ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn's performance during World War II and his relationship with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. It argues that Rayburn's reputed and legendary dominance of the House during his years as Speaker overstates the power that he actually wielded and underemphasizes how much Rayburn had to struggle to push legislation through. Rayburn had problems with Smith and the Rules Committee throughout his years as Speaker. In the last year of his speakership, Rayburn's fortunes rebounded with the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency and the celebrated, if narrow, victory in the fight to expand the House Rules Committee in early 1961. The battle over Landrum-Griffin demonstrated from the legislative perspective what the Butler feud showed from the political angle: Rayburn's influence in Congress and with his party was under siege. By the time of his death in November 1961, Rayburn had once again become a legislative icon in United States politics.
