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  • Congressman Merlin Hull of Wisconsin

    Description of a meeting with Congressman Merlin Hull of Wisconsin.
    Interview recorded July 27, 2004 – View transcript

    Full Text: Congressman Merlin Hull of Wisconsin

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    A Page boy came down to get me. He said, “You’re wanted on the phone.” So I went back and it was Bess on the phone and she said, “The boss would like to talk to you.” Merlin must have been in his late eighties at that time. She said, “The boss would like it if you…” And I said, “Well, Bess, we’re going to quit here now in about 15, 20 minutes.” And I said, “I’ll be right over.” She said, “No, can you come right away?” So, that was enough to just make me say, anyway someone else would have my place. I wasn’t reading clerk at that time. And, so I went over there and she said, “Go, right on in.” She was the only person in the office. And Mr. Hull was sitting back in his…those big leather chairs. Did you ever see those black leather chairs? Sitting back there. He says, “Sit down Irving.” So, I sat down and he looked at me and he says, “How would you like to take my place?” He was the undisputed king of the district. In other words, he would win by 92 percent and all that sort of thing. And, you know, I was just a punk at that time. I, maybe I moved too fast. I don’t know. But anyway, I told him, I said, “Mr. Hull, I certainly appreciate…,” because he loved the district, if you know what I mean. I said, “I appreciate your confidence in me, what you think. But,” I says, “I think I’ve got a better job than you.” Can you imagine that? “Well,” he said, “Look,” he said, “I’m getting so damned old.” And he said, “I love this district,” and he says, “I want someone to be able to take of it that will follow through.” So, he died about six months later. So, he was, in effect, felt as though he was at the end of his life.

  • Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana

    Eyewitness account of Montana Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin’s lone vote against the U.S. declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941.
    Interview recorded July 13, 2005 – View transcript

    Full Text: Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana

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    Well, I remember one thing, of course, we had one vote against war. And, it was a lady from Montana—Jeannette Rankin. She voted against war. She was a strict pacifist. She voted against World War I because she felt that way and then she didn’t run at that time, one term, and then all of those years up until World War II was declared, she was elected again for one term and she voted against it. And, I remember this vividly because she was down in the front row of the Chamber, which was right in front of me, and she was crying like a baby. And, Everett Dirksen, who she admired, and who was a dear friend of mine, too, came down, put his arm around her, and tried to get her—because he told me that he tried to get her to vote present, but she would not vote present, she voted against the war.

  • House Reading Clerk

    Recollection of being offered the position of House Reading Clerk by Speaker Sam Rayburn.
    Interview recorded July 27, 2004 – View transcript

    Full Text: House Reading Clerk

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    So, he [Speaker Sam Rayburn] came in and Lew [Lewis] Deschler was the Parliamentarian at that time and Lew was sitting in there too. And he says…Sam was kind of a gruff man but a good and great man. He said, “Your résumé looks good, you’re a lawyer.” He said, “You’ve got to have a good voice to take us through these roll calls.” And I said, well, I had done well in singing and I said I was on a debate team, that sort of thing. And so, in effect, he said, “I’ll tell you what we’ll do…Mr. Swanson, we’ll try you out for a month.” He said, “If it doesn’t work out you can go back to your old job—I’ll see to that.” The Speaker at that time was, in effect, the number two most powerful man in the country. So, I said (here I am a punk, a punk in his early twenties), and I said, “Well, Mr. Speaker, you won’t hold it against me if I don’t like it I want to go back.” {laughter} And he laughed and he said, “Oh, that’s fine.” So in other words I went in as the assistant reading clerk.

Video

  • Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana

    Eyewitness account of Montana Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin's lone vote against the U.S. declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941.
    Interview recorded July 13, 2005

  • The Speaker’s Gavel

    Background on the gavel used during the House proceedings that led to the declaration of war against Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941.
    Interview recorded July 13, 2005

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