Speaker Jim Wright : : Power, Scandal, and the Birth of Modern Politics / / J. Brooks Flippen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• VerfasserIn: Flippen, J. Brooks,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (552 p.)

Honorable Mention, Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book, Texas Institute of Letters, 2019 Jim Wright made his mark on virtually every major public policy issue in the later twentieth century—energy, education, taxes, transportation, environmental protection, civil rights, criminal justice, and foreign relations, among them. He played a significant role in peace initiatives in Central America and in the Camp David Accords, and he was the first American politician to speak live on Soviet television. A Democrat representing Texas’s twelfth district (Fort Worth), Wright served in the US House of Representatives from the Eisenhower administration to the presidency of George H. W. Bush, including twelve years (1977–1989) as majority leader and speaker. His long congressional ascension and sudden fall in a highly partisan ethics scandal spearheaded by Newt Gingrich mirrored the evolution of Congress as an institution. Speaker Jim Wright traces the congressman’s long life and career in a highly readable narrative grounded in extensive interviews with Wright and access to his personal diaries. A skilled connector who bridged the conservative and liberal wings of the Democratic party while forging alliances with Republicans to pass legislation, Wright ultimately fell victim to a new era of political infighting, as well as to his own hubris and mistakes. J. Brooks Flippen shows how Wright’s career shaped the political culture of Congress, from its internal rules and power structure to its growing partisanship, even as those new dynamics eventually contributed to his political demise. To understand Jim Wright in all his complexity is to understand the story of modern American politics.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction. The Long Shadow of Scandal: The Forgotten Legacy -- Part I. The Rise of a Politician -- 1. The Foundations for Success: Family and Childhood (1922–1939) -- 2. The Lessons of Life: College and War (1939–1944) -- 3. Ambition and Frustration: State Legislature (1944–1948) -- 4. Preparation and Payoff: Businessman, Mayor, and Election to Congress (1948–1954) -- Part II. Congress in an Age of Tradition -- 5. Learning the Ropes: The New Congressman (1954–1956) -- 6. Building a Record: The Eisenhower Years (1956–1960) -- 7. Challenges: The Kennedy Years (1960–1963) -- 8. Access to Power: Johnson Takes Control (1963–1965) -- 9. The Rough Path Forward: Years of Change (1965–1968) -- Part III. Leadership in an Age of Dynamism -- 10. Old School: A Moderate in the Nixon Years (1968–1972) -- 11. Bombshell: The Watergate Crisis (1972–1974) -- 12. The Ripples of Watergate: A New Congress and New Opportunity (1972–1976) -- 13. The New Majority Leader: Critical Decisions in an Age of Partisanship (1976–1978) -- 14. The Struggle for Unity: The Carter Years (1978–1980) -- Part IV. Victory and Defeat in the Age of Reagan -- 15. A Challenge Like None Before: Reagan (1980–1982) -- 16. Rallying the Opposition: Friends and Enemies (1982–1986) -- 17. On the Mountaintop: Speaker of the House (1986–1989) -- 18. In the Valley: Resignation and Its Aftermath (1987–2015) -- Epilogue. The Politics of Scandal and the Judgment of History -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index