The Senate maintained a Democratic majority. In the House, the Republicans had actually won a plurality, but as the Progressives and Socialist Representative Meyer London caucused with the Democrats, this gave them the operational majority of the nearly evenly divided chamber, thus giving the Democrats full control of Congress, and along with President Wilson maintaining an overall federal government trifecta.
April 2, 1917: World War I: President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
March 4, 1918: A soldier at Camp Funston, Kansas, fell sick with the first confirmed case of the Spanish flu.
Major legislation
President Woodrow Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany on April 2, 1917.After war was declared, war bond posters demonized GermanyYoung men at the first national registration day held in association with the Selective Service Act of 1917.
July 9, 1918: Army Appropriations Act of 1918, Sess. 2, ch. 143, 40 Stat. 845 (incl. ch. 15: Public Health and Research Act of 1918 (Chamberlain–Kahn Act))
July 18, 1918: River and Harbor Act of 1918, Sess. 2, ch. 155, 40 Stat. 904
July 18, 1918: Charter Rate and Requisition Act of 1918, Sess. 2, ch. 157, 40 Stat. 913
Because of the 17th Amendment, starting in 1914 U.S. senators were directly elected instead of by the state legislatures. However, this did not affect the terms of U.S. senators whose terms had started before that Amendment took effect, In this Congress, Class 2 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1918; Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1920; and Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1922.
House of Representatives
Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
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
Additional Accommodations for the Library of Congress (Select) (Chairman: Boies Penrose; Ranking Member: William J. Stone)
^Hiram Johnson (R-California) did not take his seat until March 16, 1917, as he wanted to remain Governor of California. However, he was still elected and qualified as Senator.
Gould, Lewis L. (2005). The Most Exclusive Club. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books Group. ISBN 0-465-02778-4.
Remini, Robert V. (2006). The House. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-06-088434-7.
U.S. Congress (2005). "Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress". Archived from the original on June 1, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
U.S. House of Representatives (2006). "Congressional History". Archived from the original on June 1, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
U.S. Senate (2006). "Statistics and Lists". Archived from the original on June 1, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 1st Session.
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 2nd Session (1st Revision) (PDF).
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 2nd Session (2nd Revision).
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 2nd Session (3rd Revision).
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 3rd Session.
Official Congressional Directory for the 65th Congress, 3rd Session (Revision).