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Great Outdoors: Natural Resources Committee Portraits | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
The House’s Natural Resources Committee oversees the nation’s vast public lands. What’s one way you can tell? Look at the portraits in the committee’s hearing rooms. The walls are lined with depictions of the chairs of this committee and its predecessors. For decades, its leaders have given visitors painted glimpses of the nation’s natural treasures, from shady palm trees to towering waterfalls. Take a look at a few of the outdoorsy paintings from the last half-century.James Andrew HaleyJames Haley retired in 1976 as chair of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Natural Resources Committee’s predecessor. He marked the occasion with a portrait that shows both the Capitol’s dome and the palm trees of Haley’s district in Sarasota, Florida. It was the first time a bit of nature from the chair’s district made its way into a committee portrait, an inclusion later leaders embraced with gusto. Artist Thornton Utz studied at Chicago’s American Academy of Art and came to portraiture after a career in magazine art. His affinity for the foibles of 1950s suburbia resulted in more than 50 gently-mocking covers for the Saturday Evening Post.George MillerGeorge Miller chaired the Natural Resources Committee for four years, and his portrait was the first to depict a specific location under the committee’s jurisdiction. Miller, a Californian with an interest in western water resources, chose to include Yosemite Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the world, in his portrait. Like many a visitor before him, Miller sits on a low wall in Yosemite National Park, with the upper falls in the background.Nick Joe Rahall IIWhen Nick Rahall’s portrait was painted to mark his tenure as chair of the Natural Resources Committee, it followed a tradition of including elements related to the committee’s jurisdiction. The West Virginian stands atop Diamond Point on the Endless Wall Trail in his home state’s New River Gorge, a misty river view behind him. Rahall had an enduring interest in wild and scenic rivers in West Virginia, introducing legislation that helped preserve the New, Gauley, and Bluestone Rivers.Richard William PomboRichard Pombo also followed the committee’s tradition of including vistas from back home. For his portrait as chair of the Natural Resources Committee, the Sacramento Representative included a painting of the nearby Shasta Dam and Lake Shasta, the largest reservoir in California. Pombo asked the artist to include other historical aspects of his district: longhorn cattle horns, model logging truck, Native American blanket, and the Pombo family cattle brand embroidered on the chair’s shirt cuff.Prefer portraits that are more indoorsy? The Natural Resources Committee has plenty of those, too:
From Bunker Hill to Capitol Hill: Representative Henry Dearborn and the New Nation | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
On April 19, 1775, future U.S. Representative Henry Dearborn, then a 24-year-old country doctor from Nottingham, New Hampshire, heeded an urgent call to arms and marched roughly 60 miles through the night to northeastern Massachusetts to confront British forces at the battles of Lexington and Concord. When Dearborn, one of nearly five dozen New Hampshire recruits who made the long march, arrived at the battle site on April 20, the fighting was over. The British regiments had hastily retreated to Boston after being turned back by colonial militiamen.Two months later, Dearborn, who was in just his third year practicing medicine, had been promoted to captain in the First New Hampshire regiment as American revolutionaries fortified and defended Bunker Hill, the largest of three hills surrounding the city of Boston.The British Army had largely been confined to a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor, but on June 17 British red coats moved to capture surrounding land—including the hills guarded by Dearborn and his troops. Few had anticipated that this confrontation would lead to the first significant conflict between the rebel army and British troops in the American Revolution.On June 17, Dearborn’s New Hampshire regiment defended Bunker Hill in intense fighting. The Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the British, killing officers and infantrymen with ease from the high ground of Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill in Charlestown, just across the Charles River from Boston. With a larger fighting force, the British ultimately captured control of Bunker Hill but the Americans had won a symbolic victory, showed their mettle on the battlefield, and set the tone for a lengthy war of rebellion that ended with independence in 1783.Henry Dearborn remained in the Continental Army for the duration of the war, attaining the rank of colonel by the end of the conflict in 1783. Nearly 20 years after