Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Art & History

Session Dates of Congress

Scope of Congress

80th to 99th Congresses (January 3, 1947 to October 18, 1986)

Congress	Session	Beginning Date	Adjournment Date²	Calendar Days¹	House Recesses
80th	1	Jan. 3, 1947	Dec. 19, 1947	351	July 27-Nov. 17, 1947
	2	Jan. 6, 1948	Dec. 31, 1948	361	June 20-July 26, 1948 Aug. 7-Dec. 31, 1948
81st	1	Jan. 3, 1949	Oct. 19, 1949	290
	2	Jan. 3, 1950	Jan. 2, 1951	365	Apr. 6-Apr. 18, 1950 Sept. 23-Nov. 27, 1950
82nd	1	Jan. 3, 1951	Oct. 20, 1951	291	Mar. 22-Apr. 2, 1951 Aug. 23,-Sept. 12, 1951
	2	Jan. 8, 1952	July 7, 1952	182	Apr. 10-Apr. 22, 1952
83rd	1	Jan. 3, 1953	Aug. 3, 1953	213	Apr. 2-Apr. 13, 1953
	2	Jan. 6, 1954	Dec. 2, 1954	331	Apr. 15-22, 1954 Adjourned sine die Aug. 20, 1954
84th	1	Jan. 5, 1955	Aug. 2, 1955	210	Apr. 4-13, 1955
	2	Jan. 3, 1956	July 27, 1956	207	Mar. 29-Apr. 9, 1956
85th	1	Jan. 3, 1957	Aug. 30, 1957	240	Apr. 18-Apr. 29, 1957
	2	Jan. 7, 1958	Aug. 24, 1958	230	Apr. 3-14, 1958
86th	1	Jan. 7, 1959	Sep. 15, 1959	252	Mar. 26-Apr. 7, 1959
	2	Jan. 6, 1960	Sep. 1, 1960	240	Apr. 14-18, 1960 May 27-31, 1960 July 3-Aug. 15, 1960
87th	1	Jan. 3, 1961	Sep. 27, 1961	268	Mar. 30-Apr. 10, 1961
	2	Jan. 10, 1962	Oct. 13, 1962	277	Apr. 19-30, 1962
88th	1	Jan. 9, 1963	Dec. 30, 1963	356	Apr. 11-22, 1963
	2	Jan. 7, 1964	Oct. 3, 1964	271	Mar. 26-Apr. 6, 1964 July 2-20, 1964 Aug. 21-31, 1964
89th	1	Jan. 4, 1965	Oct. 23, 1965	293
	2	Jan. 10, 1966	Oct. 22, 1966	286	Apr. 7-18, 1966 June 30-July 11, 1966
90th	1	Jan. 10, 1967	Dec. 15, 1967`	340	Mar. 23-Apr. 3, 1967 June 29-July 10, 1967 Aug. 31-Sept. 11, 1967 Nov. 22-27, 1967
	2	Jan. 15, 1968	Oct. 14, 1968	274	Apr. 11-22, 1968 May 29-June 3, 1968 July 3-8, 1968 Aug. 2-Sept. 4, 1968
91st	1	Jan. 3, 1969	Dec. 23, 1969	355	Feb. 7-17, 1969 Apr. 3-14, 1969 May28-June 2, 1969 July 2-July7, 1969 Aug. 13-Sept. 3, 1969 Nov. 6-12, 1969 Nov. 26-Dec. 1, 1969
	2	Jan. 19, 1970	Jan. 2, 1971	349	Feb. 10-16, 1970 Mar. 26-31, 1970 May 27-June 1, 1970 July 1-6, 1970 Aug. 14-Sept. 9, 1970 Oct. 14-Nov. 16, 1970 Nov. 25-30, 1970 Dec. 22-29, 1970
92nd	1	Jan. 21, 1971	Dec. 17, 1971	331	Feb. 10-Feb 17, 1971 Apr. 7-19, 1971 May 27-June 1, 1971 July 1-6, 1971 Aug. 6-Sept. 8, 1971 Oct. 7-12, 1971 Oct. 21-26, 1971 Nov. 19-29, 1971
	2	Jan. 18, 1972	Oct. 18, 1972	275	Feb. 9-16, 1972 Mar. 30-Apr. 9, 1972 May 24-30, 1972 June 30-July 17, 1972 Aug. 18-Sept. 5, 1972
93rd	1	Jan. 3, 1973	Dec. 22, 1973	354	Feb. 8-19, 1973 Apr. 19-30, 1973 May 24-29, 1973 June 30-July 10, 1973 Aug. 3-Sept. 5, 1973 Oct. 4-9, 1973 Oct. 18-23, 1973 Nov. 15-26, 1973
	2	Jan. 21, 1974	Dec. 20, 1974	346	Feb. 7-13, 1974 Apr. 11-22, 1974 May 23-28, 1974 Aug. 22-Sep.11, 1974 Oct. 17-Nov. 18, 1974 Nov. 26-Dec. 3, 1974
94th	1	Jan. 14, 1975	Dec. 19, 1975	340	Mar. 26-Apr. 7, 1975 May 22-June 2, 1975 June 26-July 8, 1975 Aug. 1-Sep. 3, 1975 Oct. 9-20, 1975 Oct. 23-28, 1975 Nov. 20-Dec. 1, 1975
	2	Jan. 19, 1976	Oct. 1, 1976	257	Feb. 11-16, 1976 Apr. 14-26, 1976 May 27-June 1, 1976 July 2-19, 1976 Aug. 10-23, 1976 Sept. 2-8, 1976
