wanted to nationalize banks altogether.
  • March 10, 1933: The Economy Act of 1933. Roosevelt, in sending this act to Congress, warned that if it did not pass, the country faced a billion dollar deficit. The act balanced the federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by as much as 15 percent. It intended to reassure the deficit hawks that the new president was fiscally conservative. Although the act was heavily protested by left-leaning members of congress, it passed by an overwhelming margin.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act

The session also passed several other major pieces of legislation:

  • March 31, 1933: The Civilian Conservation Corps Reforestation Relief Act (ch. 17, 48 Stat. 22) established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a means to combat unemployment and poverty.
  • May 12, 1933: The Agricultural Adjustment Act (ch. 25, 48 Stat. 31) was part of a plan developed by Roosevelt's Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace, and was designed to protect American farmers from the uncertainties of the depression through subsidies and production controls. The act laid the frame for long-term government control in the planning of the agricultural sector. In 1936 the act was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court because it taxed one group to pay for another.
  • May 12, 1933: The Federal Emergency Relief Act (ch. 30, 48 Stat. 55) established the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which develop public works projects to give work to the unemployed.
  • May 18, 1933: The Tennessee Valley Authority Act (ch. 32, 48 Stat. 58) created the Tennessee Valley Authority to relieve the Tennessee Valley by a series of public works projects.
  • June 5, 1933: The Securities Act of 1933 (ch. 38, 48 Stat. 74) established the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) as a way for the government to prevent a repeat of the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
  • June 12, 1933: The Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 (ch. 89, 48 Stat. 162) was a follow up to the Glass–Steagall Act of 1932. Both acts sought to make banking safer and less prone to speculation. The 1933 act, however, established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
  • June 16, 1933: The National Industrial Recovery Act ("NIRA", ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195) was an anti-deflation scheme promoted by the Chamber of Commerce that reversed anti-trust laws and permit trade associations to cooperate in stabilizing prices within their industries while making businesses ensure that the incomes of workers would rise along with their prices. It guaranteed to workers of the right of collective bargaining and helped spur major union organizing drives in major industries. In case consumer buying power lagged behind, thereby defeating the administration's initiatives, the NIRA created the Public Works Administration (PWA), a major program of public works spending designed to alleviate unemployment, and moreover to transfer funds to certain beneficiaries. The NIRA established the most important, but ultimately least successful provision: a new federal agency known as the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which attempted to stabilize prices and wages through cooperative "code authorities" involving government, business, and labor. The NIRA was seen hailed as a miracle, responding to the needs of labor, business, unemployment, and the deflation crisis. The "sick chicken case" led to the Supreme Court invalidating NIRA in 1935.

Second Session

Constitutional amendments

Hearings

"Merchants of Death"
  • Committee: United States Senate Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry
  • Chairman: Senator Gerald P. Nye (R)
  • Duration: September 4, 1934 – February 24, 1936

The Senate Munitions Committee came into existence solely for the purpose of this hearing. Although World War I had been over for sixteen years, there were revived reports that America's leading munition companies had effectively influenced the United States into that conflict, which killed 53,000 Americans, hence the companies' nickname "Merchants of Death."

The Democratic Party, controlling the Senate for the first time since the first world war, used the hype of these reports to organize the hearing in hopes of nationalizing America's munitions industry. The Democrats chose a Republican renowned for his ardent isolationist policies, Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, to head the hearing. Nye was typical of western agrarian progressives, and adamantly opposed America's involvement in any foreign war. Nye declared at the opening of the hearing "when the Senate investigation is over, we shall see that war and preparation for war is not a matter of national honor and national defense, but a matter of profit for the few."

Over the next eighteen months, the "Nye Committee" (as newspapers called it) held ninety-three hearings, questioning more than two hundred witnesses, including J.P. Morgan, Jr. and Pierre du Pont. Committee members found little hard evidence of an active conspiracy among arms makers, yet the panel's reports did little to weaken the popular prejudice against "greedy munitions interests."

