Word: 90th
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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That, by and large, seemed to be the mood of the 90th Congress as it began its second session last week. The superficial conviviality of reunion coloring the first couple of days faded even faster than the suntans and windburns some members had brought back from Southern resorts and Northern ski slopes. The residual climate was grey, portending six or seven months of bilious dissension both among Democrats and between the parties, leading up to a rugged election season. Predicted Mike Mansfield, the spare-spoken Senate majority leader: "It will be a difficult session...
However, as with much of the 90th Congress' output, Johnson found the nectar laced with pickle juice. Congress attached provisions aimed at curbing the ever-growing welfare rolls, and though the Administration considers them severe, Johnson could not veto the restrictions without rejecting the entire...
...Congress, Johnson was hobbled by the "stop, look and listen" approach advocated by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. Engorged with costly programs enacted by the 89th Congress, the 90th cast a jaundiced eye on Johnson's new requests. According to Congressional Quarterly, from the time Johnson took office until the end of 1966, he got 655 of his 1,057 proposals enacted into law a sensational 62% average. (By C.Q.'s reckoning, Dwight Eisenhower batted 46%, John F. Kennedy only 39%.) But in 1967, Johnson was defeated on his tax-surcharge, civil rights, anticrime, East-West trade and legislative-reorganization...
Their trouble set in when they attempted to make a politically effective response. In a sleepy, somewhat supercilious dialogue, Ev and Jerry spent most of their time defending the Democratic-controlled 90th Congress, berating the Administration for inflationary policies, and bragging that because of added Republican strength, the 90th is able to stand up to the President where the 89th had not. Dirksen rightly observed that while many Democrats backbit the President on Viet Nam, "the wooden soldiers have not only been sustaining the Commander in Chief, but have been sustaining the live soldiers in Viet...
Along with its legislative record, each Congress writes its own short hand label: innovative or standpat, Micawberish or Scroogian, spineless or rebellious. The 90th's first session fell somewhere in between on each count. It reflected rather too faithfully the national condition of confusion and contention over Viet Nam and the urban crisis. Unable to change the course of either, its mood was often one of angry frustration. The fight over the proposed tax increase and efforts to curb federal spending flavored the entire session, giving it a bitter taste-but no tax bill and only marginal savings...