Types of Members of Congress Actions

[vcczar]

The below is from America's Congress by David R. Mayhew, a Yale professor emeritus who I corresponded with while making AMPU. He sent me all sorts of data that was helpful about Congress people. 

Anyway, I wanted to type out his categories for types of actions for member's of Congress. An action is basically something notable that a Congress person does to assert themselves in history, intentionally or not. 

An AMPU 2 would probably encompass these more. 

• Parliamentary Moves [Most Common Action type]
  • Legislate a major bill, act, treaty, amendment, etc. This also includes trying to block one of these. 
  • Name being attached to a major bill or act or amendment. For example, Glass-Steagle. 
  • Takes a major role in considering a major presidential appointment
  • Plays major role in impeachment/censure/expel attempt, either for or against it or part of it
  • Plays major role in iinvestigation attempt, either for or against it or part of it
  • Plays a major role in altering the House or Senate rules
  • Plays a major role in procedure between executive and legislative branches
• Stances [Second most common]
  • Takes a notable, well-publicized stand, on a major issue and that stance impact the legislation.
  • Makes a major speech that greatly influence legislation or the opposition to that legislation. 
  • Filibuster, either via threat or by doing it
  • Singular Stand on a major vote. Is one of the few to not support a major bill when both major parties are overwhelmingly supporting it. 
  • Tipping vote. Casts the deciding vote. For example, when John McCain saved Obamacare. 
  • Disclose significant information, such as leaking information on a treaty in order to alter the outcome of a vote. 
  • Writing an influential book or article that is politicall relevant
• Congressional Roles
  • Well-recognized leader of a bloc in congress, formally or informally during a major bill or other action
  • Run for major party leadership in Congress or the Senate. Speaker, Sen Maj Ldr. 
  • Significant commitee chairman during a major bill or other action
  • Significant committee member during a major bill or other action
  • Significant member of a special committee formed because of a significant event
• Target or Subject
  • Significant, influential figure in opposing a presidential administration, especially if effective at doing so
  • Major influencer of the president's foreign policy. This action apparently includes also being appointed Sec of Def or other foreign policy office. 
• Executive connections
  • Well-recognized as a major advisor for the president or other high-ranking executive official, especially major moments of a presidency. 
  • Speaks for the presidential administration
  • Appointed to an office (cabinet or otherwise) by the president. This includes having a nomination blocked or withdrawn. 
  • Named to the Big Four cabinet - Sec of State, Sec of Defense/War, Sec of Treasury, Att Gen. [I'm not sure why Mayhew has appointments overlapping in three areas, but he probably has a good reason.]
• Extraconstitutional Roles
  • Takes on a major/significant non-congressional role, such as being a diplomat during a significant event. 
  • Appointed by the president to serve on a major joint committee, exec commission, or something to that effect. 
• Parties and elections
  • Runs for Pres or VP or seriously considers running. The latter is only a major action if their running for the presidency would have significantly altered the race. Say all those years Ted Kennedy was polling #1 or #2 and then opting not to run. 
  • Significant particiation in a party convention
  • Controls a powerful state or local party organization. For example, Aaron Burr controlling (and creating) Tammany Hall. 
  • Other significan party leadership, such as serving as Democratic or GOP national chairman. 
  • Significantly mobilizing the public for a notable cause outside of election. For example, Huey P Long with the Share the Wealth program. 
  • Significantly aids his or her party in congressional elections, such as when Jesse Helms using a lot of new techniques to raise money in 1980. 
• Rare kind of member
  • Rare party or ideology. For example, Socialist Victor Berger. 
  • Rare race/ethnic/gender. For example, the many firsts in Congress --- Hiram Revels, Jeannette Rankin, Shirley Chisholm, etc. 
• Questioned behavior
  • Being accused of illegal, unethical or otherwise dubious behavior. Ted Kennedy in 1969, Dennis Hastert, etc. 
  • Censured, expelled, not seated in the Senate or House or one of these is seriously proposed. Joseph McCarthy
• Various
  • Resigns from Congress or a leadership position
  • Name becomes attached to something other than on a piece of legislature. For instance, McCarthyism or Nye Committee
  • Engages in a significant distributive politics. Mayhew uses Russel Long w/ tax breaks on the Senate Finance Committee as an example, but this is probably the action I'm the most fuzzy about. 
  • Unusual, not easily classified action. For example, Preston Brooks caning Charles Sumner. 

Enjoy. 

 

[pilight]

If someone became a congressman/senator after being president would it count under "Parties and elections" or "Rare kind of member"?  I wouldn't necessarily consider Andrew Johnson's brief post-White House senate stint as noteworthy other than him being the only ex-president to have one.  OTOH JQ Adams' house tenure was probably more significant than his presidency.

Edited September 1, 2023 by pilight
grammar

[vcczar]

12 minutes ago, pilight said:

If someone became a congressman/senator after being president count under "Parties and elections" or "Rare kind of member"?  I wouldn't necessarily consider Andrew Johnson's brief post-White House senate stint as noteworthy other than him being the only ex-president to have one.  OTOH JQ Adams' house tenure was probably more significant than his presidency.

I'm not sure, but I'd say it is an "action" and Mayhew probably has it in the spreadsheet he sent me 3 or so years ago. 

I should note that the actions only go through 1987, I think. 1996 At the latest. Mayhew said they don't make the kinds of books they used to make, which makes his method difficult. I was thinking of continuing it, but my method would be different, which means I'd have to go over what he did to make the method uniform. However, it would take years to do this and I'm only 90% interested

[vcczar]

And just to add, I think maybe why Mayhew thinks texts covering 1996-present aren't as good as the older books may, in part, be because this older history is well sorted-out and researched. We are still trying to gather the facts, analyze what was important or not, etc. with recent history.