50 Years Ago, Americans Fired Their Dysfunctional Congress

It’s almost impossible to find anyone who is optimistic about Congress. The good news is that this is not the first time we’ve despaired over congressional dysfunction. In fact, in the years leading up to one of the biggest outbursts of legislative productivity—the passage of the Great Society in 1965 and 1966—there was a huge chorus of critics who decried the inaction of Congress. Revisiting that history can teach us about how to navigate the present political morass.

We just finished one of the least productive sessions in American history. Partisan gridlock, incivility, and extremism have paralyzed Capitol Hill. There are not many observers who believe that President Barack Obama’s current policy agenda stands much of a chance of passing through a broken Congress.

Whereas Obama has been stymied by congressional Republicans who controlled the House and capitalized on minority power in the Senate, John F. Kennedy squared off against a coalition of southern Democratic committee chairmen and Republicans. Since the 1937 backlash