James W. Riddlesperger - Böcker

This volume, from the Policy Studies Organization, examines the role of presidential leadership in the development and implementation of civil rights policy in the United States. Covering a broad time period, the work takes a social scientific approach to the understanding of civil rights, utilizing both quantitative and archival research. The editors attempt to place and analyze civil rights in context—as a policy arena representative of broader presidential leadership concerns—and look at the development of civil rights policy since Brown v. Board of Education from the perspectives of (1) the public, (2) government institutions, and (3) particular policy arenas.

January 6, 1955. It was on the occasion of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s third annual State of the Union message. The president unexpectedly began his speech by mentioning that it was January 6 and the 72nd birthday of the venerable Speaker of the House, and publicly wishing for Mr. Rayburn many happy returns of the day.Instantly, the crowd that filled the House chamber was on its feet, noisily cheering, whistling, and stamping its feet and clapping its hands in a reverberating approval of the Speaker. Visitors in the galleries could not distinguish Republican from Democrat. - Speaker Jim WrightPrepared on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his election as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, this collection includes valedictory thoughts about Mr. Rayburn by two of the most significant leaders of Fort Worth history—Speaker Jim Wright and Dee J. Kelly—as well as essays by academics about Mr. Rayburn’s lasting impact on his district, on major legislation, and on Texas. Taken together, this readable collection offers an assessment of Rayburn that gives readers an understanding of the man who may be the greatest legislator in US history.

Reflections on Wright is a collection of essays on Jim Wright from his early years through his retirement from the House of Representatives. Wright was one of the most influential members of Congress in the latter part of the twentieth century and had a major role in policies such as the interstate highway system and American policy in Central America. Foreclosed from moving to the Senate, Wright eventually sought to become Majority Leader and won in a hotly contested race against California’s Phil Burton. Both as Majority Leader and as Speaker, Wright proved himself an exceptionally strong leader. Indeed, Wright pushed his agenda so strongly that it led to grumbling among members of his caucus. With attacks on his ethics by Georgia Republican Newt Gingrich, attacks that heralded a new level of viciousness between the two parties in the House, Wright resigned and returned to Fort Worth. For most of the remainder of his life, he taught at Texas Christian University.