The 87th 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, 1961, to January 3, 1963, during the final weeks of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency and the first two years of John F. Kennedy's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1950 United States census, along with two seats temporarily added in 1959 (one member each from recently admitted states of Alaska and Hawaii).
Both chambers had a Democratic majority (albeit reduced in the House). With President Kennedy being sworn in on January 20, 1961, this gave the Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 82nd Congress in 1952.
Major events
January 3, 1961: President Eisenhower severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. January 20, 1961: Inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. April 17, 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba began; it fails by April 19. May 4, 1961: Freedom Riders began interstate bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision. May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard became the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3. May 25, 1961: President Kennedy announced his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade November 16, 1961: House Speaker Sam Rayburn dies from pancreatic cancer. His funeral is held on November 20th. February 3, 1962: Embargo against Cuba was announced February 20, 1962: John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth March 26, 1962: Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could order state legislatures to reapportion seats (Baker v. Carr) October 1, 1962: James Meredith registered as the first black student at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals. October 14, 1962 - October 28, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
Major legislation
May 5, 1961: Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1961, , June 30, 1961: Housing Act of 1961, , August 30, 1961: Oil Pollution Act of 1961, , September 4, 1961: Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, , September 13, 1961: Interstate Wire Act of 1961, , September 21, 1961: Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, , September 22, 1961: Peace Corps Act of 1961, , September 26, 1961: Arms Control and Disarmament Act of 1961, , October 15, 1961: Community Health Services and Facilities Act, , March 15, 1962: Manpower Development and Training Act, , June 28, 1962: Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, , August 31, 1962: Communications Satellite Act of 1962, , October 11, 1962: Trade Expansion Act, , October 16, 1962: Revenue Act of 1962, ,
Constitutional amendments
March 29, 1961: Twenty-third Amendment ratified, extending the right to vote in the presidential election to citizens residing in the District of Columbia by granting the District electors in the Electoral College, as if it were a state. August 27, 1962: Twenty-fourth Amendment approved by Congress and sent to the states for consideration. It would prohibit both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was later ratified on January 23, 1964.
Party summary Senate
House of Representatives
Leadership
Senate President: Richard Nixon (R), until January 20, 1961 Lyndon B. Johnson (D), from January 20, 1961 President pro tempore: Carl Hayden (D)
Majority (Democratic) leadership Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield Majority Whip: Hubert Humphrey Democratic Caucus Secretary: George Smathers
Minority (Republican) leadership Minority Leader: Everett Dirksen Minority Whip: Thomas Kuchel Republican Conference Chairman: Leverett Saltonstall Republican Conference Secretary: Milton Young National Senatorial Committee Chair: Barry Goldwater Policy Committee Chairman: Styles Bridges (until November 26, 1961) Bourke B. Hickenlooper (from January 3, 1962)
House of Representatives
Speaker: Sam Rayburn (D), until November 16, 1961 John W. McCormack (D), from January 10, 1962
Majority (Democratic) leadership Majority Leader: John W. McCormack until January 10, 1962 Carl Albert, from January 10, 1962 Majority Whip: Carl Albert, until January 10, 1962 Hale Boggs, from January 10, 1962 Democratic Caucus Chairman: Francis E. Walter Democratic Caucus Secretary: Leonor Sullivan Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Michael J. Kirwan
Minority (Republican) leadership Minority Leader: Charles A. Halleck Minority Whip: Leslie C. Arends Republican Conference Chairman: Charles B. Hoeven Policy Committee Chairman: John W. Byrnes Republican Campaign Committee Chairman: Bob Wilson
Caucuses
House Democratic Caucus Senate Democratic Caucus
Members
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 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1962; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1964; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1966.
Currently, this is the last congressional session in which the Democratic Party commanded all Senate seats from the Deep South, a unity broken when a Republican defeated the appointed successor to Lyndon Johnson's seat in a 1961 Senate special election.
Alabama 2. John J. Sparkman (D) 3. J. Lister Hill (D)
Alaska 2. Bob Bartlett (D) 3. Ernest Gruening (D)
Arizona 1. Barry Goldwater (R) 3. Carl Hayden (D)
Arkansas 2. John L. McClellan (D) 3. J. William Fulbright (D)
