Sam Rayburn

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn was the last great Speaker of the House of Representatives, a man who exercised great power in his three terms as Speaker (1940-1947; 1949-1953; and 1955-1961). When Mr. Sam was Speaker, Congress was not afraid to legislate on major issues, and the "Imperial Presidency" that evolved during the Cold War was not as strongly rooted. Sam Rayburn served as a Congressman from Texas for 48 years, after first being elected in 1912. He served in Congress under Presidents William Howard Taft (back when the president was inaugurated on March 4th) through John F. Kennedy. Born into poverty, Rayburn champion the interests of the disenfranchised in office. He became a close friend of and mentor to LBJ, a former Congressman whose rapid rise in the Senate was due to Rayburn's clout. (Rayburn and LBJ's father Sam Ealy Johnson has served together in the Texas State Legislature). Rayburn was a life-long bachelor except for a brief marriage to the sister of a fellow Congressman. (The marriage likely was derailed by Rayburn being a workaholic and because of his well-known fondness for the bottle.) Mr. Sam was quite enchanted by LBJ's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, and often dined with the Johnsons. Sam Rayburn died of cancer on November 16, 1961, in the middle of his 25th term, at the age of 79. His funeral was attended by President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, a sign of the great esteem in which he was held. His presence was sorely missed, as he was a master of working behind the scenes to craft and pass legislation. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award which may be bestowed by the U.S. Congress.