The hearings overlapped the 73rd and 74th Congresses. They only came to an end after Chairman Nye provoked the Democratic caucus into cutting off funding. Nye, in the last hearing the Committee held in early 1936, attacked former Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, suggesting that Wilson had withheld essential information from Congress as it considered a declaration of war. Democratic leaders, including Appropriations Committee Chairman Carter Glass of Virginia, unleashed a furious response against Nye for "dirtdaubing the sepulcher of Woodrow Wilson." Standing before cheering colleagues in a packed Senate chamber, Glass slammed his fist onto his desk in protest until blood dripped from his knuckles, effectively prompting the Democratic caucus to withhold all funding for further hearings.

Although the "Nye Committee" failed to achieve its goal of nationalizing the arms industry, it inspired three congressional neutrality acts in the mid-1930s that signaled profound American opposition to overseas involvement.

Party summary

For details, see Changes in membership, below.

Senate

There were 48 states with two Senators per state, this gave the Senate 96 seats. Membership changed with four deaths, one resignation, and two appointees who were replaced by electees.

Party
(shading indicates majority caucus)
 Total
Democratic Farmer–Labor Progressive Republican Vacant
End of previous Congress 46 1 0 48 95 1
Begin (March 4, 1933) 58 1 0 36 96 1
March 11, 1933 59 35 95 1
May 24, 1933 60 96 0
June 24, 1933 59 95 1
October 6, 1933 34 94 2
October 10, 1933 60 95 1
October 19, 1933 35 96 0
November 3, 1933 59 95 1
December 18, 1933 60 96 0
Final voting share 62.5% 1.0% 0.0% 36.5%
Beginning of next Congress 70 1 1 23 95 1

House of Representatives

Membership changed with twelve deaths and three resignations.

Party
(shading indicates majority caucus)
 Total
Democratic Farmer–Labor Progressive Republican Vacant
End of previous Congress 220 1 0 206 428 8
Begin (March 4, 1933) 311 5 0 117 433 2
April 22, 1933 312 434 1
April 29, 1933 311 433 2
May 12, 1933 310 432 3
May 17, 1933 309 431 4
June 19, 1933 308 430 5
June 22, 1933 307 429 6
June 24, 1933 308 430 5
July 5, 1933 309 431 4
August 27, 1933 116 430 5
September 23, 1933 308 429 6
October 3, 1933 309 430 5
October 19, 1933 115 429 6
November 5, 1933 114 428 7
November 7, 1933 310 429 6
November 14, 1933 311 430 5
November 28, 1933 312 431 4
December 19, 1933 313 113
December 28, 1933 114 432 3
January 16, 1934 115 433 2
January 30, 1934 116 434 1
April 1, 1934 312 433 2
May 1, 1934 313 434 1
May 29, 1934 115 433 2
June 8, 1934 312 432 3
July 7, 1934 313 433 2
August 19, 1934 312 432 3
August 22, 1934 309 431 4
September 30, 1934 113 427 8
Final voting share 72.4% 1.2% 0.0% 26.4%
Beginning of next Congress 322 3 7 102 435 1

Leadership

Section contents: Senate: Majority (D), Minority (R) • House: Majority (D), Minority (R)

Senate

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives
  • Speaker: Henry T. Rainey (D), until August 19, 1934 (Vacant thereafter)

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Members

Senate

Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election, In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1934; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1936; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1938.

House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

Changes in membership

Senate
State Senator Reason for Vacancy Successor Date of Successor's Installation
Montana Vacant Thomas J. Walsh (D) died in office.
Successor appointed March 13, 1933, to continue the term.
Successor later lost nomination to finish the term, see below.		 John Erickson (D) March 13, 1933
Nebraska Robert Howell (R) Died March 11, 1933.
Successor appointed May 24, 1933, to continue the term.
Successor later retired, see below.		 William H. Thompson (D) May 24, 1933
New Mexico Sam Bratton (D) Resigned June 24, 1933, when appointed Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Successor appointed October 10, 1933, and then elected November 6, 1934.		 Carl Hatch (D) November 6, 1933
Vermont Porter Dale (R) Died October 6, 1933.
Successor appointed November 21, 1933, and then elected January 17, 1934.		 Ernest Gibson (R) October 19, 1933
Wyoming John Kendrick (D) Died November 3, 1933.
Successor appointed December 18, 1933, to finish the term.		 Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D) January 1, 1934
Nebraska William Thompson (D) Interim appointee did not run in the special election to finish the term.
Successor elected November 6, 1934.		 Richard Hunter (D) November 7, 1934
Montana John Erickson (D) Interim appointee lost nomination to finish the term.
Successor elected November 6, 1934.		 James E. Murray (D) November 7, 1934

