The 84th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1955, to January 3, 1957, during the third and fourth years of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1950 United States census.
The Democratic Party won back majorities in both the House and Senate, thus giving them full control of Congress, although Republican Party briefly won the Senate after the last congressional session. The Democratic Party would continue to hold onto its house majority until the 104th Congress.
Major events
January 28, 1955: Congress authorized the president to use force to protect Taiwan from the People's Republic of China. February 10, 1955: The United States Navy helped the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan. February 12, 1955: President Eisenhower sent the first U.S. advisers to South Vietnam. March 12, 1956: 101 Congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education) desegregating public education. July 2, 1955: Senator Lyndon Johnson, Majority Leader of the United States Senate, suffered a major heart attack. September 24, 1955: President Eisenhower suffered a coronary thrombosis. November 5, 1955: Racial segregation was forbidden on trains and buses in U.S. interstate commerce. November 6, 1956: United States elections, 1956: 1956 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier. United States Senate elections, 1956: The party balance of the chamber remained unchanged as Republican and Democratic gains cancelled each other. United States House of Representatives elections, 1956: Republicans lost a net of two seats to the majority Democrats. December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person. December 5, 1955: The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to become the AFL–CIO.
Major legislation
January 29, 1955: Formosa Resolution March 31, 1955: Career Incentive Act June 28, 1955: Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act, , July 11, 1955: To provide that all United States currency shall bear the inscription "In God We Trust", , , July 14, 1955: Air Pollution Control Act, , ch. 360, July 23, 1955: Multiple Surface Use Mining Act, , ch. 730, August 9, 1955: Reserve Forces Act, , August 11, 1955: National Housing Act ("Capehart Act"), , August 12, 1955: Poliomyelitis Vaccination Assistance Act, , ch. 863, April 11, 1956: Colorado River Storage Project Act, June 29, 1956: Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, (National Interstate and Defense Highways Act), July 30, 1956: Health Research Facilities Act, , ch. 779, August 8, 1956: Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, ch. 1036, ,
Party summary The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.
The independent Wayne Morse, who caucused with Republicans in the second session of the previous Congress, began caucusing with the Democrats at the start of this Congress before ultimately becoming a Democrat himself.
Democrats would briefly lose control of the Senate after the last congressional session.
Senate Affiliation Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) Total Democratic Independent Republican Vacant End of previous Congress 47 1 48 96 0 Begin 48 1 47 96 0 February 17, 1955 49 0 47 96 0 February 28, 1956 48 95 1 March 13, 1956 49 96 0 April 4, 1956 48 95 1 April 5, 1956 49 96 0 April 30, 1956 48 95 1 June 21, 1956 49 96 0 November 6, 1956 46 47 93 3 November 7, 1956 47 49 96 0 Final voting share 49% 0% 50% Beginning of the next Congress 49 0 46 95 1
House of Representatives
Leadership
Senate
President: Richard Nixon (R) President pro tempore: Walter F. George (D)
Majority (Democratic) leadership Majority Leader and Democratic Conference chairman: Lyndon B. Johnson Majority Whip: Earle Clements Democratic Caucus Secretary: Thomas C. Hennings Jr.
Minority (Republican) leadership Minority Leader: William Knowland Minority Whip: Leverett Saltonstall Republican Conference chairman: Eugene Millikin Republican Conference Secretary: Milton Young National Senatorial Committee Chair: Barry Goldwater Policy Committee Chairman: Styles Bridges
House of Representatives
Speaker: Sam Rayburn (D)
Majority (Democratic) leadership Majority Leader: John W. McCormack Majority Whip: Carl Albert Democratic Caucus chairman: John J. Rooney Democratic Caucus Secretary: Edna F. Kelly Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Michael J. Kirwan
Minority (Republican) leadership Minority Leader: Joseph W. Martin Jr. Minority Whip: Leslie C. Arends Republican Conference chairman: Clifford R. Hope Policy Committee Chairman: Joseph W. Martin Jr. Republican Campaign Committee Chairman: Richard M. Simpson
Caucuses House Democratic Caucus Senate Democratic Caucus
Members This list is arranged by chamber, then by state.
