93rd United States Congress
The 93rd United States Congress convened on the 3rd of January 1973, and by the time it adjourned on the 3rd of January 1975, the country it served had been turned inside out. Three presidents occupied the White House across those two years. A sitting vice president resigned in disgrace. A sitting president resigned for the first time in American history. And this same Congress managed to pass some of the most enduring legislation of the twentieth century, all while the constitutional order shook around it.
How does a legislative body keep functioning when its executive branch is in freefall? What does it mean to govern when the man in the Oval Office is fighting for his political survival? And what was the Congress doing while Watergate consumed the headlines? Those are the questions this documentary will explore.
No other Congress in American history has had more than two Senate presidents, yet the 93rd had three. Spiro Agnew served as Senate president until the 10th of October 1973, when he resigned as vice president. Gerald Ford was confirmed under the authority of the newly ratified Twenty-fifth Amendment and took the role on the 6th of December 1973. When Ford ascended to the presidency on the 9th of August 1974 following Nixon's resignation, Nelson Rockefeller was appointed in his place and was inaugurated on the 19th of December 1974.
Rockefeller's swearing-in carried another distinction. It was the first time a Senate ceremony was broadcast live on television from the Senate chamber itself. A constitutional amendment that most Americans had barely noticed, ratified only a few years earlier, ended up doing exactly the job it was designed for, twice, in quick succession.
On the 17th of May 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities opened its Watergate hearings under Chairman Sam Ervin of North Carolina. The nation watched. Six months earlier, Nixon had won re-election in a landslide, and yet within months the machinery of his administration was visibly collapsing.
The 20th of October 1973 brought the Saturday Night Massacre, the episode that made impeachment feel real to many Americans. Impeachment proceedings against Nixon were formally initiated on the 30th of October 1973. The House Judiciary Committee began its own hearings on the 9th of May 1974. Nixon resigned on the 9th of August 1974 before the full House could vote.
Beyond the drama, the resignation had a direct electoral consequence. At the midterm elections on the 5th of November 1974, Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers of Congress, setting the stage for what would become the famously reformist 94th Congress.
While Watergate consumed political oxygen, the 93rd Congress moved a remarkable body of legislation. On the 7th of November 1973 it passed the War Powers Resolution, asserting that Congress, not the president alone, controlled the commitment of American forces abroad. On the 1st of July 1973 it had already passed the Case-Church Amendment, cutting off funding for military operations in Cambodia and Laos.
The Endangered Species Act became law on the 28th of December 1973. The same day saw the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. On the 2nd of September 1974 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA, established federal protections for private pension plans. The 16th of December 1974 brought the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the 31st of December 1974 the Privacy Act.
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, signed on the 28th of October 1974, prohibited creditors from discriminating on the basis of sex or marital status. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, passed in August 1974, gave students and parents new rights over educational records. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, signed on the 26th of September, was the first federal law to address discrimination against people with disabilities.
On the 27th of January 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, formally ending direct American combat involvement in Vietnam. The 93rd Congress had to manage the political and humanitarian aftermath. The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act, passed on the 3rd of December 1974, addressed readjustment support for veterans returning from that war.
The Case-Church Amendment of July 1973 was a direct legislative check on any renewed military action in Southeast Asia. Congress was, in effect, drawing a line that the executive branch could not cross with military force alone. The war's end had not closed the argument about who held the power to wage it, and the War Powers Resolution that followed in November represented the legislature's formal answer.
The 93rd House began with three vacancies caused by deaths during the previous Congress. Nick Begich and Hale Boggs had been lost in a plane crash in Alaska; both were declared dead under a House resolution on the 3rd of January 1973. Lindy Boggs, widow of Hale Boggs, won the special election to fill his seat on the 20th of March 1973. Don Young of Alaska won his seat on the 6th of March 1973, beginning a tenure in the House that would extend for decades.
Donald Riegle of Michigan switched party affiliation from Republican to Democrat on the 27th of February 1973. William Oswald Mills of Maryland committed suicide on the 24th of May 1973. Several members resigned to take appointments elsewhere: Gerald Ford left his House seat on the 6th of December 1973 to become vice president; William B. Saxbe of Ohio resigned from the Senate on the 3rd of January 1974 to become Attorney General. The turnover was relentless. By the time the Congress ended, over two dozen members had resigned just on the final day of 1974.
Both chambers of the 93rd Congress opened with Democratic majorities. The Senate Democratic caucus, led by Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana and Majority Whip Robert Byrd of West Virginia, began the Congress with 56 seats. The House, led by Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma and Majority Leader Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts, began with 241 Democrats against 192 Republicans.
By the Congress's end, Democratic strength in the House had actually slipped slightly, to 232 against 174 Republicans, but the midterm elections of November 1974 reversed that, sending 291 Democrats to the incoming 94th Congress against only 144 Republicans. The committee structure of the 93rd Senate was dense, spanning dozens of subcommittees that touched everything from railroad retirement to multinational corporations. Senator Frank Church of Idaho chaired both the Special Committee on Aging and the Select Committee on Standards and Conduct, as well as the Multinational Corporations subcommittee, a workload that reflected just how much the Senate demanded of individual members during these years.
Common questions
When did the 93rd United States Congress meet?
The 93rd United States Congress met from the 3rd of January 1973 to the 3rd of January 1975. It covered the last 18 months of Richard Nixon's presidency and the first 6 months of Gerald Ford's presidency.
Why did the 93rd Congress have three Senate presidents?
The 93rd Congress had three Senate presidents because Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned on the 10th of October 1973, Gerald Ford was confirmed as vice president on the 6th of December 1973 and later became president on the 9th of August 1974 after Nixon's resignation, and Nelson Rockefeller was then appointed and inaugurated on the 19th of December 1974. No other Congress before or since has had more than two Senate presidents.
What major laws did the 93rd Congress pass?
The 93rd Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act on the 28th of December 1973, the War Powers Resolution on the 7th of November 1973, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) on the 2nd of September 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act on the 16th of December 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act on the 28th of October 1974, and the Privacy Act of 1974 on the 31st of December 1974, among many others.
What happened during the Watergate hearings in the 93rd Congress?
The Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin, opened its Watergate hearings on the 17th of May 1973. The Saturday Night Massacre occurred on the 20th of October 1973, and impeachment proceedings against Nixon were initiated on the 30th of October 1973. The House Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings on the 9th of May 1974. Nixon resigned on the 9th of August 1974 before a full House vote could take place.
What was the War Powers Resolution passed by the 93rd Congress?
The War Powers Resolution was passed on the 7th of November 1973. It asserted that Congress held authority over the commitment of American military forces abroad, limiting the president's unilateral power to wage war. The Case-Church Amendment, passed on the 1st of July 1973, had already cut off funding for military operations in Cambodia and Laos.
Who were the key leaders of the 93rd Congress?
Senate Majority Leader was Mike Mansfield of Montana, with Robert Byrd serving as Majority Whip. The House was led by Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma and Majority Leader Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts. Senate Minority Leader was Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, while Gerald Ford served as House Minority Leader until he resigned on the 6th of December 1973 to become vice president, when John Jacob Rhodes of Arizona succeeded him.
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