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

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. People Who Served in Congress
2. Congress Defined
3. *New* Lesson Plan: Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers
4. *New* PowerPoint: Leadership In The House During The 111th
5. *New* Editorial Cartoons
6. *New* U.S. House of Representatives Oral Histories
7. History: The Old Hall of the House Of Representatives & The Subsequent Creation of Statuary Hall
8. *New* The Propaganda, Making Laws, & Trivia
9. Postscript Information

1. PEOPLE WHO SERVED IN CONGRESS
   Sketches of famous and not-so-famous Senators and Representatives

African-Americans in Congress: 

Women in Congress:  

2. CONGRESS DEFINED
   Words and phrases that describe congressional processes

Hearing. Committee or subcommittee meetings to receive testimony for legislative, investigative, or oversight purposes. Witnesses often include government officials, interest groups, experts, and members of Congress. In hearings on special rues, however, the House Rules Committee takes testimony only from members of the House. Committees may issue subpoenas to summon reluctant witnesses.

Source:  Congressional Quarterly’s American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd edition (2001):114.

3. * NEW LESSON PLAN *  FINDING PURPOSE IN POLITICAL PROPAGANDA MAILERS

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 2010 participant, Jodi Robertson, Bunsold Middle School, Marysville, OH, presented a lesson entitled, Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers.

This lesson will help students learn how to critically analyze political propaganda mailers.  They will understand how political mailers can be used to better inform themselves on a political issue or candidate.  Students will use research to develop an informed opinion on a political issue or candidate and they will participate in the political process via letter writing.

Find Finding Purpose in Political Propaganda Mailers at: http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_polpropmailers.htm

4. * NEW  *  POWERPOINT: LEADERSHIP IN THE HOUSE DURING THE 111TH

Party leaders in the modern Congress play a number of critical roles from maintaining the public face of the institution and party to managing and passing the party’s legislative agenda.  One important challenge House leaders face is to balance the collective goals of the party with the individual goals of the membership. 

Bryan Marshall, Department of Political Science, Miami University of Ohio, presented a session entitled, Leadership in the House during the 111th Congress, during our Congress in the Classroom 2010 annual workshop.  This session discussed a number of important roles party leaders play and a wide array of tools and strategies they employed to achieve such ends during the historic 111th Congress.

Associate Professor of Political Science at Miami University of Ohio, Bryan Marshall, received his PhD from Michigan State University in 1999. He teaches courses on Congress, the presidency, research methods, and U.S. foreign policy. During 2009, Marshall was the American Political Science Association's Steiger Congressional Fellow serving the House Majority Whip, James E. Clyburn (D-SC). Marshall's research focuses on party leaders and procedures in affecting coalition-building and congressional behavior.

5. * 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:

• Caption: The Dirksen-Johnson Relationship
  http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/chron111-120.htm  #112

• Caption: The Dirksen-Johnson Relationship
  http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/chron101-110.htm  #104
  
  
• Caption: The Dirksen-Johnson Relationship
  http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/chron101-110.htm  #109 

• Caption: The Dirksen-Johnson Relationship
  http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/chron111-120.htm  #118
  
  
• Caption: Dirksen’s Take on Foreign Trade
  http://www.congresslink.org/cartoons/chron111-120.htm  #114

We now have a total of 153 cartoons posted!

6. * NEW *  U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ORAL HISTORIES

Beginning in 2004, the Office of the Clerk authorized the first oral history program for the U.S. House of Representatives. Created to make the rich heritage of the U.S. House of Representatives more accessible to Members, staff, scholars, and the general public, the program seeks to include interviews with a wide variety of House employees such as Member aides, committee staff, support staff, technical assistants, and family of Members. Select former Representatives also are interviewed. Interviews are conducted by the Office of History and Preservation (OHP).

The collection and preservation of the stories and experiences of people who have worked on Capitol Hill greatly contributes to the historical record of the U.S. House of Representatives. Detailed descriptions of legislative processes and procedures, personal and political anecdotes, and recollections about the evolving nature of the institution, represent a vital source of information about the inner workings of Congress.

