Congress Innovates, 1900–Present
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Congress played a significant role in spurring innovation by funding new technologies and legislating on consumer safety issues. Included among the many innovations Congress spearheaded was the authorization of new highways and the creation of America’s space program. As new infrastructure and communication technologies proliferated, Congress used its oversight responsibilities to influence how things worked by holding hearings and enacting regulations. Congressional action led to innovative new practices in factories, to the establishment of safer working conditions, and even the establishment of a shorter standard work week.
Innovations in Communication and Infrastructure
Improvements in roads and technology have facilitated communication between Members and their constituents while improving the everyday lives of Americans.
About this object The Pacific telegraph helped established a new connection between the continental United States and the island of Hawaii when it was still a territory.
Highlight: The House and the Pacific Telegraph
In 1903, Members of the House of Representatives wired congratulatory messages to the Territory of Hawaii using the newly completed Pacific telegraph cable that stretched thousands of miles from San Francisco, California, to Honolulu. Before the completion of the cable, news from the mainland to Hawaii traveled by steamship.
Highlight: Funding the Expansion of Rural Post Roads
As more people took to the roads, Congress looked for ways to improve access to rural places. On January 6, 1916, Dorsey W. Shackleford of Missouri introduced the Rural Post Roads Act of 1916. Edward Everts Browne of Wisconsin defended the bill: “Our road system is wholly inadequate to meet the demands of this twentieth-century civilization.”
Document: Federal Highway Act of 1956
In 1956, the combination of a bigger and more mobile nation and President Dwight Eisenhower’s recognition during World War II of the importance of a highway network to America’s defense, prompted Congress to provide the funding to construct an interstate highway system.
Innovations in Safety and Labor Protections
Regulations impact everyone in the United States, even those who are unaware of the legislation behind them.
Highlight: The Pure Foods and Drug Act
Muckraking journalists had long reported on the appallingly unsanitary conditions of the country’s manufacturing plants. But it wasn’t until the public outcry following the publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in 1906 that Congress moved on legislation to prevent “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs or medicines, and liquors.”
Highlight: President Woodrow Wilson Addresses a Joint Session
To try to prevent a crippling nationwide strike by union railroad workers, President Wilson asked Congress to pass a six-point act which to establish an eight-hour day as the legal basis for railroad work, as well as provide overtime benefits. A modified version of President Wilson’s request passed the House on September 2, 1916, by a vote of 239 to 56. Known as the Adamson Act, the bill quickly passed the Senate and was signed into law on September 3.
Exhibit: What Committees Do For You
Workplace protections, including the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage, often took decades to become law. Reform-minded activists had agitated for labor regulation in the United States since the mid-nineteenth century. Often, House committees spearheaded work on these issues on Capitol Hill. The bleak economic conditions of the Great Depression spurred congressional action in the 1930s. Introduced in 1932, the Fair Labor Standards Act intended to support workers and help alleviate the effects of the Great Depression.
Document: Conference Managers for Fair Labor Standards Act
This document lists the House and Senate conference managers for S. 2475, the Fair Labor Standards Act. Representative Mary Norton, who was instrumental in the bill’s passage, was at the top of the list of House conference managers. The Fair Labor Standards Act became law on June 25, 1938, and created a minimum wage and a standard work week.
About this object Committees and staff began moving into the large new Rayburn House Office Building in 1964 which included a sprawling underground garage for parking.
Highlight: Representative Leonor Sullivan of Missouri
Elected to the 83rd Congress (1953–1955), Leonor Kretzer Sullivan represented a district that covered much of the area once represented by her late husband, John Sullivan. In the House, Sullivan became an advocate for consumer affairs. She once remarked, “You are faced with an arena of supreme importance to the lives and health and safety and well being of the American people.”
Highlight: The Highway Safety Act of 1966
In his 1966 State of the Union Address, President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed highway safety legislation that became the Highway Safety Act as well the formation of a new executive agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation. Public Works Committee Chairman George Hyde Fallon of Maryland strongly supported the legislation and shepherded it through the House. Congress authorized funds for distribution to the states, with a requirement that each state implement a highway safety program by December 31, 1968.
Oral History Interview: Michael R. Lemov
As the consumer rights movement began to take shape in the early 1970s, Michael R. Lemov worked for the House Energy and Commerce Committee as legal counsel, examining unsafe products and the companies that manufactured them.
Oral History: Nita M. Lowey
In her oral history, Nita M. Lowey discussed how she helped pass legislation to tackle the proper labeling of food.
Innovations into Space
In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union raced to the stars during the Cold War, spurring advances in technology and a new focus on space exploration in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Document: John F. Kennedy’s Message to Congress
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered this address before Congress concerning urgent national needs in the areas of foreign aid, international and civil defense, and outer space. Determined to win the Space Race with the Soviet Union, Kennedy announced his goal of sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade and asked Congress to commit the funds.
About this object In the 1960s, the "space race" captured the attention of both Congress and the American public. In 1966, Representative Gus Hawkins examined a prototype Apollo spacesuit with constituents and a staffer.
Highlight: The First Major NASA Appropriation for the “Moonshot Program”
In 1961, during a Joint Session before Congress, President John F. Kennedy challenged America to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade. President Lyndon B. Johnson continued his predecessor’s fervent support for the civilian space program and stressed the need for adequate federal funding to ensure that the U.S. keep pace with the Soviet Union in the increasingly competitive Space Race during the Cold War.
Highlight: A Congressional Delegation Witnesses the Apollo 11 Spacecraft Launch
On July 16, 1969, approximately 250 Members of Congress traveled to Cape Kennedy, Florida, to watch the historic launch of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on its way to the Moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offered free flights to Members to witness the landmark event. To honor the House’s support of the Apollo 11 project over the years, NASA used electronic technology to etch the names of a number of lawmakers onto a disc the size of a 50-cent coin that the astronauts planned to leave on the Moon.
Highlight: The Apollo 11 Crew Members Appear Before a Joint Meeting of Congress
On September 16, 1969, Speaker John W. McCormack of Massachusetts introduced the Apollo 11 crew members before a Joint Meeting of Congress. The moment marked the culmination of a determined American effort to defeat the Soviet Union in the Space Race that began with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets in 1957.
Oral History: Patricia (Tish) Speed Schwartz
In her oral history, Patricia (Tish) Speed Schwartz talked about the House Science Committee.