92nd United States Congress
91st 
 93rd

January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973
Members100 senators
435 representatives
Senate majorityDemocratic
Senate PresidentSpiro Agnew (R)
House majorityDemocratic
House SpeakerCarl Albert (D)
Sessions
1st: January 21, 1971 – December 17, 1971
2nd: January 18, 1972 – October 18, 1972

The 92nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1971, to January 3, 1973, during the third and fourth years of Richard Nixon's presidency.

The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1960 census. Both chambers maintained a Democratic majority.

Major events

Passing legislation on revenue-sharing was a key event of the congress. President Richard Nixon had it listed on his list of top policies to cover for the year. Nixon signed the bill into law at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The law gained support from many state and local officials including: San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto whose city received $27 million in revenue-sharing money in the first year. Alioto said that many projects that would not have been possible could now be done, "That will effectively enable us to meet those programs which up to now because of very tough budgeting we've had to trench."[1]

Major legislation

Constitutional amendments

  • March 23, 1971: Approved an amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification
  • March 22, 1972: Approved an amendment to the Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification
    • This amendment, commonly known as the Equal Rights Amendment, was later rendered inoperative, as it was not ratified within the seven–year time frame set by Congress (nor the later time extension granted)

Party summary

The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the Changes in membership section.

Senate

Party standings on the opening day of the 92nd Congress
  54 Democratic Senators
  1 Independent Senator, caucusing with Democrats
  44 Republican Senators
  1 Conservative Senator, caucusing with Republicans
Party
(shading shows control)
Total Vacant
Democratic
(D)
Republican
(R)
Other
(O)
End of previous congress 59 41 0 100 0
Begin 54 44 2 100 0
End
Final voting share 54.0% 44.0% 2.0%
Beginning of next congress 56 42 2[lower-alpha 1] 100 0

House of Representatives

Party
(shading shows control)
Total Vacant
Democratic
(D)
Republican
(R)
End of previous congress 242 189 431 4
Begin 254 180 434 1
End 252 178 4305
Final voting share 58.6% 41.4%
Beginning of next congress 241 192 433 2

Leadership

Senate

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Minority (Republican) leadership

Caucuses

Members

This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed in order of class, and representatives are listed by district.

Senate

Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1976; Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1972; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1974.

House of Representatives

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

Changes in membership

The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.

Senate

  • Replacements: 5
  • Deaths: 3
  • Resignations: 0
  • Total seats with changes: 3
Senate changes
State
(class)
Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 2]
Georgia
(2)
Richard Russell Jr. (D) Died January 21, 1971 David H. Gambrell (D) February 1, 1971
Vermont
(1)
Winston L. Prouty (R) Died September 10, 1971 Robert Stafford (R) September 16, 1971
Louisiana
(2)
Allen J. Ellender (D) Died July 27, 1972 Elaine S. Edwards (D) August 1, 1972
Georgia
(2)
David H. Gambrell (D) Successor elected November 7, 1972 Sam Nunn (D) November 8, 1972
Louisiana
(2)
Elaine S. Edwards (D) Successor elected November 13, 1972 J. Bennett Johnston (D) November 14, 1972

House of Representatives

  • Replacements: 10
  • Deaths: 8
  • Resignations: 6
  • Total seats with changes: 16
House changes
District Vacated by Reason for change Successor Date of successor's
formal installation[lower-alpha 2]
District of Columbia at-large Vacant District elected first delegate since the seat was re-established during previous congress Walter Fauntroy (D) March 23, 1971
South Carolina 1st Vacant Rep. L. Mendel Rivers died during previous congress Mendel Jackson Davis (D) April 27, 1971
Maryland 1st Rogers Morton (R) Resigned January 29, 1971, after being appointed United States Secretary of the Interior William Oswald Mills (R) May 25, 1971
Pennsylvania 18th Robert J. Corbett (R) Died April 25, 1971 John Heinz (R) November 2, 1971
Vermont at-large Robert Stafford (R) Resigned after being appointed to the US Senate September 16, 1971 Richard W. Mallary (R) January 7, 1972
Kentucky 6th John C. Watts (D) Died September 24, 1971 William P. Curlin Jr. (D) December 4, 1971
Pennsylvania 27th James G. Fulton (R) Died October 6, 1971 William Sheldrick Conover (R) April 25, 1972
Illinois 15th Charlotte Thompson Reid (R) Resigned October 7, 1971, after being appointed to the Federal Communications Commission Cliffard D. Carlson (R) April 4, 1972
Alabama 3rd George W. Andrews (D) Died December 25, 1971 Elizabeth B. Andrews (D) April 4, 1972
Massachusetts 5th F. Bradford Morse (R) Resigned May 1, 1972, after being appointed Undersecretary General for Political and General Assembly Affairs at the United Nations Vacant Not filled this congress
Louisiana 7th Edwin Edwards (D) Resigned after being elected Governor of Louisiana May 9, 1972 John Breaux (D) September 30, 1972
Virginia 6th Richard Harding Poff (R) Resigned after being appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia M. Caldwell Butler (R) November 7, 1972
New York 20th William Fitts Ryan (D) Died September 17, 1972. Vacant Not filled this congress
Ohio 16th Frank T. Bow (R) Died November 13, 1972.
Illinois 6th George W. Collins (D) Died in a plane crash December 8, 1972.
Alaska at-large Nick Begich (D) He and Hale Boggs were lost in a plane crash October 16, 1972. Presumptive death certificate for Rep. Begich was issued December 29, 1972.

Committees

Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.

Senate

House of Representatives

Joint committees

Employees

Legislative branch agency directors

Senate

House of Representatives

Footnotes

  • Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
  • Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

See also

Notes

  1. Conservative Party of New York, Independent
  2. 1 2 When seated or oath administered, not necessarily when service began.

References

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