July 1, 1946

On this date, Congress held a Joint Session to honor the memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. More than a year after the passing of the late President, the House introduced the Joint Session legislation (H. Con Res. 152) on May 23, 1946, with the Senate agreeing to the resolution on June 1, 1946. The legislation created a joint committee to oversee the ceremony. The historic session included dignitaries from around the world as well as prominent figures in the U.S. government. With the rostrum covered in greens, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas opened the session. House Chaplain James Shera Montgomery offered the invocation followed by Robert Merrill of the Metropolitan Opera who performed two solos. A personal friend of Roosevelt and former Ambassador to Great Britain, John Gilbert Winant of the United Nations Social and Economic Council, gave the address. Winant described his friend as, “Brave steadfast, one who dared to see the facts, to face them, and to act; one who believed, who hoped.” Senate Chaplain Frederick Brown Harris offered the closing benediction and the Joint Session was dissolved. The Joint Session coincided with the 14th anniversary of Roosevelt’s first nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate in Chicago in 1932.

July 2, 1964

On this date, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With momentum building for congressional action on the issue of civil rights, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Emanuel Celler of New York and Ranking Member William McCulloch of Ohio led a bipartisan coalition to shepherd the landmark legislation through the House. Prior to its passage, Congressman Charles Weltner of Georgia, an initial opponent of the bill, remarked on the House Floor, “Mr. Speaker, I shall cast my lot with the leadership of my community. I shall cast my vote with that greater cause they serve. I will add my voice to those who seek reasoned and conciliatory adjustment to a new reality. And finally, I would urge that we at home now move on to the unfinished task of building a new South. We must not remain forever bound to another lost cause.” The act, the most significant civil rights legislation passed since the Reconstruction Era, prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and state and municipal facilities. In addition to incorporating the famed Powell Amendment—a rider barring federal funds for institutions that promoted or endorsed segregation—the bill also prohibited discrimination in hiring and employment and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate workplace discrimination. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed P.L. 88–352 only a few hours after its overwhelming approval in the House, 289 to 126. “Let us close the springs of racial poison,” the President urged with much fanfare during the nationally televised signing of the historic legislation. “Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our Nation whole.”

July 5, 1949

On this date, the House of Representatives called to order its first meeting in its temporary quarters in the Ways and Means Committee room. During the two-year project to replace the roof and remodel the House Chamber, Representatives vacated the Capitol and met in the large Ways and Means Committee room in the Longworth House Office Building. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas, a strong proponent of the ambitious effort to modernize the chamber remarked, “I should like to see this gray painted out and put back to gold, that was around here for so many years and that was so beautiful and so attractive to the eye. I do not like coldness when I can have warmth.” The Speaker also proposed installing new seats in the chamber—an initiative backed by the longtime Attending Physician of the House, Dr. George Calver, who believed the old seats posed health hazards to Members. The temporary chamber posed a series of obstacles for Members. “Well, it was just so doggoned informal when the Members would come in, just to find a seat,” recalled Joseph Bartlett who served as a Page Supervisor in 1949, in his oral history. “In order to get as many seats as they could, there was virtually no well. So it was a real tight situation.” A limited number of reporters had access to the House proceedings during the remodeling, but the cramped quarters could not accommodate the public. Moreover, some Representatives complained of the cold temperature in the committee room. The House returned to its renovated chamber for the opening of the 82nd Congress (1951–1953).