64th United States Congress
The 64th 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 March 4, 1915, to March 4, 1917, during the third and fourth years of Woodrow Wilson's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1910 United States census.
The Democrats maintained a majority in both chambers and, along with President Wilson, also maintained an overall federal government trifecta.
Major events
- June 9, 1915 : U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned over a disagreement regarding the nation's handling of the RMS Lusitania sinking.
- July 24, 1915: The steamer SS Eastland capsized in central Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.
- July 28, 1915: The United States occupation of Haiti began.
- August 5–August 23, 1915: Hurricane Two of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season over Galveston and New Orleans left 275 dead.
- March 8–March 9, 1916: Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa led about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.
- March 15, 1916: President Woodrow Wilson sent 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.
- May 5, 1916: United States Marines invaded and started the occupation of the Dominican Republic.
- July 30, 1916: German agents caused the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey, an act of sabotage destroying an ammunition depot and killing at least seven people.
- November 7, 1916: U.S. presidential election, 1916: Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeated Republican Charles E. Hughes.
- January 11, 1917 : German saboteurs set off the Kingsland explosion at Kingsland, New Jersey, one of the events leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
- February 3, 1917 : The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany
Major legislation
- May 15, 1916: Kern Amendment
- May 29, 1916: Fraudulent Advertising Act of 1916
- May 31, 1916: Tillman Act
- June 3, 1916: National Defense Act of 1916
- June 9, 1916: Chamberlain–Ferris Act
- July 11, 1916: Federal Aid Road Act of 1916
- July 11, 1916: Terminal Inspection Act of 1916
- July 17, 1916: Federal Farm Loan Act (Hollis–Lever Act)
- July 27, 1916: River and Harbors Act of 1916
- July 28, 1916: Post Office Appropriation Act of 1916
- August 9, 1916: Uniform Bill of Lading Act of 1916
- August 11, 1916: 1916 (Smith Act)
- August 11, 1916: Wildlife Game Refuges Act of 1916
- August 11, 1916: Grain Standards Act of 1916
- August 11, 1916: Cotton Futures Act of 1916
- August 11, 1916: Brush Disposal Act of 1916
- August 11, 1916: Warehouse Act of 1916
- August 25, 1916: National Park Service Act (Kent–Smoot Act)
- August 29, 1916: 2nd Uniform Bill of Lading Act of 1916
- August 29, 1916: Jones Act (Philippines)
- August 29, 1916: Federal Possession and Control Act of 1916
- August 29, 1916: Army Appropriations Act of 1916
- August 29, 1916: Naval Act of 1916
- August 29, 1916: Naval Reserve Force Act
- August 31, 1916: Federal Standard Container Act
- August 31, 1916: Standard Fruits and Vegetable Baskets and Containers Act of 1916
- September 1, 1916: Keating–Owen Act
- September 3, 1916: Adamson Act
- September 7, 1916: Merchant Marine Act of 1916 (Alexander Act)
- September 7, 1916: Workingmen's Compensation Act (Kern–McGillicuddy Act)
- September 8, 1916: Anti-Dumping Act of 1916
- September 8, 1916: Emergency Revenue Act of 1916
- October 20, 1916: Special Air Preparedness Act
- December 29, 1916: Stock-Raising Homestead Act
- February 5, 1917: Immigration Act of 1917
- February 22, 1917: Federal Interpleader Act of 1917
- February 23, 1917: Smith–Hughes Act
- February 26, 1917: Mount McKinley National Park Act of 1917
- March 1, 1917: Flood Control Act of 1917 (Ransdell–Humphreys Act)
- March 2, 1917: Jones–Shafroth Act
- March 3, 1917: Reed Amendment
- March 3, 1917: Sheppard Bone-Dry Act
- March 3, 1917: Special Preparedness Fund Act of 1917
- March 4, 1917: Timber Export Act
Treaties
- January 17, 1917: Treaty of the Danish West Indies signed by President Wilson, ceding the Danish West Indies to the United States after their purchase from Denmark and renaming them the US Virgin Islands.
