Pages & the Communications Revolution
Fast Facts
Technologies have revolutionized the way information is disseminated from the halls of the House of Representatives to constituents in their districts. Read more about electronic technology in the House.
More >By the late twentieth century, the electronic communications revolution changed how the House conducted its legislative business. Eventually, these changes overtook and supplanted the vast majority of the duties long performed by Pages.99
In the wake of the Watergate Crisis, public demands for congressional accountability and openness led to major reforms in House procedures and practices. Among these was the introduction of live television coverage of House debate in March 1979. Television gradually changed the culture of the institution. One of its lasting effects was to change the floor proceedings: as debate became much more structured and routinized, the floor no longer served as the round-the-clock nexus for Members and staff.100
More directly affecting Pages’ primary role as messengers was the shift away from delivering written and phone messages. This transformation occurred throughout American society and in the House it began with the introduction of pagers and fax machines in the 1970s. It accelerated with the use of personal computers in the 1980s and cell phones and the Internet in the 1990s. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the ability to send entire documents or even books electronically or to retrieve such items directly off the Internet drastically reduced the need for messengers.
About this object This 1989 card provided a guide for Pages to decode the Page Call System signals. While staffing the House Chamber, Pages waited to be summoned by Members for errands, which were indicated by lights on a switchboard near the Page bench.
Footnotes
99For an overview of the impact of electronic technology on the House and how the institution has adapted to it, see “Electronic Technology in the House of Representatives,” http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/Electronic-Technology/House-Technology/.
100For one study of the origins and impact of television in the House, see Ronald Garay, Congressional Television: A Legislative History (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984).
101See, for example, “Electronic Technology in the House: Internet,” http://history.house.gov/ Exhibitions-and-Publications/Electronic-Technology/House-Technology/.
102See, for example, Emma Dumain, “A Year After the House Program Was Ended, Capitol Hill Denizens Notice the Difference,” 10 September 2012, Roll Call: n.p.