Senate
Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, facing re-election in 1958; Class 2 meant their term began with this Congress, facing re-election in 1960; and Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, facing re-election in 1956.
Alabama 2. John J. Sparkman (D) 3. J. Lister Hill (D)
Arizona 1. Barry Goldwater (R) 3. Carl Hayden (D)
Arkansas 2. John L. McClellan (D) 3. J. William Fulbright (D)
California 1. William Knowland (R) 3. Thomas Kuchel (R)
Colorado 2. Gordon Allott (R) 3. Eugene Millikin (R)
Connecticut 1. William A. Purtell (R) 3. Prescott Bush (R)
Delaware 1. John J. Williams (R) 2. J. Allen Frear Jr. (D)
Florida 1. Spessard Holland (D) 3. George Smathers (D)
Georgia 2. Richard Russell Jr. (D) 3. Walter F. George (D)
Idaho 2. Henry Dworshak (R) 3. Herman Welker (R)
Illinois 2. Paul Douglas (D) 3. Everett M. Dirksen (R)
Indiana 1. William E. Jenner (R) 3. Homer E. Capehart (R)
Iowa 2. Thomas E. Martin (R) 3. Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R)
Kansas 2. Andrew Frank Schoeppel (R) 3. Frank Carlson (R)
Kentucky 2. Alben Barkley (D), until April 30, 1956 Robert Humphreys (D), June 21, 1956 – November 6, 1956 John Sherman Cooper (R), from November 7, 1956 3. Earle Clements (D)
Louisiana 2. Allen J. Ellender (D) 3. Russell B. Long (D)
Maine 1. Frederick G. Payne (R) 2. Margaret Chase Smith (R)
Maryland 1. James Glenn Beall (R) 3. John Marshall Butler (R)
Massachusetts 1. John F. Kennedy (D) 2. Leverett Saltonstall (R)
Michigan 1. Charles E. Potter (R) 2. Patrick V. McNamara (D)
Minnesota 1. Edward John Thye (R) 2. Hubert Humphrey (DFL)
Mississippi 1. John C. Stennis (D) 2. James Eastland (D)
Missouri 1. Stuart Symington (D) 3. Thomas C. Hennings Jr. (D)
Montana 1. Mike Mansfield (D) 2. James E. Murray (D)
Nebraska 1. Roman Hruska (R) 2. Carl Curtis (R)
Nevada 1. George W. Malone (R) 3. Alan Bible (D)
New Hampshire 2. Styles Bridges (R) 3. Norris Cotton (R)
New Jersey 1. Howard Alexander Smith (R) 2. Clifford P. Case (R)
New Mexico 1. Dennis Chávez (D) 2. Clinton P. Anderson (D)
New York 1. Irving Ives (R) 3. Herbert H. Lehman (D)
North Carolina 2. W. Kerr Scott (D) 3. Sam Ervin (D)
North Dakota 1. William Langer (R-NPL) 3. Milton Young (R)
Ohio 1. John W. Bricker (R) 3. George H. Bender (R)
Oklahoma 2. Robert S. Kerr (D) 3. A. S. Mike Monroney (D)
Oregon 2. Richard L. Neuberger (D) 3. Wayne Morse (I), changed to (D) April 30, 1955
Pennsylvania 1. Edward Martin (R) 3. James H. Duff (R)
Rhode Island 1. John Pastore (D) 2. Theodore F. Green (D)
South Carolina 2. Strom Thurmond (D), until April 4, 1956 Thomas A. Wofford (D), April 5, 1956 – November 6, 1956 Strom Thurmond (D), from November 7, 1956 3. Olin D. Johnston (D)
South Dakota 2. Karl E. Mundt (R) 3. Francis Case (R)
Tennessee 1. Albert Gore Sr. (D) 2. Estes Kefauver (D)
Texas 1. Price Daniel (D) 2. Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
Utah 1. Arthur Vivian Watkins (R) 3. Wallace F. Bennett (R)