Leadership
Senate
- President: Thomas R. Marshall
- Presidents pro tempore: James P. Clarke and Willard Saulsbury Jr.
- Majority Whip: J. Hamilton Lewis
- Minority Whip: Charles Curtis
- Republican Conference Chairman: Jacob Harold Gallinger
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: John W. Kern
- Republican Conference Secretary: James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.
- Democratic Caucus Secretary: Willard Saulsbury Jr., until December 14, 1916
- * Key Pittman, acting
House of Representatives
Majority (Democratic) leadership
- Majority Leader: Claude Kitchin
- Majority Whip: vacant
- Democratic Caucus Chairman: Edward W. Saunders
- Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Frank Ellsworth Doremus
Minority (Republican) leadership
- Minority Leader: James R. Mann
- Minority Whip: Charles M. Hamilton
- Republican Conference Chairman: William S. Greene
- Republican Campaign Committee Chairman: Frank P. Woods
Members
Senate
Prior to the 64th Congress, per Article 1, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, all senators had been "chosen by the Legislature thereof."However, 32 senators of the 64th Congress - those of Senate Class 3 - were directly elected by popular vote in the 1914 United States Senate Elections as directed by the 17th Amendment. The 17th stipulated that it "...shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution." Thus, Class 1 and 2 senators were not subject to election until 1916 and 1918, respectively.
Florida">List of United States senators from Florida">Florida
Louisiana">List of United States senators from Louisiana">Louisiana
Montana">List of United States senators from Montana">Montana
North Dakota">List of United States senators from North Dakota">North Dakota
Tennessee">List of United States senators from Tennessee">Tennessee
House of Representatives
The names of representatives are preceded by their district numbers.Florida">List of United States representatives from Florida">Florida
Louisiana">List of United States representatives from Louisiana">Louisiana
Montana">List of United States representatives from Montana">Montana
North Dakota">List of United States representatives from North Dakota">North Dakota
Tennessee">List of United States representatives from Tennessee">Tennessee
Wyoming">List of United States representatives from Wyoming">Wyoming
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.Senate
- Replacements: 3
- * Democratic: 1 seat net loss
- * Republican: 1 seat net gain
- Deaths: 3
- Resignations: 0
- Vacancy: 0Total seats with changes: 4
| State | Senator | Reason for vacancy | Successor | Date of successor's installation |
| Indiana | Benjamin F. Shively | Died March 14, 1916. Successor was appointed. | Thomas Taggart | March 20, 1916 |
| Maine | Edwin C. Burleigh | Died June 16, 1916. Successor was elected. | Bert M. Fernald | September 12, 1916 |
| Arkansas | James P. Clarke | Died October 1, 1916. Successor was elected. | William F. Kirby | November 8, 1916 |
| Indiana | Thomas Taggart | Successor was elected. | James E. Watson | November 8, 1916 |
House of Representatives
- Replacements: 9
- * Democratic: 2 seat loss
- * Republican: 3 seat gain
- * Progressive: 1 seat loss
- Deaths: 8
- Resignations: 12
- Contested elections: 4Total seats with changes: 15
Committees
Senate
- Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress
- Agriculture and Forestry
- Appropriations
- Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate
- Banking and Currency
- Canadian Relations
- Census
- Civil Service and Retrenchment
- Claims
- Coast and Insular Survey
- Coast Defenses
- Commerce
- Conservation of National Resources
- Corporations Organized in the District of Columbia
- Cuban Relations
- Disposition of Useless Papers in the Executive Departments
- District of Columbia
- Education and Labor
- Engrossed Bills
- Enrolled Bills
- Establish a University in the United States
- Examine the Several Branches in the Civil Service
- Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture
