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The Lion of the Senate
When Ted Kennedy Rallied the Democrats in a GOP Congress
1 of 1 copy available
The November 1994 election swept a new breed of Republicans into control of the United States Congress. Led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the Republicans were determined to enact a radically conservative agenda that would reshape American government. Some wanted to shut down the government. If Gingrich's "Contract with America" been enacted, they would have shredded the federal safety net, decimated the federal programs, and struck down the regulatory framework that protects health, safety, and the environment. And, were it not for Ted Kennedy, who had defeated Mitt Romney for his Senate seat in 1994, they would have succeeded.
In Lion of the Senate Nick Littlefield and David Nexon describe never-before-disclosed maneuvers of closed-door meetings in which Kennedy galvanized his party, including the two pivotal years, 1995 and 1996, when the Republicans held control of Congress and he fought to preserve the mission of the Democratic Party in the face of the right-wing onslaught. Here is the nitty-gritty of Kennedy's role, and the details of a fascinating, bare-knuckled, and frequently hilarious fight in the United States Senate.
"Compelling...as a story about how the Senate operates—well, how the Senate used to operate—and a story about perhaps the greatest Senate lawmaker of the second half of the twentieth century, Lion of the Senate succeeds" (The Washington Post) as a political lesson for all time. With an introduction by Doris Kearns Goodwin, this is "a fine rendering that deserves a wide readership" (Kirkus Reviews).
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 10, 2015 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781476796178
- File size: 28249 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781476796178
- File size: 28249 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 10, 2015
This earnest, respectful account of Sen. Ted Kennedy at the peak of his senatorial powers evokes nostalgia for a bygone era of bipartisan lawmaking. Littlefield and Nexon, longtime staffers for the Massachusetts Democrat, chronicle the time between the Republican electoral surge of 1994, which made way for Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, and Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election. In an instance of critical insight regarding their own party that is rare for this book, they observe that “the Republicans’ success was a testament to the failure of Democrats nationally to produce their own agenda.” They then show how their former boss rallied his party against the GOP’s cost-cutting plans with bids for healthcare reform and an increased minimum wage. The authors tie Kennedy’s effectiveness to decades of Senate relationships that allowed him, even in the minority, “to build bipartisan coalitions and enact elements of his own agenda.” It’s a fair call that Kennedy’s mix of leadership styles allowed a minority response to the Contract’s disastrous results, which included two government shutdowns. But this analysis could have been made convincingly in a far shorter book, and the lengthy descriptions of Senate rules arcana, committee lineups, and legislative horse-trading will appeal mainly to Kennedy buffs and serious students of political science. -
June 15, 2015
Sen. Edward Kennedy's chief of staff on the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee and his senior health policy adviser, respectively, Littlefield and Nexon join forces to chronicle how Kennedy corralled the discouraged Democrats in 1994 when a new Republican majority led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sought to press a fiercely conservative agenda for remaking America. No compromising, big lessons.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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September 15, 2015
The 104th Congress (1995-96) loomed menacingly for the Democrats, as the Republicans took control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years. House Speaker Newt Gingrich promised a "Contract with America" that featured a five-year massive tax reduction to be funded by Medicare cuts. Coauthors Littlefield, formerly Senator Ted Kennedy's chief domestic policy advisor, and Nexon, the senator's senior health policy advisor for 22 years, present an admiring, comprehensive, and overly detailed account of how Kennedy marshalled disheartened congressional Democrats while working with Republican allies, notably senators Orrin Hatch and Nancy Kassebaum, to stem the conservative initiative. The book primarily delves into Kennedy's successful battles to save Medicare and to raise the minimum wage, but it also scrutinizes the two government shutdowns that resulted from the melee over the contract, senate traditions and the arcane parliamentary procedures that govern it, the Republican Party's growing and angry right-wing, Bill Clinton's beleaguered presidency, and other policy issues that became fodder for congressional fights. VERDICT This book would have been more accessible if it were trimmed of its minutia, yet it will find a receptive audience among political scientists, policy wonks, and elected officials who might learn lessons about bipartisanship. Consider Elizabeth Drew's Showdown of the 104th Congress told more from Clinton's and Gingrich's perspectives. [See Prepub Alert, 5/17/15.]--Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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