Both chambers had a Democratic majority (albeit reduced in the House). With President Kennedy being sworn in on January 20, 1961, this gave the Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 82nd Congress in 1952.
Major events
January 3, 1961: President Eisenhower severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.
January 20, 1961: Inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
Senate President Lyndon Johnson (L) and House Speaker Sam Rayburn seated behind President John Kennedy during his first State of the Union address on January 30, 1961.
August 27, 1962: Twenty-fourth Amendment approved by Congress and sent to the states for consideration. It would prohibit both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was later ratified on January 23, 1964.
Senators are 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 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 1962; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 1964; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 1966.
Currently, this is the last Congressional session in which the Democratic Party commanded all Senate seats from the Deep South, a unity broken when a Republicandefeated the appointed successor to Lyndon Johnson's seat in a 1961 Senate special election.
House of Representatives
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
Changes in membership
Senate
House of Representatives
Committees
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.