Bunker Hill, he was elected from the state of Massachusetts to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 3rd and 4th Congresses (1793–1797). He went on to serve as the longest tenured U.S. Secretary of War in the nation’s history and returned to military service to lead the American invasion of Canada during the War of 1812.Of the many colonists who fought for America’s freedom, Dearborn was one of the few who had been there from the start. He was one of even fewer still who went on to shape the future of his young nation in the halls of Congress. As America commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Dearborn’s unique life helps us understand how veterans of the American Revolution influenced the creation of the federal government in the decades after the war.Eight Years of RevolutionBorn on February 23, 1751, in North Hampton, New Hampshire, Dearborn trained as a physician in the coastal city of Portsmouth. By 1772, he was living in Nottingham, New Hampshire, with his family. Three years later, the Battle of Bunker Hill became the starting point for Dearborn’s long, improbable journey from doctor to soldier to Congressman.Dearborn’s experience in the Continental Army sent him to points along the eastern seaboard where he participated in a series of significant battles during the ensuing eight years of war. A few months after Bunker Hill, in the fall of 1775, he accompanied American General Benedict Arnold in a failed campaign to capture Quebec. Taken prisoner in May 1776, Dearborn was paroled and returned to service the following year, just in time to play a key role in the American victory in Saratoga, New York. In his wartime journal, Dearborn recorded his satisfaction at defeating the “British Butchers,” many of whom he described as mercenaries fighting for wages rather than freedoms. The challenging conditions on the battlefield, Dearborn wrote, did not phase the American soldier, as “we who had Something more at Stake than fighting for six Pence Pr [sic] Day kept our ground til Night.”At the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey in 1778, Dearborn led a pivotal maneuver to ward off a British attack, and in western New York in 1779, he joined an expedition to attack British loyalists and Native American tribes. Dearborn was also part of George Washington’s forces when they initiated the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.Dearborn mustered out of service with the conclusion of the war in 1783, and moved to Maine, which was then a district of Massachusetts and would not become an independent state until 1820. He settled in the town of Gardiner in 1785, invested in land, owned a ferry, and pursued business ventures in timber and construction. He also became enmeshed in local politics, serving as a local selectman. Dearborn was named brigadier general of the district of Maine’s division within the Massachusetts state militia. He rose to major general of the state militia and was named U.S. Marshal for the district of Maine by President George Washington in 1789.A “Full Blooded Yankee” in the HouseIn 1792, Dearborn ran for and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the Maine district, what was then the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District. Dearborn was one of three At-Large Members who represented the district; George Thacher and Peleg Wadsworth, the grandfather of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, joined him in the House.Although Congress had approved the construction of a permanent national capital along the banks of the Potomac River, the new seat of government would not be ready until 1800. When the 3rd Congress (1793-1795) began in December 1793, Dearborn instead made his way to the temporary capital at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.During the early Congresses, partisan affiliations were loosely defined—more blocs than organized parties—and very different than they are today. President George Washington had pledged to remain nonpartisan, but conflicting ambitions in the new federal government had given rise to competing factions. On one side stood the Federalists who, like U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, aimed to centralize economic and political power in the federal government. On the other side, stood Dearborn and the Democratic Republicans who, led by Representative James Madison of Virginia, remained wary of concentrated power, opposed Hamilton’s agenda, and backed Thomas Jefferson for President in 1800. Dearborn, described by one observer as “a full blooded Yankee,” believed in a different set of politics than most in the Massachusetts delegation where 12 of the state’s 16 Representatives in the 4th Congress (1795–1797) won election as Federalists.In his two terms in the House, Dearborn’s legislative agenda focused largely on military affairs and international relations. Representative William Barry Grove of North Carolina described him as having a “strong natural