Thomas Brackett Reed, (October 18, 1839 – December 7, 1902), occasionally ridiculed as
Czar Reed, was a
U.S. RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
, and Speaker of the House from 1889–1891 and from 1895–1899. He was a powerful leader of the Republican Party but was unable to stop the
Spanish-American WarThe Spanish–American War was an armed military conflict between Spain and the United States that took place between April and August 1898, over the issues of the liberation of Cuba. The war began after American demands for the resolution of the Cuban fight for independence were rejected by Spain...
.
Born in
Portland, MainePortland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2007 estimated city population was 62,875. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. It is also the principal city of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, with...
, Reed attended public school, including
Portland High SchoolPortland High School is a public high school in Portland, Maine which educates grades 9–12. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district....
, before graduating from
Bowdoin CollegeBowdoin College , founded in 1794, is a private liberal arts college located in the coastal New England town of Brunswick, Maine. The college enrolls approximately 1,700 students and has been coeducational since 1971. It offers 33 majors and 4 additional minors; the academic year consists of two...
in 1860. He studied law.
Thomas Brackett Reed, (October 18, 1839 – December 7, 1902), occasionally ridiculed as
Czar Reed, was a
U.S. RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
, and Speaker of the House from 1889–1891 and from 1895–1899. He was a powerful leader of the Republican Party but was unable to stop the
Spanish-American WarThe Spanish–American War was an armed military conflict between Spain and the United States that took place between April and August 1898, over the issues of the liberation of Cuba. The war began after American demands for the resolution of the Cuban fight for independence were rejected by Spain...
.
Political life
Born in
Portland, MainePortland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2007 estimated city population was 62,875. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. It is also the principal city of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, with...
, Reed attended public school, including
Portland High SchoolPortland High School is a public high school in Portland, Maine which educates grades 9–12. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district....
, before graduating from
Bowdoin CollegeBowdoin College , founded in 1794, is a private liberal arts college located in the coastal New England town of Brunswick, Maine. The college enrolls approximately 1,700 students and has been coeducational since 1971. It offers 33 majors and 4 additional minors; the academic year consists of two...
in 1860. He studied law. After college, he went on to become acting assistant paymaster,
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
, from April, 1864, to November 1865, and was admitted to the bar in 1865. He practiced in Portland, and was elected to the
Maine House of RepresentativesThe Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 members representing an equal amount of districts across the state. Each voting member of the House represents around 8,450 citizens of the state...
, in 1868 and 1869. He served in the
Maine SenateThe Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, though the Maine Constitution allows for "an odd number of Senators, not less than...
in 1870 but left to serve as the state's Attorney General 1870-72. Reed became city solicitor of Portland 1874–1877, before being elected as a
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
to the Forty-fifth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses, serving from 1877, to September 4, 1899, when he resigned.
Acerbic wit
He was known for his acerbic wit (asked if his party might nominate him for President, he noted "They could do worse, and they probably will"; His size, standing at over 6 feet in height and weighing over 300 lbs (136 kg), was also a distinguishing factor for him. Reed was a member of the social circle that included intellectuals and politicians Sen.
Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot Lodge was an American statesman, a Republican politician, and a noted historian.-Biography:Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Lodge and Anna Cabot. His great-grandfather was former Senator George Cabot. Lodge grew up on Boston's Beacon Hill after spending part of...
,
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
,
Henry AdamsHenry Brooks Adams was an American journalist, historian, academic and novelist. He is best-known for his autobiographical book, The Education of Henry Adams. He was a member of the Adams political family.- Early life :...
,
John HayJohn Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:...
and
Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted...
.
As a House freshman, Reed was appointed to the Potter Commission, which was to investigate voting irregularities in the presidential election of 1876, where his skill at cross examination forced Democrat
Samuel J. TildenSamuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, the most controversial American election of the 19th century...
to personally appear to defend his reputation. He chaired of the
Committee on the JudiciaryCommittee on the Judiciary may mean:* United States House Committee on the Judiciary* United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary...
(Forty-seventh Congress) and chaired the
Rules CommitteeThe Committee on Rules, or Rules Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. Rather than being responsible for a specific area of policy, as most other committees are, it is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor...
