Word: caucus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Adenauer got tougher at a meeting of the party executive. He sent Bundestag President Eugen Gerstenmaier raging from the room with a sneering, "I know you don't like me. You never liked me." Then he demanded a loyalty pledge from the full Christian Democratic parliamentary caucus. Shaken by his thunder and his vast reputation, and frightened of a disastrous party split, the dissenters meekly voted ja, approving a statement that "by unanimous decision the party agreed to form a united front in defense of the Chancellor...
...Republican leaders fought just as hard. Hoping desperately for a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats that could push the Herlong substitute through, Minority Leader Charles Halleck lashed the whip as never before. "This is the big test," Halleck told a Republican caucus on the day of vote on the Herlong substitute. "This [Rains bill] is a budget-busting bill if ever there was one-by hundreds of millions of dollars...
...like old times. John Llewellyn Lewis, hair still flying in the draft of that old invisible vacuum cleaner, stomped majestically into the solidly packed House Caucus Room, took his place at the microphone, glowered briefly at his audience, and unleashed a torrent of colorful abuse against all the labor-reform bills now before Congress. The years had left their mark on the old ham: the massive shoulders were stooped, the magnificent mop of hair had turned white, and the hedgerow eyebrows were frosted with grey. But John L. Lewis, now in his 80th year, was the same ferocious old firebreather...
Defeated, Adenauer vainly tried to call off the party meeting scheduled for that afternoon. The party caucus met behind closed doors. Adenauer first wanted President Theodor Heuss's term extended, but was told the idea was unfeasible. For 4½ hours the bickering went on, made more short-tempered by Adenauer's request that no one smoke in his presence. Through the doors could be heard the angry outcries of Erhard's rival, Interior Minister Gerhard Schroder, who had wanted him out of the way. In the end a 40-man committee was chosen to find...
Proxmire expects to follow up his attack with Senate floor speeches aimed toward liberal Democrats, pointing out, among other things, that Democrats meet in caucus only once a session, and then only to hear Johnson enunciate Democratic policy. What the one-man revolution hoped to gain, nobody knew. But even Lyndon Johnson would have to admit that Bill Proxmire had turned out to be quite a surprise package...