91st United States Congress

The 91st 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, 1969, to January 3, 1971, during the final weeks of the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and the first two years of the first presidency of Richard Nixon.

91st United States Congress
90th ←
→ 92nd
United States Capitol
January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1971
Members100 senators
435 representatives
Senate majorityDemocratic
Senate PresidentHubert Humphrey (D)[lower-alpha 1]
(until January 20, 1969)
Spiro Agnew (R)
(from January 20, 1969)
House majorityDemocratic
House SpeakerJohn W. McCormack (D)
Sessions
1st: January 3, 1969 – December 23, 1969
2nd: January 19, 1970 – January 2, 1971

The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1960 United States census.

Both chambers had a Democratic majority - albeit with losing their supermajority status in the Senate. With Richard Nixon being sworn in as president on January 20, 1969, this ended the Democrats' overall federal government trifecta that they had held since the 87th Congress.

Major events
Main articles: 1969 in the United States, 1970 in the United States, and 1971 in the United States

Major legislation
President Richard Nixon paying his last tributes to Sen. Everett Dirksen, who died September 7, 1969.
Main article: List of United States federal legislation, 1901–2001 § 91st United States Congress

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.

Senate
Party standings on the opening day of the 91st Congress
  57 Democratic Senators
  43 Republican Senators
Party
(shading shows control)		 Total Vacant
Democratic
(D)		 Republican
(R)		Other
(O)
End of previous congress 62 38 0 100 0
Begin 57 43 0 100 0
End 59 41
Final voting share 59.0% 41.0% 0.0%
Beginning of next congress 54 44 2[lower-alpha 2] 100 0

House of Representatives
Party
(shading shows control)		 Total Vacant
Democratic
(D)		 Republican
(R)
End of previous congress 247 186 433 2
Begin 243 192 435 0
End 242 189 4314
Final voting share 56.1% 43.9%
Beginning of next congress 254 180 434 1

Leadership
Senate President
Hubert Humphrey
Senate President
Spiro Agnew

Senate

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Caucuses

Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and Members of the House are listed by district.

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 ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1970; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1972; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1974.

House of Representatives

Some members of the House of Representatives were elected statewide on the general ticket or otherwise at-large, and others were elected from districts, as listed here as the districts existed at this time.

Changes in membership

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress

Senate
  • Replacements: 3
  • Deaths: 1
  • Resignations: 2
  • Total seats with changes: 3
See also: List of special elections to the United States Senate
Senate changes
State
(class)		 Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 3]
Illinois
(3)		 Everett Dirksen (R) Died September 7, 1969 Ralph Tyler Smith (R) September 17, 1969
Illinois
(3)		 Ralph Tyler Smith (R) Successor elected November 3, 1970 Adlai Stevenson III (D) November 17, 1970
Delaware
(1)		 John J. Williams (R) Resigned December 30, 1970 William Roth (R) January 1, 1971
California
(1)		 George Murphy (R) Resigned January 2, 1971 John V. Tunney (D) January 2, 1971

House of Representatives
  • Replacements: 14
  • Deaths: 10
  • Resignations: 8
  • Total seats with changes: 18
See also: List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives
House changes
District Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 3]
California 27th Edwin Reinecke (R) Resigned January 21, 1969, after becoming Lieutenant Governor of California Barry Goldwater Jr. (R) April 29, 1969
Wisconsin 7th Melvin Laird (R) Resigned January 21, 1969, after being appointed United States Secretary of Defense Dave Obey (D) April 1, 1969
Tennessee 8th Fats Everett (D) Died January 26, 1969 Ed Jones (D) March 25, 1969
Montana 2nd James F. Battin (R) Resigned February 27, 1969, after being appointed judge for the US District Court for the District of Montana John Melcher (D) June 24, 1969
Illinois 13th Donald Rumsfeld (R) Resigned May 25, 1969, after being appointed Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity Phil Crane (R) November 25, 1969
Massachusetts 6th William H. Bates (R) Died June 22, 1969 Michael J. Harrington (D) September 30, 1969
Illinois 6th Daniel J. Ronan (D) Died August 13, 1969 George W. Collins (D) November 3, 1970
New Jersey 8th Charles Samuel Joelson (D) Resigned September 4, 1969, after becoming judge of Superior Court of New Jersey Robert A. Roe (D) November 4, 1969
New Jersey 6th William T. Cahill (R) Resigned January 19, 1970, after becoming Governor of New Jersey Edwin B. Forsythe (R) November 3, 1970
California 24th Glenard P. Lipscomb (R) Died February 1, 1970 John H. Rousselot (R) June 30, 1970
California 35th James B. Utt (R) Died March 1, 1970 John G. Schmitz (R) June 30, 1970
Connecticut 2nd William St. Onge (D) Died May 1, 1970 Robert H. Steele (R) November 3, 1970
Ohio 19th Michael J. Kirwan (D) Died July 27, 1970 Charles J. Carney (D) November 3, 1970
Pennsylvania 9th George Watkins (R) Died August 7, 1970 John H. Ware III (R) November 3, 1970
Illinois 1st William L. Dawson (D) Died November 9, 1970 Vacant Not filled this term
South Carolina 1st L. Mendel Rivers (D) Died December 28, 1970
Delaware at-large William Roth (R) Resigned December 31, 1970, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate
California 38th John V. Tunney (D) Resigned January 2, 1971, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate

Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.

Senate

House of Representatives

Joint committees

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

See also

Notes
  1. U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey's term as President of the Senate ended at noon January 20, 1969, when Spiro Agnew's term began.
  2. Conservative Party of New York, Independent
  3. When seated or oath administered, not necessarily when service began.

References
    • Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
    • Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
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