Sam Rayburn, voluit Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn, (geboren op 6 januari 1882, Roane county, Tenn., VS - overleden op 16 november 1961, Bonham, Texas), Amerikaanse politieke leider, die als spreker van het Amerikaanse Huis van Vertegenwoordigers bijna 17 jaar. Hij werd voor het eerst gekozen in het Huis in 1912 en diende daar gedurende 48 jaar 8 maanden onafgebroken, wat op het moment van zijn dood een record ambtstermijn was. Hij werd 25 opeenvolgende keren gekozen in het Congres. Het Rayburn House Office Building, een congreskantoor op Capitol Hill, werd naar hem genoemd.
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Een geschiedenisstudie: feit of fictie?
De Hope Diamond van vandaag is kleiner dan die van de voorbije eeuwen.
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Rayburn's familie, van overwegend Schotse afkomst, verhuisde in 1887 van Tennessee naar Texas en daar groeide Rayburn op op een boerderij van 40 hectare. Hij werkte zich een weg door het East Texas Normal College (nu Texas A&M University - Commerce), gaf les op school en werd advocaat. Hij diende zes jaar in het Huis van Afgevaardigden van Texas (1907–13) en werd in 1911 tot spreker gekozen. Het jaar daarop werd hij gekozen in het Amerikaanse congres, waar hij bijna een halve eeuw verbleef.
Energiek, leergierig, ambitieus en vriendelijk, Rayburn werd al snel invloedrijk achter de schermen bij de overheid en in de partijpolitiek. Als voorzitter (1931-1937) van de machtige House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce was hij een belangrijke architect van de New Deal. Als lid van de Tweede Kamer was hij medeauteur van zes belangrijke wetten: de Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, de "Truth-in-Securities" Act, de Stock Exchange Act, de Federal Communications Act, de Rural Electrification Act en een van de meest bitter betwiste van alle New Deal-wetten, de Public Utility Holding Company Act.
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.
