This
is the January 10, 1955 issue of Newsweek. Its cover photo is of Sam Rayburn of
Texas, who was the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The caption is
“Sam Rayburn: What He Says Goes in the 84th” [Congress]. The other
cover headline is “White House Politics – Who Advises Eisenhower?”
Like
other issues of Newsweek, the magazine contains numerous articles and features
about national and international news and current events, black & white
photos and vintage advertisements (color and black & white). See the
accompanying photos for some of the magazine’s other contents.
The
magazine contains 84 pages and measures approximately 8.375 x 11.25 inches.
Samuel
Taliaferro Rayburn (January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961) served as the 43rd
speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a three-time
House speaker, former House majority leader, two-time House minority leader,
and a 24-term congressman, representing the 4th congressional district of Texas
as a Democrat from 1913 to 1961. He holds the record for the longest tenure as
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving for over 17
years (among his three separate stints).
After
a period as a school teacher, Rayburn won election to the Texas House of
Representatives and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law. He
won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1912 and
continuously won re-election until his death in 1961, serving a total of 25
terms. Rayburn was a protégé of John Nance Garner and a mentor to Lyndon B.
Johnson.
Rayburn
was elected House Majority Leader in 1937 and was elevated to the position of
Speaker of the House after the death of William B. Bankhead. He led the House
Democrats from 1940 to 1961, and served as Speaker of the House from 1940 to
1947, 1949 to 1953, and 1955 to 1961. Rayburn also served twice as House
Minority Leader (1947 to 1949 and 1953 to 1955) during periods of Republican
House control. He preferred to work quietly in the background and successfully
used his power of persuasion and charisma to get his bills passed due to having
to navigate the post-Joseph Cannon era when each individual committee chairman
had immense power in the House.
Along
with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, Rayburn refused to sign the 1956 Southern
Manifesto and helped shepherd the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and
1960, the first civil rights bills passed by the U.S. Congress since the
Enforcement Acts and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 during Reconstruction (1865-1877).
Rayburn was also influential in the construction of U.S. Route 66.