95th	1	Jan. 4, 1977	Dec. 15, 1977	346	Feb. 9-16, 1977 Apr. 6-18, 1977 May 26-June 1, 1977 June 30-July 11, 1977 Aug. 5-Sept. 7, 1977 Oct. 6-11, 1977
	2	Jan. 19, 1978	Oct. 15, 1978	271	Feb. 9-14, 1978 Mar. 22-Apr. 3, 1978 May 25-May 31, 1978 June 29-July 10, 1978 Aug. 17-Sept. 6, 1978
96th	1	Jan. 15, 1979	Jan. 3, 1980	354	Feb. 8-Feb. 13, 1979 Apr. 10-23, 1979 May 24-30, 1979 June 29-July 9, 1979 Aug. 2-Sept. 5, 1979 Nov. 20-26, 1979
	2	Jan. 3, 1980	Dec. 16, 1980	349	Feb. 13-19, 1980 Apr. 2-15, 1980 May 22-28, 1980 July 2-21, 1980 Aug. 1-18, 1980 Aug. 28-Sept. 3, 1980 Oct. 2-Nov. 12, 1980 Nov. 21-Dec. 1, 1980
97th	1	Jan. 5, 1981	Dec. 16, 1981	346	Feb. 6-17, 1981 Apr. 10-27, 1981 June 26-July 8, 1981 Aug. 4-Sept. 9, 1981 Oct. 7-13, 1981 Nov. 23-30, 1981
	2	Jan. 25, 1982	Dec. 23, 1982	333	Feb. 10-22, 1982 Apr. 6-20, 1982 May 27-June 2, 1982 July 1-12, 1982 Aug. 20-Sept. 8, 1982 Oct. 1-Nov. 29, 1982
98th	1	Jan. 3, 1983	Nov. 18, 1983	320	Jan. 6-25, 1983 Feb. 17-22, 1983 Mar. 24-Apr. 5, 1983 May 26-June 1, 1983 June 30-July 11, 1983 Aug. 4-Sept. 12, 1983 Oct. 6-Oct. 17, 1983
	2	Jan. 23, 1984	Oct. 12, 1984	264	Feb. 9-21, 1984 Apr. 12-24, 1984 May 24-30, 1984 June 29-July 23, 1984 Aug. 10-Sept. 5, 1984
99th	1	Jan. 3, 1985	Dec. 20, 1985	352	Jan. 3-21, 1985 Feb. 7-19, 1985 Mar. 7-19, 1985 Apr. 4-15, 1985 May 23-June 3, 1985 June 27-July 8, 1985 Aug. 1-Sept. 4, 1985 Nov. 21-Dec. 2, 1985
	2	Jan. 21, 1986	Oct. 18, 1986	279	Feb. 6-18, 1986 Mar. 25-Apr. 8, 1986 May 22-June 3, 1986 June 26-July 14, 1986 Aug. 16-Sept. 8, 1986

1 “Calendar days" is defined as the total number of calendar days from the convening date to adjournment date that Congress met during that session. “Legislative days” indicates the total days Congress recorded as a working parliamentary day.

2 The adjournment date is consistently referred to as the last legislative day of the session, regardless of the calendar date.

* Indicates that a special session of the Senate was convened during a Congress. Article II, Section 3 of the constitution provides that the President "may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them." This procedure occurs only if the Congress is convened by presidential proclamation. Extraordinary sessions have been called by the Chief Executive to urge the Congress to focus on important national issues. These are separate sessions of Congress, unless otherwise noted. Source: Congressional Directory; House Journal.

** President Harry S. Truman called the Congress into extraordinary session twice, both times during the 80th Congress. Each time Congress had essentially wrapped up its business for the year, but for technical reasons had not adjourned sine die, so in each case the extraordinary session is considered an extension of the regularly numbered session rather than a separately numbered one. The dates of these extraordinary sessions were Nov. 17 to Dec. 19. 1947, and July 26 to Aug. 7, 1948.