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Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's Communicator–a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas to improve the understanding of Congress: http://www.webcommunicator.org
* GRANTS: CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH AWARDS *
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- People Who Served in Congress
- Congress Defined
- *New* Lesson Plan: Identifying Legislators and the Legislative Process
- *New* Editorial Cartoons
- *New* Radio Script: Socialized Medicine
- *New* Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives
- The Dirksens at Christmas
- Supreme Order in the Court, Supreme Decision & Trivia
- Postscript Information
GRANTS: CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH AWARDS
DEADLINE: All proposals must be received no later than February 1, 2010.
The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants to fund research on congressional leadership and the U.S. Congress. A total of up to $35,000 will be available in 2010. Awards range from a few hundred dollars to $3,500.
The competition is open to individuals with a serious interest in studying Congress. Political scientists, historians, biographers, scholars of public administration or American studies, and journalists are among those eligible. The Center encourages graduate students who have successfully defended their dissertation prospectus to apply and awards a significant portion of the funds for dissertation research. Applicants must be U.S. citizens who reside in the United States.
The awards program does not fund undergraduate or pre-Ph.D. study. Organizations are not eligible. Research teams of two or more individuals are eligible. No institutional overhead or indirect costs may be claimed against a Congressional Research Award.
There is no standard application form. Applicants are responsible for showing the relationship between their work and the awards program guidelines. Applications are accepted at any time. Applications which exceed the page limit and incomplete applications will NOT be forwarded to the screening committee for consideration.
All application materials must be received on or before February 1, 2010. Awards will be announced in March 2010.
Complete information about eligibility and application procedures may be found at The Center's Web site: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_CRAs.htm. PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY. Frank Mackaman is the program officer – mailto:fmackaman@dirksencenter.org.
The Center, named for the late Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to the study of Congress and its leaders. Since 1978, the Congressional Research Awards (formerly the Congressional Research Grants) program has paid out $776,188 to support 378 projects. |
- PEOPLE WHO SERVED IN CONGRESS
Sketches of famous and not-so-famous Senators and Representatives
Image courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
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Babbitt, Clinton (1831-1907), a Representative from Wisconsin; born in Westmoreland, Cheshire County, N.H., November 16, 1831; attended the common schools and was graduated from Keene (N.H.) Academy; moved to Wisconsin in 1853 and settled near Beloit, Rock County; engaged in agricultural pursuits; elected alderman and was a member of the first city council of Beloit; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress; appointed postmaster of Beloit by President Cleveland on August 2, 1886, and served until August 17, 1889, when a successor was appointed; appointed secretary of the State agricultural society of Wisconsin in 1885 and served until 1899; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress (March
4, 1891-March 3, 1893); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress; retired from public life and active business pursuits and resided in Beloit, Wis., until his death there on March 11, 1907; interment in the Protestant Cemetery.
Sources:
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000001
Image courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
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African-Americans in Congress:
Image courtesy of Library of Congress
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Haralson, Jeremiah (1846-1916), a Representative from Alabama; born on a plantation near Columbus, Muscogee County, Ga., April 1, 1846; raised as a slave; self-educated; moved to Alabama and engaged in agricultural pursuits; became a minister; member of the State house of representatives in 1870; served in the State senate in 1872; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1868 to the Forty-first Congress; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877); appointed to a Federal position in the United States customhouse in Baltimore, Md.; later employed as a clerk in the Interior Department; appointed August 12, 1882, to the Pension Bureau in Washington, D.C., and resigned August 21, 1884; moved to Louisiana, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and thence to Arkansas in 1904; served as pension agent for a short time; returned to Alabama and settled in Selma in 1912; moved to Texas and later to Oklahoma and Colorado and engaged in coal mining in the latter State; killed by wild beasts near Denver, Colo., about 1916.
Sources:
Black Americans in Congress: http://baic.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=5
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000179
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Women in Congress:
Image courtesy of Tennessee State Library & Archives
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Eslick, Willa McCord Blake (1878-1961), wife of Edward Everett Eslick, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tenn., September 8, 1878; attended private schools; attended Dick White College and Milton College, Fayetteville, Tenn.; attended Winthrop Model School and Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.; attended Metropolitan College of Music and Synthetic School of Music, New York, N.Y.; member of the Tennessee state Democratic committee; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband United States Representative Edward E. Eslick (August 14, 1932- March 3, 1933); was not eligible for reelection to the Seventy-third Congress, not having qualified for nomination as required by the State law; died on February 18, 1961, in Pulaski, Tenn.; interment in Maplewood Cemetery.
