On Capitol Hill
The Struggle to Reform Congress and its Consequences, 1948–2000

This 2004 book traces the demise of the committee era Congress and rise of the contemporary legislative branch.

Julian E. Zelizer (Author)

9780521801614, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 March 2004

376 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.682 kg

'All members of the Legislative Studies Section should read this book … When asked, 'where can I find a good narrative history of the modern Congress?' we now have an answer.' Ron Peters, APSA Legislative Studies Section Newsletter

Thirty years after the 'Watergate Babies' promised to end corruption in Washington, Julian Zelizer offers a major history of the demise of the committee era Congress and the rise of the contemporary legislative branch. Based on research in over 100 archival collections, this 2004 book tackles one of the most enduring political challenges in America: barring a wholesale evolution, how can the institutions that compose representative democracy be improved so as best to fulfill the promises of the Constitution? While popular accounts suggest that major scandals or legislation can transform how government works, Zelizer shows that reform is messy, slow, multidimensional, and involves many institutions. This moment of reform in the 1970s revolved around a coalition that had worked for decades, the slow reconfiguration of the relationship between institutions, shifts in the national culture, and the ability of reformers to take advantage of scandal and elections.

1. Transforming Congress
2. The Southern Gettysburg
3. Bombthrowing liberals
4. Into the political thicket
5. Exposing Congress
6. A window of opportunity
7. Money in politics
8. Reforming the future
9. Watergate babies
10. Scandal without reform
11. Congress in the era of cable television
12. The contemporary era
13. Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Politics & government [JP], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], History of the Americas [HBJK]