sense, and in all a pretty clever man—better fitted for the Military than a Legislator.” But Dearborn competently navigated the amendment process on the House Floor and spoke clearly in defense of his legislative priorities.Appointed to several select committees on military affairs, Dearborn took the lead in assessing the nation’s frontier defense and evaluating the needs of the military. On several occasions he sought to limit military appropriations and proposed reducing the number of soldiers in America’s standing Army. In 1797, he opposed a series of bills designed to bolster the Navy, including measures to fund the construction of three ships, build a Navy yard, and secure access to adequate timber for shipbuilding. Dearborn twice introduced amendments to specify that only the hulls of the ships should be completed to prevent cost overruns. The amendments were rejected and the bills passed despite Dearborn’s vote against them.On international affairs, Dearborn backed several resolutions designed to stop trade with Great Britain and force the British government to comply with the terms of the 1783 treaty ending the Revolutionary War. In 1794, President Washington’s emissary, John Jay, secured a new treaty to improve maritime relations between the nations, remove British troops from frontier lands, and ultimately prevent war. In April 1796, Dearborn and Democratic Republicans tried in vain to kill a bill to fund the implementation of Jay’s Treaty. Dearborn suggested amending the funding measure to add a preamble stating that the House found the treaty “highly objectionable.” The House, however, defeated his amendment. Dearborn voted against the treaty, but the House approved it by a 51 to 48 vote.In 1796, Dearborn lost re-election to Federalist Isaac Parker in his bid for a third term in the House. He returned to the district of Maine, where he was elected to the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1798.U.S. Secretary of WarWhen Thomas Jefferson was elected President in 1800, he appointed Dearborn U.S. Secretary of War. This time, Dearborn’s role in the federal government necessitated a move to the District of Columbia, the nation’s new capital. Dearborn resided on Capitol Hill for several years and retained this appointment throughout Jefferson’s two terms in office.As the civilian head of the military, Dearborn set out to transform America’s defense forces. In collaboration with President Jefferson, Dearborn framed his changes as a way to cut spending and reduce the size of the standing military during peacetime. Democratic Republicans had also grown concerned that Federalists had appointed a class of officers who would perpetuate their control of the military. Dearborn helped devise a plan to enable a new generation of military leaders to gain access to officer commissions—and to appoint those who were sympathetic to Jefferson’s party.As Secretary of War, Dearborn lobbied Congress to implement these changes. He played an integral role in developing the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1802, a complete overhaul of the American military that enabled the Secretary to remove officers, make new officer appointments, and reorganize domestic garrisons and fortifications. The law also created a military academy at West Point, New York, to train officers and develop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Jefferson and Dearborn hoped these reforms would create a new class of officers more representative of the American people—and more sympathetic to Democratic Republican principles.When Jefferson’s second term ended in 1809, Dearborn was appointed collector of customs at the port of Boston. As the nation engaged in another conflict with Great Britain during the War of 1812, President James Madison asked Dearborn to take control of the military in the northeast, leading troops from the Niagara River east into New England. He led the Army into Canada, seizing the city of York—now known as Toronto—as well as Fort George in Canada just north of Niagara Falls. After struggling to hold these positions, Dearborn was removed from his post in July 1813. During the final year and a half of the War of 1812, Dearborn led American forces in New York City and Boston.After he retired from the military, Dearborn lived in Boston. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1817. In 1822, he entered the final chapter in his long record of service to the U.S. government. Appointed minister to Portugal, he spent almost two years in Lisbon before retiring to Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he died on June 6, 1829, at the age of 78.Bunker Hill Veterans in the HouseHenry Dearborn was not the only future U.S. Representative to participate in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Colonel John Paterson, who had been born in New Britain, Connecticut, but later represented New York in the House in the 8th Congress (1803–1805), was there. As was Artemas Ward, one of the first Major Generals of the U.S. Army, who issued the orders to defend Bunker Hill. Ward represented a Massachusetts district in the House for two terms between 1791 to 1795. Finally, William Eustis of Massachusetts had served as a physician at the battle and later held a seat in the House for parts of four nonconsecutive terms. Eustis died in February 1825, only four months before the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.At least one additional future House Member had been present near the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. About 10 miles away from the fighting, from a hill at his home in Braintree, Massachusetts, a seven-year-old John Quincy Adams saw smoke and fire in the distance, heard the cannon volleys, and feared his family—especially his father John Adams, a leading revolutionary—was in danger of reprisals from British soldiers. After serving as President from 1825 to 1829, Adams held a seat in the House for 17 years, from 1831 until his death in 1848, capping a distinguished career in public service.50 Years after Bunker HillOn June 17, 1825, 74-year-old Henry Dearborn traveled to Charlestown to attend the ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. That day, a large crowd watched as assembled dignitaries symbolically initiated construction of a planned 221-foot-tall granite obelisk to memorialize the battle. The French hero of the American revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette, who was in the final months of his yearlong tour of the United States, helped lay the cornerstone of the monument, which was later completed in 1843.Representative Daniel Webster of Massachusetts addressed the crowd. A rising star in the House, Webster was chair of the House Judiciary Committee and would later serve in the U.S. Senate and twice as U.S. Secretary of State. His speech praised the heroism, initiative, and achievements of the defenders of Bunker Hill and underscored the legacy of the battle, which he said set the stage for the founding of the nation and its great democratic experiment in self-government. Several lines from Webster’s 1825 address are enshrined in the House Chamber today:Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.In 1775, Dearborn and others had helped plant the seeds of American democracy on the battlefield at Bunker Hill overlooking the Charles River in Massachusetts. Two hundred and fifty years later, in Washington, DC, the U.S. Capitol sits perched on a different hill within sight of a different river, the Potomac. But inside the grand domed building, the House of Representatives remains a place for Americans to strive to “perform something worthy to be remembered,” as Webster said, while enjoying the civil and political rights that Henry Dearborn had fought to guarantee.Sources: Annals of Congress, House, 3rd Cong., 1st sess. (21 January 1794): 1122–25; Annals of Congress, House, 3rd Cong., 1st sess. (13 February 1794): 1222; Annals of Congress, House, 4th Cong., 1st sess. (11 April 1796): 905–907; Annals of Congress, House, 4th Cong., 1st sess. (30 April 1796): 1282, 1291–1292; Annals of Congress, House, 4th Cong., 2nd sess. (23 January 1797): 1945–1971, 2332; Annals of Congress, House, 4th Cong., 2nd sess. (10 February 1797): 2113–2122; Annals of Congress, House, 4th Cong., 2nd sess. (2 March 1797): 2349–2352; Military Peace Establishment Act, 2 Stat. 132 (1802); Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, The People’s House: A Guide to Its History, Spaces, and Traditions (Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, 2025); Boston Patriot and Daily Chronicle, 8 June 1829; Connecticut Courant (Hartford), 28 June 1825; Henry Dearborn, An Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Philadelphia: Harrison Hall, 1818); Lloyd A. Brown and Howard H. Peckham, eds., Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn, 1775–1783 (New York, Da Capo Press: 1971); Theodore J. Crackel, Mr. Jefferson’s Army: Political and Social Reform of the Military Establishment, 1801–1809 (New York: New York University Press, 1987); Harry L. Coles, “Dearborn, Henry,” American National Biography, vol. 6 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999): 299–301; Thomas Egleston, The Life of John Paterson, Major-General in the Revolutionary Army (New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons: 1894); Richard Alton Erney, The Public Life of Henry Dearborn (New York: Arno Press, 1979); Daniel Goodwin Jr., The Dearborns; A Discourse Commemorative of the Eightieth Anniversary of the Occupation of Fort Dearborn, and the First Settlement at Chicago (Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1884); Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution (New York: Penguin Press, 2013); Alexander S. Twombly, ed., Daniel Webster’s First Oration at Bunker Hill (New York: Silver Burdett and Company, 1897); Henry Wagstaff, ed., The Papers of John Steele, vol. 1 (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company,1924).