Sources:
Women in Congress: http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=70
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000217
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- CONGRESS DEFINED
Words and phrases that describe congressional processes
Adjourn. A motion to adjourn is a formal motion to end a day’s session or a meeting of the Senate or House or a committee. In both houses, a motion to adjourn is of the highest privilege, takes precedence over all other motions, is not debatable, and must be put to an immediate vote.
Source: Congressional Quarterly’s American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd edition (2001):2.
- * NEW LESSON PLAN * IDENTIFYING LEGISLATORS AND THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
During our annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop –– http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm –– participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A 2009 participant, Tom Adamich, District Librarian, Indian Valley Local Schools, Gnadenhutten, OH, and President, Visiting Librarian Service, presented a lesson entitled, Identifying Legislators and the Legislative Process.
The legislative branch of the federal government has a rich and eventful history. Political observers have long expressed an interest in analyzing the legislation our senators and representatives sponsor and the impact the bills have on our lives if they become law. Examining the structure, function, and output of the legislative branch produces a greater understanding of United States culture and its diverse geography and populations. This lesson is designed stresses the importance of the ability to infer and identify relationships between actions and activities using a thesis statement and supporting details.
Find Identifying Legislators and the Legislative Process at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_identifyinglegislators.htm
- * NEW * EDITORIAL CARTOONS
The Dirksen Congressional Center recently announced additions to the Editorial Cartoon Collection project: http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/index.htm.
The editorial cartoons and related lesson plans will teach students to identify issues, analyze symbols, acknowledge the need for background knowledge, recognize stereotypes and caricatures, think critically, and appreciate the role of irony and humor.
This month we have posted five new cartoons:
We now have a total of 108 cartoons posted!
- * NEW * RADIO SCRIPT: SOCIALIZED MEDICINE
Health care reform has captured the politics and the news of the day. But it’s not the first time. Consider the radio script intended for the use of Republican congressional candidates running in 1950 against the Fair Deal’s health reform plan.
Find the reproduced radio script, Socialized Medicine, at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/news.htm
Source: Everett M. Dirksen Papers, Chicago Office Files, f. 3885.
- * NEW * ORAL HISTORY OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Clerk’s Office of History and Preservation is proud to announce the launch of the official US House of Representatives’ Oral History Web site. Interviews include a range of House staff and officers, as well as children of Members of Congress. In addition to interview transcripts in html and PDF formats, the site features video and audio clips, brief interviewee biographies, artifacts, images, and educational resources for teachers. And, the content will be growing in the coming months as they process more interviews and add them to the site.
Find Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives at: http://oralhistory.clerk.house.gov/
- THE DIRKSENS AT CHRISTMAS
For many years, Everett Dirksen composed and drew his own Christmas cards. Find examples drawn from his collection of papers at The Dirksen Congressional Center [Everett M. Dirksen Papers, Personal File, f. 7a-7d].
Find The Dirksens at Christmas at: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_xmascards.htm
- * NEW * SUPREME ORDER IN THE COURT, SUPREME DECISION & TRIVIA
The information about the Judicial Branch in this activity is in major disorder. Drag the words up to the horizontal lines in order to form a sentence. When you think your answer is correct, click on “Check” to check your answer. If you get stuck, click on “Hint” to find out the next correct part. When you have finished, click on “Sentence 2 of 9” in the blue bar at the top of the page. Continue through the activity until you reach the final page 9. When you have completed page 9, click “Play More” to find additional activities related to the Supreme Court.
Find Supreme Order in the Court at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/judicialbranch_justices/supremecourt_1.htm
* NEW * Supreme Decision
Play a clerk to a justice of the Supreme Court and help decide about a student’s rights in school. Find Supreme Decision at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/judicialbranch_justices/2_justices.htm
* Trivia *
Despite the extraordinary power that the Supreme Court holds in the United States, many people do not know that much about it. Here is a question that deals with the Justices of the Court and a Supreme Court decision.
What was the general idea behind Franklin Roosevelt’s so called “court-packing” plan?
- The Court’s membership would be increased to eleven justices.
- The president would be allowed to appoint one new Justice for each Justice over the age of seventy.
- There would be a whole new court just to deal with his “New Deal” programs.
- For each vacancy that came up on the court, he would be allowed to appoint two new Justices.
*Find the answer in next month's issue.
Answer to November 2009’s Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/classroomresources/funfactstrivia_ans1109.htm
- POSTSCRIPT INFORMATION
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