Inhaltsverzeichnis:
Sam Rayburn, in vollem Umfang Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (* 6. Januar 1882 in Roane County, Tennessee, USA; * 16. November 1961 in Bonham, Texas), US-amerikanischer politischer Führer, der als Sprecher des US-Repräsentantenhauses fungierte Vertreter seit fast 17 Jahren. Er wurde 1912 zum ersten Mal in das Haus gewählt und diente dort 48 Jahre und 8 Monate lang ununterbrochen, was zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes eine Rekordzeit war. Er wurde 25 Mal hintereinander in den Kongress gewählt. Das Rayburn House Office Building, ein Kongressbürogebäude auf dem Capitol Hill, wurde in seiner Erinnerung benannt.
Quiz
Ein Studium der Geschichte: Fakt oder Fiktion?
Der Hope Diamond von heute ist kleiner als der der vergangenen Jahrhunderte.
Leben
Rayburns Familie, überwiegend schottischer Herkunft, zog 1887 von Tennessee nach Texas, und dort wuchs Rayburn auf einer 40 Hektar großen Farm auf. Er arbeitete sich durch das East Texas Normal College (jetzt Texas A & M University - Handel), unterrichtete Schule und wurde Anwalt. Er war sechs Jahre (1907–13) im Repräsentantenhaus von Texas tätig und wurde 1911 zum Sprecher gewählt. Im folgenden Jahr wurde er in den US-Kongress gewählt, wo er fast ein halbes Jahrhundert blieb.
Rayburn war energisch, fleißig, ehrgeizig und umgänglich und wurde hinter den Kulissen der Regierung und der Parteipolitik schnell einflussreich. Als Vorsitzender (1931–37) des mächtigen House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce war er ein bedeutender Architekt des New Deal. Als Mitglied des Repräsentantenhauses war er Mitverfasser von sechs wichtigen Gesetzen - dem Gesetz über den Eisenbahnnotverkehr, dem Gesetz über die Wahrheit in Wertpapieren, dem Börsengesetz, dem Bundeskommunikationsgesetz, dem Gesetz zur Elektrifizierung des ländlichen Raums und einem eines der am härtesten umstrittenen aller New Deal-Gesetze, das Public Utility Holding Company Act.
Rayburn was elected Democratic leader of the House of Representatives in 1937 and became speaker of the House on Sept. 16, 1940. He held the latter office for almost 17 years, exceeding by a wide margin the previous record set by Kentucky statesman Henry Clay in the first quarter of the 19th century. Noted for his tart common sense, his honesty, and his unflagging patriotism, Rayburn was a trusted adviser to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy. A dedicated party man who described himself as a Democrat “without prefix, without suffix, and without apology,” Rayburn was often called “Mr. Democrat.” He was permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention in 1948, 1952, and 1956. After he won the battle in 1961 to enlarge the House Committee on Rules—the hardest internal House struggle in 50 years—Rayburn’s health failed quickly. Before Congress adjourned that year, he went home to Bonham, Texas, where he died.
Legacy
At the time of his death, Rayburn was regarded as an extraordinarily able legislator who had gone on to become the most effective speaker of the House since Joe Cannon was divested of his power in 1910. That assessment of Rayburn did not change in the decades following his death. His pivotal role in the House as a broker between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party, however, was later better understood and appreciated. During Rayburn’s tenure, power in the House was lodged in the hands of committee chairs who gained their positions through seniority. Because the American South still was overwhelmingly Democratic and the Republican Party was not competitive there, Southern Democrats in the House—with their seniority and their control over chairs of committees—tended to have great power. Northern Democrats tended to be more liberal than their Southern counterparts, but their lack of seniority and committee chairs diminished their influence in the House. Rayburn brokered the interests of both wings of the Democratic Party.
Although the office of speaker at that time lacked great formal powers, Rayburn used the limited influence of the office to maximum advantage. He also relied heavily on his personal prestige, his skill at persuasion, and personal friendships built up over decades in the House to bridge the regional differences within the Democratic Party and to forge a working majority in the House. His leadership style usually resulted in congenial relations not only between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party but also between Rayburn and the Republican leadership of the House—a considerable accomplishment, especially when viewed in the light of the divisive House of Representatives in the early 21st century.
