Larson, D. R.

English

University of Miami School of Law

University of Miami Law Review Volume 4 Number 3 Article 22 4-1-1950 CONGRESS ON TRIAL. By James MacGregor Burns. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949. D. R. Larson Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr Recommended Citation D. R. Larson, CONGRESS ON TRIAL. By James MacGregor Burns. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949., 4 U. Miami L. Rev. 412 (1950) Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr/vol4/iss3/22 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact library@law.miami.edu. MIAMI LAW QUARTERLYCONGRESS ON TRIAL. By James MacGregor Burns. New York: Harper &Brothers, 1949. Pp. xiv, 224, $3.00.CONGRESS on Trial is a somewhat misleading title, for Professor Burnschallenges the ability of our present political arrangements to meet thepotential needs of the next half of the twentieth century. As a very briefresume of the "plot" will show, the reader is left with the definite conclu-sion that Congressional reform can be achieved only as a by-product ofother more basic governmental changes, including a drastic sprucing-up ofour present political party system. The author adds little of a practicalnature to the solution of these fundamental problems. Thus it is not easy tosubscribe to the friendly "jacket" testimonial by Max Lerner to the effectthat "Congress on Trial is the best study thus far produced on the Americanlegislative process." It can only be said that it is a helpful and respectableaddition to the very fine recent works on Congress by Galloway, Chamber-lain, Finletter, Walker and Kefauver.The failures of this study are due primarily to the complicated andvexing nature of the subject matter, rather than to the inadequacies of thewriter. Mr. Burns has worked in both the legislative and executive branchesof the national government, served on the staff of the Hoover Commission,and has had first-hand experience with politics on a local level. He is atpresent Assistant Professor of Political Science at Williams College. Manyparts of the volume indicate a capable maturity, but his subject is one thattends to put any writer "on trial."The full thesis, and its chief inadequacies can be most effectively pre-sented by a brief summary. The first half of the book is devoted to a fulland, in spots, clever analysis of the shortcomings of Congress, and thecausating factors involved. A realistic and almost dismal picture of thetypical congressman is painted, showing his aim in life to be as simple amatter as reelection. The everyday burdens of our representatives, Burnsproves, are so time-consuming that the typical Representative or Senatorhas precious little time left for his primary job-being a legislator. Theimportant role of pressure politics is described, followed by a good treat-ment of the "Impotence of Party"-an account of the many factors whichmake for party disunity in Congress, diffuse and confuse party leadership,and make our two-party system a haphazard, undisciplined and ineffectivevehicle for the formulation and expression of the popular will.One theme running through this entire work, and this is quite normal,is a concern for majority rule: "In a Congress lacking sturdy party organi-zation, many of the nation's pressure groups seem to. enjoy greater repre-sentation than the majority of the voters." Other defects which thwartmajority rule such as gerrymandering, unrepresentative committees, theBOOK REVIEWSseniority rule, and the possibilities of obstructionism, are summarized byBurns in a chapter called "Houses of Misrepresentation." The critical firsthalf of the book is completed by a study of three bills-the Fair LaborStandards Act of 1938, the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, and theMissouri Valley Authority Bill-to substantiate the broad allegations madein the preceding chapters.Before turning our attention to the solution of these difficult problemsBurns devotes twenty pages to the role of Congress as "overseer" of thevast administrative system, and finds unpleasant results of a "rivalry be-tween President and Congress for mastery of the huge bureaucracy of ouradministrative state." Again the major theme of Congress thwarting ma-jority rule emerges: "The issue in the United States is whether the bureauc-racy will be responsible mainly to the majority of the voters through thePresident, or mainly to organized minorities through key individuals andcommittees in Congress. Majority rule has suffered as a result of thedivision of administrative control between President and Congress." A setof fairly practical reforms is advanced to improve this situation.The final sections of the book involving broad solutions are prefacedby chapters on the inability of Congress to meet future crises such as warsand depressions, and its ability to make presidential handling of these crisesmore difficult; and on the "modernization without basic reform" natureof previous congressional reforms, including the Reorganization Act of1946. After listing the self-improvements that could fall within its power,Bums concludes that Congress "cannot reform itself," for the neededreform "can come about only as a part of far deeper changes in the organi-zation of American politics, specifically in the party system."Two basic solutions are then presented in full: the imposition of sometype of "cabinet system," and the permanent strengthening and institution-alizing of the powers of the President. American proposals for adapting thecabinet system to our governmental machinery fall into two classes: thefirst would make the President and his Cabinet responsible to Congressby allowing Congress to oust the Executive and appoint a new one; and thesecond would set elections for the President and Congress at the sametime-at regular intervals, or when a deadlock necessitated a special election.Burns rejects, with well-constructed reasoning, both proposals, and allegesthat, after all, the stability of the English system lies not in its cabinetsystem, but in a political party structure that provides "leadership, respon-sibility, and efficiency."Expanded, institutionalized presidential power is favored by ProfessorBurns as being vitally needed to supply "the element that democracy musthave in order to survive-responsible leadership." The strong President'snew role as "Chief of State" produces many advantages and can to a largeMIAMI LAW QUARTERLYextent be controlled, but it leaves us with the potentialities for presidential"near-dictatorship" in domestic exigencies, and a one-man-made war in aworld crisis. What indispensable control can alone effectively keep this powerin check? "Party government"--"a condition where centralized and dis-ciplined parties formulate national policy on key issues and use govern-mental machinery to carry out that policy."At this point of climax the author of Congress on Trial finally movesinto the realm of "if" and "maybe," and leaves us groping for the practicalsolutions for which we were hoping. It is not too difficult to put down onpaper what ideal "party government" would look like in this country, butit is quite a different thing to present practical ways of achieving that goal."The best hope for the future of American politics and government liesin a fruitful union between presidential power and party government," isthe recipe for salvation provided by Mr. Burns. He gives us good reasonswhy he feels the recipe could work in this country; he adds the price wewill have to pay for the end product; he indicates how, in a broad manner,it might be worked out; all he fails to provide is how it actually can orwill be accomplished. In fact, the final over-all effect of his last chapter,"Toward Party Government," introduces an even more frustrating note inthe conclusions that the party reform might do more harm than good "unlessit was coupled with participation in everyday politics by average citizenson an unprecedented scale," which in turn involves broad political educa-tion, and action based on the resultant informed electorate.Under the new "party government" and increased presidential power,prodded and shepherded by an aroused and active electorate, Congress wouldof necessity undergo the needed "drastic transformation," for the leaderswould then crack the whip, the seniority rule and the filibuster would dis-appear, the Rules Committee would suddenly begin enforcing rules insteadof circumventing them, and the separation of powers theory and "checks andbalances" would simply have to make their exit bow from the Americangovernmental stage. Only in this manner can adequate congressionalreform become a reality. It is not to be expected in the immediate future,for achievement of "party government" is not considered to be imminent.This book, it must be concluded, is strong on analysis and on theoreticalsolutions, but is extremely weak in the tough realm of practical remedies-realistic courses of action. The analysis and theoretic solutions have beenput forth many times, although not always in such a well-organized andreadable manner, but the title of the volume suggests a practical attackwhich suddenly falls flat. Congress cannot reform itself; only a revisionof our party system can set the conditions for reform. How do we get it?By education and the resultant action of awakened people. "Americans canhave party government if they will make the necessary effort and pay theBOOK REVIEWSprice." There is very little the American people cannot have if they willmake the effort and pay the price. We are again involved in the same oldvicious circle, and it may well be that this is as close as we can now cometo a practical solution for these problems; but at least we can indict Bumsand his book for leaving Congress on trial for a considerable segment ofthe indefinite future.D. R. LARSON PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENTUNIVERSITY OF MIAMIAUTHORITY AND THE INDIVIDUAL. By Bertrand Russell. New York: Simonand Schuster, 1949. Pp. 80. $2.00.BERTRAND RUSSELL might be called a triple "traitor." A traitor to theglorious traditions of his country, having mercilessly criticized British im-perialism before and during World War I; a traitor to his class, havingalways sponsored the cause of the underdog, although he is a member ofEngland's highest aristocracy; and, last but not least, a traitor to his pro-fession, having always written in a clear style which is considered bad formamong professional philosophers.He has remained faithful to his reputation as a lucid writer in hislatest work entitled Authority and the Individual, which is a collection ofsix recent lectures.As he puts it himself, his chief concern is the fundamental problemof "how we can combine that degree of individual initiative which is neces-sary for progress with the degree of social cohesion that is necessary forsurvival." He sees the one and the other founded upon and prompted by"an instinctive mechanism" that has been operating in man ever since hehas developed into a species that was no longer deriving its nourishmentfrom the trees of the tropical jungles. It was the "dual mechanism offriendship within the tribe and hostility to all others." The entire history ofhuman progress and civilization, on the one hand, and the much longerrecord of man's inhumanity to man on the other, are condensed in thesefew words.Social cohesion, or, as he puts it in his concluding lecture, security andjustice "require centralized governmental control, which must extend to thecreation of a world government if it is to be effective. Progress, on thecontrary, requires the utmost scope for personal initiative that is com-patible with social order."Russell sees the dangers inherent in a world government which, whileon the one hand preventing the recurrence of suicidal wars, might on theother hand prove to be deadly to all personal initiative and to all progress.

CONGRESS ON TRIAL. By James MacGregor Burns. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.

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CONGRESS ON TRIAL. By James MacGregor Burns. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.

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