76th United States Congress

The 76th 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, 1939, to January 3, 1941, during the seventh and eighth years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1930 United States census.
Both chambers had a Democratic majority - holding a supermajority in the Senate, but a greatly reduced majority in the House, thus losing the supermajority there. With President Roosevelt, the Democrats maintained an overall federal government trifecta.
The 76th is also the most recent Congress to have held a third session.
File:Senate Chaplain delivers prayer 1939.jpg|thumb|Chaplain of the United States Senate ZeBarney Thorne Phillips delivering prayer to open the session

Major events

April 9, 1939: African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia.
August 2, 1939: Leo Szilard wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the atomic bomb using uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
September 5, 1939: World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
November 4, 1939: World War II: President Roosevelt ordered the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.
November 15, 1939: President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
April 1, 1940: April Fools' Day was also the census date for the 16th U.S. Census.
May 16, 1940: World War II: President Roosevelt, addressed a joint session of Congress, asking for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
June 5, 1940: World War II: The United States Senate passes bill S4025 which allows the Department of Defense to sell outdated equipment to belligerents in wartime. In practice this allows the Roosevelt administration to sell certain navy vessels to Great Britain. The vote is watched closely by both the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany. The Nazis hope that the bill does not pass, the British hope that it will. The bill passes 67-18 in the United States Senate.
June 10, 1940: World War II: President Roosevelt denounced Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech during the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
July 10, 1940: World War II: The United States Senate votes to confirm Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy. The British hope he will be confirmed as he was openly sympathetic to them. Islationist Senators such as Burton K. Wheeler and Ellison D. Smith vote against the confirmation.
August 4, 1940: World War II: Gen. John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, while Charles Lindbergh speaks to an isolationist rally at Soldier Field in Chicago.
September, 1940: The Army's 45th Infantry Division, was activated and ordered into federal service for 1 year, to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana, prior to serving in World War II.
September 2, 1940: World War II: An agreement between America and Great Britain was announced to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work would be transferred to Great Britain. In return, America gained 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic, West Indies and Bermuda.
September 26, 1940: World War II: The United States imposed a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.
October 16, 1940: The draft registration of approximately 16 million men began in the United States.
October 29, 1940: The Selective Service System lottery was held in Washington, D.C.
November 5, 1940: U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Party|Republican] challenger Wendell Willkie and became the United States's first and only third-term president.
November 12, 1940: Case of Hansberry v. Lee,, decided, allowing a racially restrictive covenant to be lifted.
December 17, 1940: President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first outlined his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.
December 29, 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declared that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."
January 13, 1941: All persons born in Puerto Rico after this day were declared U.S. citizens by birth, through federal law.
January 20, 1941: Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swore in President Roosevelt for a third term.
January 27, 1941: World War II: U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew passed on to Washington a rumor overheard at a diplomatic reception about a planned surprise attack upon Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
February 4, 1941: World War II: The United Service Organization was created to entertain American troops.

Hearings

January 23, 1941: Aviator Charles Lindbergh testified before the Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

Major legislation

April 3, 1939: Reorganization Act of 1939,,
August 2, 1939: Hatch Act of 1939, ch. 410,
November 4, 1939: Neutrality Act of 1939,, ch. 2,
June 29, 1940: Alien Registration Act, 3d sess. ch. 439,
August 22, 1940: Act of August 22, 1940, ch. 686,,
September 16, 1940: Selective Training and Service Act of 1940,

Leadership

Senate

President: John N. Garner
President pro tempore: Key Pittman, until November 10, 1940
* William H. King, from November 19, 1940

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley
Majority Whip: Sherman Minton
Democratic Conference Secretary|Democratic Caucus Secretary]: Joshua B. Lee

Minority (Republican) leadership

House of Representatives

Speaker of the [United States House of Representatives|Speaker]: William B. Bankhead, until September 15, 1940
* Sam Rayburn, from September 16, 1940

Majority (Democratic) leadership

Majority Leader: Sam Rayburn, until September 16, 1940
* John W. McCormack, from September 16, 1940
Democratic Whip: Patrick J. Boland
Democratic Caucus Chairman: John W. McCormack, until September 16, 1940
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Patrick H. Drewry

Minority (Republican) leadership

Members

Senate

Senators were 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 ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1940; Class 2 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1942; and Class 3 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1944.

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

Wyoming">List of United States senators from Wyoming">Wyoming

File:76th United States Congress Senators.svg|thumb|375px|Senators' party membership by state at the opening of the 76th Congress in January 1939. The green stripes denote Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. of the Progressive Party, and the yellow strips denote independent Senator George W. Norris.