As an example, listen to the audio and watch the video – Irving Swanson: Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana at: http://oralhistory.clerk.house.gov/interviewee.html?name=swanson-irving&view=media

You can also listen to Irving Swanson talk about the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941, which is one of the events on The Center’s new congressional timeline.  Here you can listen to the audio segment and read the relevant portion of the transcript that mentions Dirksen.  Find this December 8, 1941, Declaration of a State of War withJapan, Irving Swansonaudio clip and transcript at: http://www.congressionaltimeline.org/77thcongress_pg1audio_12081941.htm

During Irving Swanson’s decade-long career as a reading clerk in the U.S. House of Representatives, he had the distinction of reading the momentous roll calls in which the House approved declarations of war against Japan and then Germany and Italy in December 1941. Among his recollections of the December 8, 1941, declaration of war against Japan, are those of Montana Representative Jeannette Rankin’s lone ‘No’ vote against war. In this video clip, Swanson provides an eyewitness account of the historic day which includes a personal memory of Rankin and then-Representative Everett Dirksen of Illinois.

7. HISTORY: THE OLD HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & THE SUBSEQUENT CREATION OF STATUARY HALL

The Hall of the House of Representatives
On the opening day of the 10th Congress (1807–1809), October 26, 1807, the House first met in its new chamber, the Hall of the House of Representatives, in the South Wing. With the exception of the five years after the Capitol was burned, the House assembled in this chamber from 1807 to 1857.  The semicircular, marble columned hall designed by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe with extensive advice from President Thomas Jefferson is an example of Greek Revival architecture. In the Old Hall of the House, Representatives debated the destiny of an expanding young nation. To take a virtual tour of the “Splendid Hall,” go to: http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/virtual_tours/splendid_hall/index.html.

Statuary Hall
Now called Statuary Hall, the Old Hall of the House is one of the most historic parts of the U.S. Capitol. The concept of a National Statuary Hall began in the middle of the nineteenth century. The completion of the present House wing in 1857 allowed the House of Representatives to move into its current, larger chamber. The old, vacant chamber became a cluttered thoroughfare between the Rotunda and the House wing. On July 2, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law legislation designating the Old Hall of the House as National Statuary Hall. Introduced by Representative Justin Morrill of Vermont, H. J. Res. 66 decreed that the former House Chamber would be transformed into an artistic showplace. The legislation authorized the President to invite each state to submit a maximum of two statues for display in the Capitol and appropriated $25,000 for the renovations. For more information on the history of Statuary Hall, see: http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/highlights.html?action=view&intID=386. 

• To view a list of the statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection, see:
  http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/virtual_tours/statuary_hall/list.html
  

• To view a list of desk locations from the Old Hall of the House of former Members who also served as U.S. President, see: http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/virtual_tours/statuary_hall/desk.html

8. * NEW *  THE PROPAGANDA, MAKING LAWS, & TRIVIA

* THE PROPAGANDA GAME *

The Propaganda Game is a delightful, highly social game in which players first learn to identify techniques such as: prejudice, casual oversimplification, faulty analogy, tabloid and wishful thinking, hasty generalization, attacking a straw man, appeals to ignorance, emotion, flattery, pity, prestige, folksiness, joining the bandwagon and many, many more. Once players become adept at identifying the techniques exemplified in the humorous examples provided with the game, they graduate to the "expert" level where they gather and create their own examples from the real world or their imagination. The Propaganda Game is a truly wonderful experience in which "who is right" is ultimately less important than the power of your arguments and the assessment of how convinced your fellow players are. Based on the book "Thinking Straighter" by George Henry Moulds, The Propaganda Game strikes a joyful blow for clearer social thinking.

Inoculate yourself, your family and students by learning to identify the many blatant and subtle persuasion techniques used by professionals. Find The Propaganda Game at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/Elections_campaign/2_campaign.htm

 * MAKING LAWS *

Uncle Sam, the word spy, wants you to take a minute and test your knowledge about making laws. Match the word(s) in the left-hand column to complete the questions or statements in the right-hand column. Check your answers.

Find Word Spy: Checks and Balances at: http://www.congressforkids.net/wordspy/wspy_Legislativebranch_makinglaws.htm

* TRIVIA *

A convicted felon can run for a Congressional seat. True or False.

1. True
2. False

*Find the answer in next month's issue.

Answer to September 2010’s Fun, Facts, and Trivia: http://www.webcommunicator.org/classroomresources/funfactstrivia_ans0910.htm

9. POSTSCRIPT INFORMATION

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