House of Representatives
District Vacator Reason for Vacancy Successor Date of successor's installation
Texas 15th Vacant John Garner had resigned at the end of the previous Congress Milton H. West April 22, 1933
Arizona At-large Vacant Lewis W. Douglas (D) had resigned at the end of the previous Congress Isabella Greenway (D) October 3, 1933
Texas 7th Clay Stone Briggs (D) Died April 29, 1933 Clark W. Thompson (D) June 24, 1933
Arkansas 5th Heartsill Ragon (D) Resigned May 12, 1933, upon appointment as a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas David D. Terry (D) December 19, 1933
Georgia 10th Charles H. Brand (D) Died May 17, 1933 Paul Brown (D) July 5, 1933
Louisiana 6th Bolivar E. Kemp (D) Died June 19, 1933 Jared Y. Sanders, Jr. (D) May 1, 1934
Alabama 8th Edward B. Almon (D) Died June 22, 1933 Archibald Hill Carmichael (D) November 14, 1933
Pennsylvania 9th Henry Winfield Watson (R) Died August 27, 1933 Oliver Walter Frey (D) November 7, 1933
West Virginia 3rd Lynn Hornor (D) Died September 23, 1933 Andrew Edmiston, Jr. (D) November 28, 1933
Illinois 21st J. Earl Major (D) appointed as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois October 6, 1933 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
Vermont At-large Ernest W. Gibson (R) Appointed U.S. Senator October 19, 1933 Charles A. Plumley (R) January 16, 1934
New York 34th John D. Clarke (R) Died November 5, 1933 Marian W. Clarke (R) December 28, 1933
New York 29th James S. Parker (R) Died December 19, 1933 William D. Thomas (R) January 30, 1934
Michigan 3rd Joseph L. Hooper (R) Died February 22, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
North Carolina 4th Edward W. Pou (D) Died April 1, 1934 Harold D. Cooley (D) July 7, 1934
Pennsylvania 13th George F. Brumm (R) Died May 29, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
Idaho 2nd Thomas C. Coffin (D) Died June 8, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
New York 23rd Frank Oliver (D) Resigned June 18, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
Illinois 20th Henry T. Rainey (D) Died August 19, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress
Kansas 5th William A. Ayres (D) Resigned August 22, 1934, after being appointed a member of the Federal Trade Commission Seat remained vacant until next Congress
Pennsylvania 2nd James M. Beck (R) Resigned September 30, 1934 Seat remained vacant until next Congress


Committees

Senate

House of Representatives

Joint committees

Caucuses

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate
  • Secretary: Edwin A. Halsey
  • Librarian: James D. Preston
  • Chaplain: ZeBarney Thorne Phillips (Episcopalian)
  • Sergeant at Arms: Chesley W. Jurney
  • Democratic Party Secretary: Leslie Biffle
  • Republican Party Secretary: Carl A. Loeffler

House of Representatives

See also
  • United States elections, 1932 (elections leading to this Congress)
  • United States elections, 1934 (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
    • United States Senate elections, 1934
    • United States House of Representatives elections, 1934

References
    1. Huckabee, David C. (September 30, 1997). "Ratification of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution" (PDF). Congressional Research Service reports. Washington D.C.: Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress.
    2. The Vice President of the United States serves as the President of the Senate. See U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 4
    3. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader also serves as the Chairman of the Democratic Conference.
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