Daftar Isi:
Sam Rayburn, lengkap dengan Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn, (lahir 6 Januari 1882, daerah Roane, Tenn., AS — meninggal 16 November 1961, Bonham, Texas), pemimpin politik Amerika, yang menjabat sebagai pembicara di House of US House of Perwakilan selama hampir 17 tahun. Dia pertama kali terpilih menjadi anggota DPR pada tahun 1912 dan bertugas di sana terus menerus selama 48 tahun 8 bulan, yang pada saat kematiannya merupakan rekor masa jabatan. Dia terpilih menjadi anggota Kongres 25 kali berturut-turut. Gedung Kantor Rumah Rayburn, gedung kantor kongres di Capitol Hill, dinamai dalam ingatannya.
Ulangan
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Kehidupan
Keluarga Rayburn, yang sebagian besar berasal dari Skotlandia, pindah dari Tennessee ke Texas pada tahun 1887, dan di sana Rayburn tumbuh di sebuah lahan seluas 40 hektar. Dia bekerja melalui East Texas Normal College (sekarang Texas A&M University — Commerce), mengajar sekolah, dan menjadi pengacara. Dia bertugas di Dewan Perwakilan Texas selama enam tahun (1907–13) dan pada 1911 terpilih sebagai pembicara. Tahun berikutnya ia terpilih menjadi anggota Kongres AS, tempat ia tinggal selama hampir setengah abad.
Energik, rajin belajar, ambisius, dan ramah, Rayburn dengan cepat menjadi berpengaruh di belakang layar dalam pemerintahan dan dalam politik partai. Sebagai ketua (1931-1937) dari Komite Rumah yang kuat untuk Interstate dan Perdagangan Luar Negeri, dia adalah arsitek utama New Deal. Sebagai anggota Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, ia adalah rekan penulis dari enam undang-undang penting — Undang-Undang Transportasi Kereta Api Darurat, Undang-Undang “Truth-in-Securities”, Undang-Undang Bursa Efek, Undang-Undang Komunikasi Federal, Undang-Undang Ketenagalistrikan Pedesaan, dan satu dari semua undang-undang New Deal yang paling diperebutkan, Undang-Undang Perusahaan Utilitas Publik.
Rayburn was elected Democratic leader of the House of Representatives in 1937 and became speaker of the House on Sept. 16, 1940. He held the latter office for almost 17 years, exceeding by a wide margin the previous record set by Kentucky statesman Henry Clay in the first quarter of the 19th century. Noted for his tart common sense, his honesty, and his unflagging patriotism, Rayburn was a trusted adviser to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy. A dedicated party man who described himself as a Democrat “without prefix, without suffix, and without apology,” Rayburn was often called “Mr. Democrat.” He was permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention in 1948, 1952, and 1956. After he won the battle in 1961 to enlarge the House Committee on Rules—the hardest internal House struggle in 50 years—Rayburn’s health failed quickly. Before Congress adjourned that year, he went home to Bonham, Texas, where he died.
Legacy
At the time of his death, Rayburn was regarded as an extraordinarily able legislator who had gone on to become the most effective speaker of the House since Joe Cannon was divested of his power in 1910. That assessment of Rayburn did not change in the decades following his death. His pivotal role in the House as a broker between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party, however, was later better understood and appreciated. During Rayburn’s tenure, power in the House was lodged in the hands of committee chairs who gained their positions through seniority. Because the American South still was overwhelmingly Democratic and the Republican Party was not competitive there, Southern Democrats in the House—with their seniority and their control over chairs of committees—tended to have great power. Northern Democrats tended to be more liberal than their Southern counterparts, but their lack of seniority and committee chairs diminished their influence in the House. Rayburn brokered the interests of both wings of the Democratic Party.
Although the office of speaker at that time lacked great formal powers, Rayburn used the limited influence of the office to maximum advantage. He also relied heavily on his personal prestige, his skill at persuasion, and personal friendships built up over decades in the House to bridge the regional differences within the Democratic Party and to forge a working majority in the House. His leadership style usually resulted in congenial relations not only between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party but also between Rayburn and the Republican leadership of the House—a considerable accomplishment, especially when viewed in the light of the divisive House of Representatives in the early 21st century.