(Fifty-first, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses).
As the Speaker of the House
Reed was first elected Speaker after an intense fight with
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
of Ohio. Reed gained the support of young
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
, whose influence with the newly appointed Civil Service Commissioner was the decisive factor. Reed served as the
Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The current Speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing California's 8th congressional district....
from 1889 to 1891 and then from 1895 to 1899, as well as being Chairman of the powerful Rules Committee.
During his time as Speaker, Reed assiduously and dramatically increased the power of the Speaker over the House; although the power of the Speaker had always waxed (most notably during
Henry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He served as Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829....
's tenure) and waned, the position had previously commanded influence rather than outright power. Reed set out to put into practical effect his dictum that "The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch"; this was accomplished by carefully studying the existing procedures of the U.S. House, most dating to the original designs written by
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
. What followed has popularly been called the "Battle of the Reed Rules".
In particular, Reed sought to circumscribe the ability of the minority party to block business, by way of its members refusing to answer a
quorum callA quorum call or call to quorum is a parliamentary procedure used to summon absent members of a deliberative body if a quorum is not present. Since attendance at debates is not mandatory in most legislatures, it is often the case that a quorum of members is not present while debate is ongoing...
, thus forcing the House to suspend business. This is popularly called the
disappearing quorumThe disappearing quorum was a practice used by the minority party to prevent voting in the United States House of Representatives. By refusing to vote and be recorded as absent while in fact physically present, a quorum was not achieved and the vote did not count.The practice was shattered on...
. As Speaker, Reed's solution was as controversial as it was simple: when a quorum call was, Reed began counting every member present in the chamber, whether they chose to answer the
roll callRoll call is the calling of the names of people from a list to determine the presence or absence of the listed people . The term applies to the calling itself, to the time moment of this procedure, and to a military signal that announces it Roll call is the calling of the names of people from a...
or not. Reed's intent was simple: to enable the majority party to make decisions that the minority could not block by parliamentary maneuver.
Reed was convinced of the need to streamline House procedure, but the
DemocratsThe history of the Democratic Party of the United States is an account of the oldest political party in the United States and arguably the oldest democratic party in the world.-Origins:...
had the most to lose as the minority party. The parliamentary intrigue and back room infighting was heated and at times threatening. Reed's cunning and Cannon's technical skill won out. His changes paved the way for the Speakership of
Joseph Gurney CannonJoseph Gurney Cannon was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such...
.
Presidential aspirations and departure from Congress
Reed tried to obtain the Republican nomination for
PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
in 1896, but Ohio Governor McKinley's campaign manager,
Mark HannaMarcus Alonzo Hanna , best known as Mark Hanna, was an American industrialist and Republican politician from Cleveland, Ohio. He rose to fame as the campaign manager of the successful Republican Presidential candidate, William McKinley, in the U.S...
, blocked his efforts.
In 1898 Reed supported McKinley in efforts to head off war with Spain. When McKinley switched to support for the war, Reed disagreed. He resigned from Congress in 1900 to enter private law practice.
On a nostalgic trip to Washington in 1902 he had a sudden heart attack and died;
Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot Lodge was an American statesman, a Republican politician, and a noted historian.-Biography:Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Lodge and Anna Cabot. His great-grandfather was former Senator George Cabot. Lodge grew up on Boston's Beacon Hill after spending part of...
eulogized him as "a good hater, who detested shams, humbugs and pretense above all else." He was buried in
Evergreen CemeteryEvergreen Cemetery is a cemetery in Portland, Maine. With of land, it is the largest cemetery in Maine. It was established in 1855. The Wilde Memorial Chapel, an on-site granite gothic building, was a gift to the city by the family of Samuel Wilde in 1902, and is used as a place for memorial and...
in
Portland, MainePortland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2007 estimated city population was 62,875. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. It is also the principal city of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, with...
.
Landmarks
The coastal town of Reed, Oregon, was named after him.
In 1910, His home town of Portland, Maine, erected a statue of him at the corner of Western Promenade and Pine St.
External links