Recent Artifacts Online, Summer 2025 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
From Abe Lincoln to “artistic French human hair goods,” there’s something for everyone in this season’s batch of recently digitized House Collection treasures.A. Simonson, Importer AdvertisementThe image of the Capitol added visual appeal to a bafflingly wide range of products in late 19th-century advertisements. Here, “A. Simonson, Importer of Cosmetiques & Fine Toilet Articles,” located near Union Square in New York City, surrounds the Capitol’s dome with cherubs and colorful flora on the front of its lithograph advertisement card. The reverse lists the products available from the retailer, many of which have names as flowery as the front design: Rouge de Venus (a liquid cosmetic cheek color), Fountain of Beauty (“best staying and transparent Face Liquid ever sold”), and the mysterious “Somyka,” which this ad instructs the shopper to “please call for a circular, as it is too valuable to mention in short its wonderful quality.”Abraham Lincoln Free FrankAbraham Lincoln mailed this envelope as a freshman in Congress, only a few weeks into his single term in the House. He addressed it to James Berdan, a fellow Whig politician in Illinois, and marked it as official mail by writing “Free” and signing his name. After that, it was just a short walk across the House Chamber to drop it in the mail at the House Post Office. Lincoln left Congress and the Capitol in 1849, not to return to national service until he was sworn in as President in 1861.Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Ebony Magazine“I met Hazel a long time ago,” begins Adam Clayton Powell’s paean to domesticity. Ebony, iconic magazine of the post–World War II Black community, invited Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. to write an essay that focused less on politics than on life as half of the most glamorous power couple in Black America. Powell described his wife, celebrated musician Hazel Scott, and their home life, with just enough political insight to support Powell’s bona fides as a savvy civil rights activist and Scott’s as an ardent campaigner against Jim Crow laws.Lucky Strike Cigarettes AdvertisementLike other professional orators, Members of Congress rely on their voices. The cigarette company Lucky Strike plays on Indiana Representative Albert Vestal’s vocal attributes in a 1927 advertisement. “In smoking I am careful, that’s why I prefer Lucky Strikes,” he explains. “They give me throat protection and greater enjoyment.” In 1932, Vestal collapsed on the House Floor and died shortly afterward of heart disease.EaselOhio legislator and long-term chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Michael Kirwan monitored votes during the mid-20th century with this chart—a long list with multiple variables handwritten on a roll of coated canvas closely resembling a period roller shade for windows. It is essentially Kirwan’s spreadsheet, mounted on a wooden easel with horizontal guides to keep the roll stable and a bottom roller to take up slack. Water damage obscures the topic of this list dating from 1953 to 1954, but it likely tracks information related to either Kirwan’s role as DCCC chair or his position on the House Committee on Public Works. Exactly when or for how long Kirwan used the stand is also not known, but the apparatus never left the House. It was discovered in a storage closet in the Longworth House Office Building decades after Kirwan’s death.But wait! There’s even more to see on Collections Search:For additional new paintings, photographs, and objects on Collections Search, check out other Recent Artifacts Online blogs.
Farm Bills, Food Allergies, and Football: An Oral History Update | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
This spring, the Office of the House Historian published oral histories with three unique individuals who helped shape the House during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Two of these interviews were with former Representatives: Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, who served in the House from 2011 to 2023, and Nita M. Lowey of New York, who served in the House for 32 years, from 1989 to 2021. The third interviewee, Gary Hymel, was born in Louisiana and relocated his family to Washington to work as administrative assistant to Representative Thomas Hale Boggs Sr. of Louisiana in 1965.In their respective oral histories, Hartzler, Lowey, and Hymel shared stories of how their hometowns shaped their careers on Capitol Hill and informed their legislative priorities. Understanding their districts and their constituents was central to their approach to lawmaking and advocacy—but this was only the first step in the legislative process.Each interviewee also emphasized the key role interpersonal relationships played in the legislative process—reaching out to constituents and cultivating friendships on Capitol Hill, harnessing these connections to pursue their diverse legislative agendas.For Hartzler, the farm bill, a massive multi-year authorization bill which periodically set agriculture and nutrition policy for the nation, was important for her rural farming district.For Lowey, who chaired the mighty Appropriations Committee, the ability to change packaging labels to ensure consumers were aware of potential food allergies was key.And for Hymel, helping Majority Whip and later Majority Leader Hale Boggs as well as Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts maneuver bills through the