- [United States Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce|Expenditures in the Department of United States Senate Committee on Commerce|Commerce and Labor]
- Expenditures in the Interior Department
- Expenditures in the Department of Justice
- Expenditures in the Navy Department
- Expenditures in the Post Office Department
- Expenditures in the Department of State
- Expenditures in the Treasury Department
- Expenditures in the War Department
- Finance
- Fisheries
- Five Civilized Tribes of Indians
- Foreign Relations
- Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game
- Geological Survey
- Immigration
- Indian Affairs
- Indian Depredations
- Industrial Expositions
- Interoceanic Canals
- Interstate Commerce
- Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands
- Judiciary
- Library
- Manufactures
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Mississippi River and its Tributaries
- National Banks
- Naval Affairs
- Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico
- Pacific Railroads
- Patents
- Pensions
- Philippines
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Printing
- Private Land Claims
- Privileges and Elections
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Health and National Quarantine
- Public Lands
- Railroads
- Revision of the Laws
- Revolutionary Claims
- Rules
- Standards, Weights and Measures
- Tariff Regulation
- Telepost
- Territories
- Transportation and Sale of Meat Products
- Transportation Routes to the Seaboard
- Trespassers upon Indian Lands
- Whole
- Woman Suffrage
House of Representatives
- Accounts
- Agriculture
- Alcoholic Liquor Traffic
- Appropriations
- Banking and Currency
- Census
- Claims
- Coinage, Weights and Measures
- Disposition of Executive Papers
- District of Columbia
- Education
- Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress
- Elections No.#1
- Elections No.#2
- Elections No.#3
- Enrolled Bills
- Expenditures in the Agriculture Department
- Expenditures in the Commerce Department
- Expenditures in the Interior Department
- Expenditures in the Justice Department
- Expenditures in the Labor Department
- Expenditures in the Navy Department
- Expenditures in the Post Office Department
- Expenditures in the State Department
- Expenditures in the Treasury Department
- Expenditures in the War Department
- Expenditures on Public Buildings
- Foreign Affairs
- Immigration and Naturalization
- Indian Affairs
- Industrial Arts and Expositions
- Insular Affairs
- Interstate and Foreign Commerce
- Invalid Pensions
- Irrigation of Arid Lands
- Judiciary
- Labor
- Library
- Merchant Marine and Fisheries
- Mileage
- Military Affairs
- Mines and Mining
- Naval Affairs
- Patents
- Pensions
- Post Office and Post Roads
- Printing
- Public Buildings and Grounds
- Public Lands
- Railways and Canals
- Reform in the Civil Service
- Revision of Laws
- Rivers and Harbors
- Roads
- Rules
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories
- War Claims
- Ways and Means
- Whole
Joint committees
- Armor Plant Costs
- Conditions of Indian Tribes
- Federal Aid in Construction of Post Roads
- Disposition of (Useless) Executive Papers
- The Library
- Interstate Commerce
- Investigate the General Parcel Post
- Printing
- Postage on 2nd Class Mail Matter and Compensation for Transportation of Mail
- Rural Credits
- Second Class Mail Matter and Compensation for Rail Mail Service
Caucuses
Employees
Legislative branch agency">List of federal agencies in the United States">Legislative branch agency directors
- Architect of the Capitol: Elliott Woods
- Librarian of Congress: Herbert Putnam
- Public Printer of the United States: Cornelius Ford
Senate
- Chaplain: F. J. Prettyman
- Secretary: James M. Baker
- Librarian: Edward C. Goodwin
- Sergeant at Arms: Charles P. Higgins
House of Representatives
- Chaplain: Henry N. Couden
- Clerk: South Trimble
- Clerk at the Speaker's Table: Bennett C. Clark
- Doorkeeper: Joseph J. Sinnott
- Reading Clerks: Patrick Joseph Haltigan and H. Martin Williams
- Postmaster: William M. Dunbar
- Sergeant at Arms: Robert B. Gordon