Sam Rayburn, i sin helhet Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn, (född 6 januari 1882, Roane län, Tenn., USA - död 16 november 1961, Bonham, Texas), amerikansk politisk ledare, som tjänade som talare för US House of Representanter i nästan 17 år. Han valdes först till kammaren 1912 och tjänade där kontinuerligt i 48 år 8 månader, som vid tiden för hans död var en rekordtid. Han valdes till kongressen 25 gånger i följd. Rayburn House Office Building, en kongressbyggnad på Capitol Hill, utnämndes i hans minne.
Frågesport
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Rayburns familj, av övervägande skotskt ursprung, flyttade från Tennessee till Texas 1887, och där växte Rayburn upp på en gård på 40 hektar. Han arbetade sig genom East Texas Normal College (nu Texas A&M University - Commerce), undervisade i skolan och blev advokat. Han tjänstgjorde i Texas House of Representatives i sex år (1907–13) och valdes 1911 till talare. Året efter valdes han till den amerikanska kongressen, där han stannade kvar i nästan ett halvt sekel.
Energisk, ambitiös, ambitiös och tillmötesgående blev Rayburn snabbt inflytelserik bakom kulisserna i regeringen och i partipolitiken. Som ordförande (1931–37) för den mäktiga huskommittén för mellanstatliga och utrikeshandeln var han en viktig arkitekt för New Deal. Som medlem av representanthuset var han medförfattare till sex viktiga lagar - lagen om järnvägstransporter, lagen "Sanningar i värdepapper", börslagen, lagen om offentlig kommunikation, lagen om landsbygdens elektrifiering och en av de mest bittert ifrågasatta av alla New Deal-lagar, lagen om offentlig ägarföretag.
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.
