One hundred nineteen years ago, Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed, R-Maine, announced that he was, after 22 years of service, resigning from Congress. Reed had been one of the most effective speakers ever. Barbara Tuchman’s account in The Proud Tower of how he neutered the minority party has entranced readers for decades now. When Democrats tried to prevent the presence of a quorum by refusing to answer roll calls, he defeated their efforts by simply noting their presence from the chair.
In the process, Reed made policy, passing the first billion-dollar budget with generous Civil War pensions, the Sherman Antitrust Act, and a big budget boost for the Navy. The civil rights bill he got the House to pass — the last such measure for 67 years — was blocked in the Senate.
