Sam Rayburn, i sin helhet Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn, (født 6. januar 1882, Roane fylke, Tenn., USA - død 16. november 1961, Bonham, Texas), amerikansk politisk leder, som fungerte som taler for US House of Representanter i nesten 17 år. Han ble først valgt inn i huset i 1912 og tjenestegjorde der kontinuerlig i 48 år 8 måneder, som på tidspunktet for hans død var en rekordperiode. Han ble valgt til kongressen 25 påfølgende ganger. Rayburn House Office Building, et kongresskontorbygg på Capitol Hill, ble navngitt i hans minne.
quiz
En studie av historie: fakta eller fiksjon?
Dagens håpediamant er mindre enn i århundrer tidligere.
Liv
Rayburns familie, av overveiende skotsk opprinnelse, flyttet fra Tennessee til Texas i 1887, og der vokste Rayburn opp på en gård på 40 mål. Han jobbet seg gjennom East Texas Normal College (nå Texas A&M University — Commerce), underviste i skolen og ble advokat. Han tjenestegjorde i Texas House of Representatives i seks år (1907–13) og ble i 1911 valgt til speaker. Året etter ble han valgt til den amerikanske kongressen, hvor han ble værende i nesten et halvt århundre.
Energisk, ivrig, ambisiøs og kjærlig, Rayburn ble raskt innflytelsesrik bak kulissene i regjering og i partipolitikk. Som formann (1931–37) for den mektige huskomiteen for utdannelse og utenrikshandel, var han en stor arkitekt for New Deal. Som medlem av Representantenes hus var han medforfatter av seks viktige lover - lov om nød jernbanetransport, "sannhetssikkerhetsloven", børsloven, føderal kommunikasjonslov, landlig elektrifiseringslov og en av de mest bittert omstridte av alle New Deal-lovene, Act of Act Utholdingselskapsloven.
Rayburn was elected Democratic leader of the House of Representatives in 1937 and became speaker of the House on Sept. 16, 1940. He held the latter office for almost 17 years, exceeding by a wide margin the previous record set by Kentucky statesman Henry Clay in the first quarter of the 19th century. Noted for his tart common sense, his honesty, and his unflagging patriotism, Rayburn was a trusted adviser to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy. A dedicated party man who described himself as a Democrat “without prefix, without suffix, and without apology,” Rayburn was often called “Mr. Democrat.” He was permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention in 1948, 1952, and 1956. After he won the battle in 1961 to enlarge the House Committee on Rules—the hardest internal House struggle in 50 years—Rayburn’s health failed quickly. Before Congress adjourned that year, he went home to Bonham, Texas, where he died.
Legacy
At the time of his death, Rayburn was regarded as an extraordinarily able legislator who had gone on to become the most effective speaker of the House since Joe Cannon was divested of his power in 1910. That assessment of Rayburn did not change in the decades following his death. His pivotal role in the House as a broker between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party, however, was later better understood and appreciated. During Rayburn’s tenure, power in the House was lodged in the hands of committee chairs who gained their positions through seniority. Because the American South still was overwhelmingly Democratic and the Republican Party was not competitive there, Southern Democrats in the House—with their seniority and their control over chairs of committees—tended to have great power. Northern Democrats tended to be more liberal than their Southern counterparts, but their lack of seniority and committee chairs diminished their influence in the House. Rayburn brokered the interests of both wings of the Democratic Party.
Although the office of speaker at that time lacked great formal powers, Rayburn used the limited influence of the office to maximum advantage. He also relied heavily on his personal prestige, his skill at persuasion, and personal friendships built up over decades in the House to bridge the regional differences within the Democratic Party and to forge a working majority in the House. His leadership style usually resulted in congenial relations not only between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party but also between Rayburn and the Republican leadership of the House—a considerable accomplishment, especially when viewed in the light of the divisive House of Representatives in the early 21st century.
