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Above: Lyle H. Boren (D-OK, 1937-1946) was the youngest member of the House when he took the oath of office at twenty-seven years of age. He attracted national attention for his criticism of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Calling it a "dirty, lying, filthy manuscript," Boren believed that the book insulted farmers and was created by a "twisted, distorted mind." On his campaign trip through Oklahoma in July 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt waves to the crowd as his son Elliott (right) and Boren (left) look on. (Courtesy Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries)
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Congress, even after the early Democratic landslides, did not openly welcome all such measures. Conservatives in both parties combined to moderate the New Deal. FDR's 1937 attempt to pack the Supreme Court caused more disgruntlement. When the Seventy-Sixth Congress convened in January 1939, the legislative and executive branches were at odds. Only the events in Europe that year brought about reconciliation and a unified national policy. |
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Above: The Oklahoma delegation in 1939-1940. Seated, left to right: Wilburn Cartwright, Elmer Thomas, Josh Lee, Jed Johnson Sr., and Will Rogers; standing, left to right: Samuel C. Massingale (D-OK, 1935-1941), Jack Nichols, Phillip C. Ferguson (D-OK, 1935-1940), A. S. “Mike” Monroney (D-OK, 1939-1950 House; 1951-1968 Senate), Wesley Disney, and Lyle Boren. |
Left: Robert P. Hill (left) and John C. “Jack” Nichols (center) chat with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Jefferson Island. Marvin McIntyre (right), the president’s secretary, leans against FDR’s chair. A New Dealer, Hill (D-OK, 1937) served less than a year in the House before his untimely death. He had earlier service as a representative from Illinois from 1913-1914. Nichols (D-OK, 1935-1943) chaired the Select Committee to Investigate Air Accidents and resigned to become vice president of Transcontinental and Western Air. Ironically, he died in an airplane crash in Africa. |
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