Senate Art & History Publications

Wisconsin Republican senator Joseph R. McCarthy rocketed to public attention in 1950 with his allegations that hundreds of Communists had infiltrated the State Department and other federal agencies. McCarthy relentlessly continued his anticommunist campaign into 1953, when he gained a new platform as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Joseph McCarthy had appeared invincible when investigated by a Senate subcommittee in 1952, but by 1954 he had finally gone too far, convincing his Senate colleagues that his power must be curtailed. The publication, Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, is a transcript of the hearings that led to the censure of Senator McCarthy by his Senate colleagues.

In 1903, in an attempt to become a more organized group, the Democratic caucus elected its first chairman and secretary. Covering 60 years of caucus and later conference meetings, Minutes of the Senate Democratic Conference: Fifty-eighth through the Eighty-eighth Congresses provides insight into the inner workings of the Senate. The publication is organized by Congress with brief notes from the editor providing historical context. The minutes remain true to form with only minor typographical corrections.

In April 1911 Senator Charles Curtis was elected secretary of the Republican caucus and was tasked with recording the formal minutes of the caucus’ meetings. Two years later Republican senators officially designated their meetings as conferences. Minutes of the Senate Republican Conference: Sixty-second Congress through Eighty-eighth Congress, 1911-1964 covers 53 years of conference meetings beginning with the 62nd Congress. The publication includes a history of the Senate’s party conferences, as well as brief statements by former Republican Conference Chairman Connie Mack (1993-2001) and Secretary of the Senate Gary Sisco (1996-2001).

The Republican Policy Committee's origins go back to 1947 and its founding chairman, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio. The Committee was created following a bipartisan proposal by the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress in 1946. With an increasingly vulnerable Democrat in the White House, Senate G.O.P. leaders saw their newly established policy committee as a useful vehicle for improving their party's 1948 presidential prospects and as a platform for a serious senatorial contender. Under the direction of that contender, Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft, the nine-member committee functioned as its framers hoped it would, considering policy options, determining party consensus, and establishing the order of business on the Senate floor. A History of the United States Senate Republican Policy Committee, 1947-1997 follows the committee through the second half of the 20th century as Republicans moved from the minority to the majority and back again facing presidential administrations of both parties.

Guide to Research Collections of Former United States Senators, 1789-1995 provides a list of archival repositories housing former senators’ papers and related materials. This publication’s content can be accessed in the online Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress under the "Research Collections" menu option.

Compiled by Senate historians, Senators of the United States: A Historical Bibliography lists scholarly works about U.S. senators. Bibliographies for all U.S. senators can be found in the online Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress under the menu option "Bibliography."

The Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building is one of the grandest and most historic rooms in the nation's capital.

Since 1859 the Senate has occupied its current Chamber in the United States Capitol, a room that has witnessed some of the most significant events in American history. United States Senate Chamber, 1859-2009 looks at the history of the room through its first 150 years.

The federal government’s expanded role nationally and internationally beginning in the 1930s raised new issues for senatorial action, which in turn required increased staff assistance and created crowded conditions in the Capitol and the original Senate Office Building. In 1941, the U.S. Senate authorized the Architect of the Capitol to prepare plans for the creation of a second office building. The plans were approved in 1949 and construction started in 1956 with the doors opening for business on October 15, 1958. The Dirksen Senate Office Building brochure provides a brief overview of the building's history.

Sweeping legislative reorganization during the 1970s expanded the Senate staff and stimulated construction of a third office building, named for Michigan senator Philip A. Hart. The Hart Senate Office Building brochure provides a brief overview of the building's history.

The 20th century brought new states, new members, and a burgeoning staff to cope with the increased legislative workload. The need for working space in the Capitol grew accordingly. In 1909 the Senate Office Building was opened. The brochure, The Russell Senate Office Building: The First Century, 1909-2009 provides an overview of the history of the building.

200 Notable Days: Senate Stories 1787-2002 includes essays about the landmark days that shaped the Senate as an institution. Arranged chronologically, this book of days collectively reveals the character of the "World's Greatest Deliberative Body." These essays and many more can be found on the Senate's website in the Art & History section under Historical Highlights.

Montgomery C. Meigs helped to shape the architectural and artistic designs of the House and Senate wings throughout the 1850s expansion of the Capitol. In the publication, Capitol Builder, Meigs’ daily journal entries detail the day-to-day building operations involved in the project, as well as his personal thoughts about his public and private life, discussions of family relationships, and his political views of the era and its personalities.

Article 1, Section 5, of the U.S. Constitution provides that, "Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member." The Constitution also gives each house of Congress the power to be the judge of "elections, returns, and qualifications of its members." This publication compiles and explains the various election, expulsion, and censure cases that the Senate engaged in from 1793 to 1990. An updated version of the publication is available on the Senate's website.

Historical Almanac of the United States Senate was prepared in honor of the bicentennial of the creation of the Senate. The work includes a series of "bicentennial minutes," speeches given by Senator Robert Dole describing the first 200 years of the Senate.

The Senate, 1789-1989 is a four-volume work that provides an in-depth history of the Senate. The first volume is a chronological series of addresses on the history of the Senate. Volume two follows with a topical series of addresses on various aspects of the Senate's operation and powers. The third volume is a compilation of "Classic Speeches, 1830-1993." The final volume provides historical statistics about the Senate from 1789-1992. Much of the content has been reproduced and updated on the Senate website in the Art & History and Reference sections.

The U.S. Senate played a crucial role in the Civil War. Although the history of the war is often told from the perspective of President Abraham Lincoln and his military commanders, the Senate faced war-related issues before Lincoln took office, and continued to influence national events throughout the war and its aftermath. The booklet The Senate's Civil War provides an overview of the history of the Senate during this remarkable time in American History.

In 1937, George J. Schulz, the director of the Legislative Reference Service, prepared the document, Creation of the Senate: From the Proceedings of the Federal Convention Philadelphia, May-September 1787. The document details the history of the Constitutional Convention and the creation of the U.S. Senate. Included in this version of the document is the 1987 resolution calling for the reprinting of the original document, as well as an introduction by Senators Robert C. Byrd and Robert Dole.

Pro Tem: Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate since 1789, traces the development of the position in four brief essays which are accompanied by biographical profiles of all presidents pro tempore (1789-2010) including images for nearly all individuals who have served in this important position. The stories demonstrate the evolving nature of the Senate as well as its attempt to maintain many of its 18th-century ideals.

This work contains biographies of over 12,000 individuals. The origins of the Biographical Directory go back to 1859, when Charles Lanman, an author and former secretary to Senator Daniel Webster, assembled the first collection of biographies of former and sitting members for his "Directory of Congress." With the creation of the Senate Historical Office in 1975 and the House Office of the Bicentennial in 1983, professional historians assumed the responsibility for revising and updating the Directory. The print edition covers all members of Congress from 1774-2005. The online edition is a searchable database and is updated at each change of Congress or change in membership. To learn more about this publication see, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Holding the least understood, most ridiculed, and most often ignored constitutional office in the federal government, American vice presidents have included some remarkable individuals. Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993 provides an overview of the constitutional origins of the position of vice president, and examines how the position has changed throughout U.S. history. Also found within the publication is a closer examination of the distinguished individuals who held the title of Vice President of the United States. This publication is available online with up-to-date content in the Art & History section under "Officers & Staff."

Compiled by Senate historians, Senators of the United States: A Historical Bibliography lists scholarly works about U.S. senators. Bibliographies for all U.S. senators can be found in the online Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress under the menu option "Bibliography."