California 1. Clair Engle (D) 3. Thomas Kuchel (R)
Colorado 2. Gordon Allott (R) 3. John A. Carroll (D)
Connecticut 1. Thomas J. Dodd (D) 3. Prescott Bush (R)
Delaware 1. John J. Williams (R) 2. J. Caleb Boggs (R)
Florida 1. Spessard Holland (D) 3. George Smathers (D)
Georgia 2. Richard Russell Jr. (D) 3. Herman Talmadge (D)
Hawaii 1. Hiram Fong (R) 2. Oren E. Long (D)
Idaho 2. Henry Dworshak (R), until July 23, 1962 Len Jordan (R), from August 6, 1962 3. Frank Church (D)
Illinois 2. Paul Douglas (D) 3. Everett M. Dirksen (R)
Indiana 1. Vance Hartke (D) 3. Homer E. Capehart (R)
Iowa 2. Jack Miller (R) 3. Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R)
Kansas 2. Andrew Frank Schoeppel (R), until January 21, 1962 James B. Pearson (R), from January 31, 1962 3. Frank Carlson (R)
Kentucky 2. John Sherman Cooper (R) 3. Thruston Ballard Morton (R)
Louisiana 2. Allen J. Ellender (D) 3. Russell B. Long (D)
Maine 1. Edmund Muskie (D) 2. Margaret Chase Smith (R)
Maryland 1. James Glenn Beall (R) 3. John Marshall Butler (R)
Massachusetts 1. Benjamin A. Smith II (D), until November 6, 1962 Ted Kennedy (D), from November 7, 1962 2. Leverett Saltonstall (R)
Michigan 1. Philip Hart (D) 2. Patrick V. McNamara (D)
Minnesota 1. Eugene McCarthy (DFL) 2. Hubert Humphrey (DFL)
Mississippi 1. John C. Stennis (D) 2. James Eastland (D)
Missouri 1. Stuart Symington (D) 3. Edward V. Long (D)
Montana 1. Mike Mansfield (D) 2. Lee Metcalf (D)
Nebraska 1. Roman Hruska (R) 2. Carl Curtis (R)
Nevada 1. Howard Cannon (D) 3. Alan Bible (D)
New Hampshire 2. Styles Bridges (R), until November 26, 1961 Maurice J. Murphy Jr. (R), from January 10, 1962 - November 6, 1962 Thomas J. McIntyre (D), from November 7, 1962 3. Norris Cotton (R)
New Jersey 2. Clifford P. Case (R) 1. Harrison A. Williams (D)
New Mexico 1. Dennis Chávez (D), until November 18, 1962 Edwin L. Mechem (R), from November 30, 1962 2. Clinton P. Anderson (D)
New York 1. Kenneth Keating (R) 3. Jacob Javits (R)
North Carolina 2. B. Everett Jordan (D) 3. Sam Ervin (D)
North Dakota 1. Quentin Burdick (D-NPL) 3. Milton Young (R)
Ohio 1. Stephen M. Young (D) 3. Frank Lausche (D)
Oklahoma 2. Robert S. Kerr (D), until January 1, 1963, vacant thereafter 3. A. S. Mike Monroney (D)
Oregon 2. Maurine Neuberger (D) 3. Wayne Morse (D)
Pennsylvania 1. Hugh Scott (R) 3. Joseph S. Clark Jr. (D)
Rhode Island 1. John Pastore (D) 2. Claiborne Pell (D)
South Carolina 2. Strom Thurmond (D) 3. Olin D. Johnston (D)
South Dakota 2. Karl E. Mundt (R) 3. Francis Case (R), until June 23, 1962 Joseph H. Bottum (R), from July 9, 1962
Tennessee 1. Albert Gore Sr. (D) 2. Estes Kefauver (D)
Texas 1. Ralph Yarborough (D) 2. Lyndon B. Johnson (D), until January 3, 1961 William A. Blakley (D), until June 14, 1961 John Tower (R), from June 15, 1961
Utah 1. Frank Moss (D) 3. Wallace F. Bennett (R)
Vermont 1. Winston L. Prouty (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. Robert Byrd (D) 2. Jennings Randolph (D)
Wisconsin 1. William Proxmire (D) 3. Alexander Wiley (R)
Wyoming 1. Gale W. McGee (D) 2. John J. Hickey (D), until November 6, 1962 Milward Simpson (R), from November 6, 1962
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 I. Selden Jr. (D) . Carl Elliott (D) . Robert E. Jones Jr. (D) . George Huddleston Jr. (D)
Alaska . Ralph Julian Rivers (D)
Arizona . John Jacob Rhodes (R) . Stewart Udall (D), until January 18, 1961 Mo Udall (D), from May 2, 1961
Arkansas . Ezekiel C. Gathings (D) . Wilbur Mills (D) . James William Trimble (D) . Oren Harris (D) . Dale Alford (D) . William F. Norrell (D), until February 15, 1961 Catherine Dorris Norrell (D), from April 18, 1961
California . Clement Woodnutt Miller (D), until October 7, 1962 . Harold T. Johnson (D) . John E. Moss (D) . William S. Mailliard (R) . John F. Shelley (D) . John F. Baldwin Jr. (R) . Jeffery Cohelan (D) . George P. Miller (D) . J. Arthur Younger (R) . Charles Gubser (R) . John J. McFall (D) . B. F. Sisk (D) . Charles M. Teague (R) . Harlan Hagen (D) . Gordon L. McDonough (R) . Alphonzo E. Bell Jr. (R) . Cecil R. King (D) . Craig Hosmer (R) . Chet Holifield (D) . H. Allen Smith (R) . Edgar W. Hiestand (R) . James C. Corman (D) . Clyde Doyle (D) . Glenard P. Lipscomb (R) . John H. Rousselot (R) . James Roosevelt (D) . Harry R. Sheppard (D) . James B. Utt (R) . Dalip Singh Saund (D) . Bob Wilson (R)
Colorado . Byron G. Rogers (D) . Peter H. Dominick (R) . John Chenoweth (R) . Wayne N. Aspinall (D)
Connecticut . Emilio Q. Daddario (D) . Horace Seely-Brown Jr. (R) . Robert Giaimo (D) . Abner W. Sibal (R) . John S. Monagan (D) . Frank Kowalski (D)
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) . James A. Haley (D) . Donald Ray Matthews (D)
Georgia . George Elliott Hagan (D) . J. L. Pilcher (D) . Tic Forrester (D) . John Flynt (D) . James C. Davis (D) . Carl Vinson (D) . John William Davis (D) . Iris Faircloth Blitch (D) . Phillip M. Landrum (D) . Robert Grier Stephens Jr. (D)
Hawaii . Daniel Inouye (D)
Idaho . Gracie Pfost (D) . Ralph R. Harding (D)
Illinois . William L. Dawson (D) . Barratt O'Hara (D) . William T. Murphy (D) . Ed Derwinski (R) . John C. Kluczynski (D) . Thomas J. O'Brien (D) . Roland V. Libonati (D) . Dan Rostenkowski (D) . Sidney R. Yates (D) . Harold R. Collier (R) . Roman Pucinski (D) . Edward Rowan Finnegan (D) . Marguerite S. Church (R)