Vermont 1. Ralph Flanders (R) 3. George Aiken (R)
Virginia 1. Harry F. Byrd (D) 2. A. Willis Robertson (D)
Washington 1. Henry M. Jackson (D) 3. Warren G. Magnuson (D)
West Virginia 1. Harley M. Kilgore (D), until February 28, 1956 William Laird III (D), March 13, 1956 – November 6, 1956 Chapman Revercomb (R), from November 7, 1956 2. Matthew M. Neely (D)
Wisconsin 1. Joseph McCarthy (R) 3. Alexander Wiley (R)
Wyoming 1. Frank A. Barrett (R) 2. Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D)
House of Representatives
The names of representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
Alabama . Frank W. Boykin (D) . George M. Grant (D) . George W. Andrews (D) . Kenneth A. Roberts (D) . Albert Rains (D) . Armistead Selden (D) . Carl Elliott (D) . Robert E. Jones Jr. (D) . George Huddleston Jr. (D)
Arizona . John Jacob Rhodes (R) . Stewart Udall (D)
Arkansas . Ezekiel C. Gathings (D) . Wilbur Mills (D) . James William Trimble (D) . Oren Harris (D) . Brooks Hays (D) . William F. Norrell (D)
California . Hubert B. Scudder (R) . Clair Engle (D) . John E. Moss (D) . William S. Mailliard (R) . John F. Shelley (D) . John F. Baldwin Jr. (R) . John J. Allen Jr. (R) . George P. Miller (D) . J. Arthur Younger (R) . Charles Gubser (R) . J. Leroy Johnson (R) . B. F. Sisk (D) . Charles M. Teague (R) . Harlan Hagen (D) . Gordon L. McDonough (R) . Donald L. Jackson (R) . Cecil R. King (D) . Craig Hosmer (R) . Chester E. Holifield (D) . John Carl Hinshaw (R), until August 5, 1956 . Edgar W. Hiestand (R) . Joseph F. Holt (R) . Clyde Doyle (D) . Glenard P. Lipscomb (R) . Patrick J. Hillings (R) . James Roosevelt (D) . Harry R. Sheppard (D) . James B. Utt (R) . John R. Phillips (R) . Bob Wilson (R)
Colorado . Byron G. Rogers (D) . William S. Hill (R) . John Chenoweth (R) . Wayne N. Aspinall (D)
Connecticut . Thomas J. Dodd (D) . Horace Seely-Brown Jr. (R) . Albert W. Cretella (R) . Albert P. Morano (R) . James T. Patterson (R) . Antoni Sadlak (R)
Delaware . Harris McDowell (D)
Florida . William C. Cramer (R) . Charles E. Bennett (D) . Robert L. F. Sikes (D) . Dante Fascell (D) . Syd Herlong (D) . Paul Rogers (D), from January 11, 1955 . James A. Haley (D) . Donald Ray Matthews (D)
Georgia . Prince Preston (D) . J. L. Pilcher (D) . Tic Forrester (D) . John Flynt (D) . James C. Davis (D) . Carl Vinson (D) . Henderson Lovelace Lanham (D) . Iris Faircloth Blitch (D) . Phil Landrum (D) . Paul Brown (D)
Idaho . Gracie Pfost (D) . Hamer H. Budge (R)
Illinois . William L. Dawson (D) . Barratt O'Hara (D) . James C. Murray (D) . William E. McVey (R) . John C. Kluczynski (D) . Thomas J. O'Brien (D) . James Bowler (D) . Thomas S. Gordon (D) . Sidney R. Yates (D) . Richard W. Hoffman (R) . Timothy P. Sheehan (R) . Charles A. Boyle (D) . Marguerite S. Church (R) . Chauncey W. Reed (R), until February 9, 1956 . Noah M. Mason (R) . Leo E. Allen (R) . Leslie C. Arends (R) . Harold H. Velde (R) . Robert B. Chiperfield (R) . Sid Simpson (R)