The Congress (1988 Film)
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The Congress (1988 Film)
''The Congress'' is a 1988 documentary film directed by the Emmy Award-winning director Ken Burns. The Florentine Films production, which focuses on the United States Congress, aired on Public Broadcasting Service, PBS on March 20, 1989. Summary Narrated by David McCullough, the documentary features use of photographs, paintings, and film from sessions of Congress, in its implementation of the Ken Burns Effect. Scenes from the Academy Award-winning Frank Capra film ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' are also used. The work features numerous interviews from writers and historians including Charles McDowell, David McCullough, Cokie Roberts, George Tames, David Broder, James MacGregor Burns, Barbara Fields, and Alistair Cooke. Many congressmen are specifically referred to, including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joseph Gurney Cannon, George William Norris, Jeannette Rankin, and Everett Dirksen. The film also includes focus on th ...
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Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed by PBS. Burns lives in the small town of Walpole, New Hampshire. Burns's widely known documentary series include '' The Civil War'' (1990), ''Baseball'' (1994), ''Jazz'' (2001), '' The War'' (2007), '' The National Parks: America's Best Idea'' (2009), ''Prohibition'' (2011), '' The Roosevelts'' (2014), '' The Vietnam War'' (2017), and ''Country Music'' (2019). He was also executive producer of both '' The West'' (1996), and '' Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies'' (2015). Burns's documentaries have earned two Academy Award nominations (for 1981's '' Brooklyn Bridge'' and 1985's '' The Statue of Liberty'') and have won several Emmy Awards, among other honors. Early life and education Burns ...
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George Tames
George Tames (January 21, 1919 – February 23, 1994) was an American -Greek and Albanian ( Himara Region) photographer for ''The New York Times'' from 1945-1985. As a newspaper photographer, Tames was a regular on Capitol Hill over a span of forty years. Biography Born in Washington, D.C., Tames was a first generation American child of Greek - Albanian immigrants who grew up not speaking English at home. He dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, and took a job as an officeboy in the Washington bureau of Time-Life to help out the family. His career in photography began in 1940 in Washington D.C. Tames went with the Capitol Hill photographers on assignments and eventually photographed individual members. He photographed meetings of the Truman Committee. He developed access to and captured the likeness of numerous members of the United States Congress, and had his work reproduced in many influential publications. He developed a style contrary to the "herd instinct" of pres ...
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Everett Dirksen
Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Party leaders of the United States Senate, Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich bass (voice type), bass voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze". Born in Pekin, Illinois, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, ...
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Jeannette Rankin
Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican from Montana in 1916 United States House of Representatives elections#Montana, 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940 United States House of Representatives elections#Montana, 1940. Rankin remains the only Women in the Montana government, woman ever elected to Congress from Montana. Each of Rankin's congressional terms coincided with the initiation of U.S. military intervention in both world wars. A lifelong pacifist, she was one of 50 House members who opposed the United States declaration of war on Germany (1917), declaration of war on Germany in 1917. In 1941, she was the sole member of Congress to vote against the United States declaration of war on Japan, declara ...
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George William Norris
George William Norris (July 11, 1861September 2, 1944) was an American politician from the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican, from 1903 until 1913, and five terms in the United States Senate, from 1913 until 1943. He served four terms as a Republican and his final term as an Independent. Norris was defeated for re-election in 1942. Norris was a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He is best known for his sponsorship of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 during the Great Depression. It became a major development agency in the Upper South that constructed dams for flood control and electricity generation for a wide rural area. In addition, Norris was known for his liberalism, his insurgency against party leaders, his non-interventionist foreign policy, his support for labor unions, and his intense crusades against what he characterized as "wrong and evil". Pr ...
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Joseph Gurney Cannon
Joseph Gurney Cannon (May 7, 1836 – November 12, 1926) was an American politician from Illinois and a leader of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Cannon represented parts of Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for twenty-three non-consecutive terms between 1873 and 1923; upon his retirement, he was the List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service, longest serving member of the United States Congress ever. From 1903 to 1911, he presided as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, becoming one of the most powerful speakers in United States history. As the Speaker during most of the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, Cannon was an obstacle to the progressive policies advanced by Roosevelt and later abandoned by Taft. A revolt against Cannon's authority as Speaker, led by George W. Norris, was a contributing factor to the Republican Party split in the ...
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Thomas Brackett Reed
Thomas Brackett Reed Jr. (October 18, 1839 – December 7, 1902) was an American attorney, author, parliamentarian and Republican Party politician from Maine who served as the 32nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1889 to 1891 and 1895 to 1899. He represented Maine's 1st congressional district in the House from 1877 to 1899 and, prior to his time in Congress, represented Portland in the Maine legislature and served as Attorney General of Maine. In 1876, he was elected to represent Cumberland and York counties in the U.S. House and was re-elected for twelve consecutive terms. As Speaker, Reed had greater influence over the agenda and operations of the House than any prior Speaker. His first term was marked by a dramatic expansion of the Speaker's formal authority through changes to the House Rules, and he remains one of the most powerful Speakers in House history. He set out to put into practical effect his dictum "The best system is to have one party ...
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Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party before the American Civil War. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857. Davis, the youngest of ten children, was born in Fairview, Kentucky, but spent most of his childhood in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. His eldest brother Joseph Emory Davis secured the younger Davis's appointment to the United States Military Academy. Upon graduating, he served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. After leaving the army in 1835, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of general and future President Zachary Taylor. Sarah died from malaria three months after t ...
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John C
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died ), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (died ), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope John ( ...
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Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary of state under presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. Webster was one of the most prominent American lawyers of the 19th century, arguing over 200 cases before the United States Supreme Court in his career. During his life, Webster had been a member of the Federalist Party, the National Republican Party, and the Whig Party (United States), Whig Party. He was among the three members of the Great Triumvirate along with Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1782, Webster established a successful legal practice in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after graduating from Dartmouth College and serving a legal apprenticeship. A prominent opponent of the War of 1812, he won election to the United ...
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Henry Clay
Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, House speaker as well as the ninth United States Secretary of State, secretary of state. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1824 United States presidential election, 1824, 1832 United States presidential election, 1832, and 1844 United States presidential election, 1844 elections. He helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party (United States), Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen, alongside fellow Whig Daniel Webster and Democratic Party (United States), Democrat John C. Calhoun. Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, Virginia, in ...
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Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.George Perry
"The War at Home: Near Filed 60 Years Later", ''American Heritage'', Aug./Sept. 2006.
Outside his journalistic output, which included ''Letter from America'' and ''America: A Personal History of the United States'', he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS ''Masterpiece (TV series), Masterpiece Theatre'' from 1971 to 1992. After holding the job for 22 years, and having worked in television for Cooke retired in 1992, although he continued to present ''Letter from America'' until shortly before his death. He was the father of auth ...
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