House, including a complicated antitrust exemption for the National Football League, proved invaluable.Together, Hartzler, Lowey, and Hymel unravel the sometimes-complicated process that enabled the House to enact legislation on a diverse range of issues.Representative Vicky Hartzler of Missouri (2011–2023)Vicky Hartzler was born in the small city of Harrisonville, Missouri, in 1960. In her oral history, Hartzler reflected on growing up in rural Missouri—her high school only had 38 students in her graduating class—and how her experience as a state legislator in Jefferson City helped prepare her for Congress. Once elected to the House in 2010, Hartzler was well equipped to work with other Members to help secure legislation that resonated with people throughout her district.To be an effective legislator, Hartzler recalled, she had to understand the needs of her district. She explained that every five years or so, during the drafting of the farm bill, she listened to the communities she represented. Although she could have relied on her personal experience as a farmer, Hartzler took the time to hear from her constituents and learn from them. “I proactively reached out to all the groups,” she recalled, “plus the commodity groups that represent corn, or soybean, or the hogs—pork producers—and cattlemen and things.” Hartzler organized coffee meetings, held tele-town halls, and participated in farm tours. “We take those concerns,” she summarized, “and then during the shaping of that bill, we try to prioritize some of those things.”Identifying the problem was only the beginning. Hartzler next had to work across partisan and regional lines to pass meaningful legislation. Once she arrived on Capitol Hill, Hartzler was pleased to find that the Missouri delegation regularly met to deal with issues affecting the state. “I was surprised that that was going on,” Hartzler admitted, “but it was encouraging too because the Democrats and Republicans and both the Senate and the House side would try to make it a priority, especially when I first got here. And we would focus the conversation mainly on bills that one of us may be working on that dealt with Missouri directly.” By working closely with other Members—from Missouri and elsewhere—Hartzler helped shape the farm bills and draft laws that served the interests of her home state.Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York (1989–2021)Nita M. Lowey was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1937. In 1988, she won election to the House from a district largely representing Westchester County, just north of New York City. During her more than three decades of service, Lowey worked on an array of legislation. In her oral history, Lowey explains how her constituents shaped her service in Congress and how she built relationships with other Members to secure support for her district’s needs.Lowey illustrated how a willingness to work across partisan lines benefited the people in her district, such as when she tried to secure funding for a waterfront development project. “I went to Washington, called for an appointment with Al D’Amato—I had never met him before—and we got along great even though he was a Republican,” Lowey remembered about the longtime New York Senator. “I managed to get funding for the program that would refurbish the waterfront and do other important work in the communities.” During her time in Congress, Lowey became close friends with her colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee, including Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California. Lowey explained that “when there was a challenge there, the three of us would figure out a strategy and make sure we were successful.”One of Lowey’s proudest achievements resonated with people across America: food labeling. “When I came up with that issue,” Lowey reflected, “I remember working with my colleagues and how important that was for people with food allergies, to know they can go to a store and know what’s in it.” Despite many hurdles, Lowey managed to maneuver a bill through the House. “So every time I go to a store or I meet with groups who have various illnesses,” she fondly recounted, “they still thank me for getting food labeling.”Gary Hymel Administrative Assistant, Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana and Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts (1965–1981)Unlike Lowey and Hartzler, Gary Hymel did not move to Washington, DC, after winning a congressional election. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1933, he arrived on Capitol Hill after his weekly newspaper column in the New Orleans States-Item attracted the attention of Majority Whip Hale Boggs of Louisiana, who offered him a job as his administrative assistant in 1965. Upon Boggs’s untimely death in a plane crash in 1972, Hymel found a place in the office of future Speaker Tip O’Neill. In his oral history, Hymel explains what it was like to work for Boggs and O’Neill and describes how both men wielded power and sought to maneuver legislation through the House.Hymel had the unique experience of working closely with Representatives in House leadership who possessed a deep understanding of the legislative process. A striking case was a bill to provide an antitrust exemption to sanction a proposed merger between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL) in 1966. In his oral history, Hymel provides a detailed explanation of how Boggs’s knowledge of the levers of power in the House helped secure the bill’s passage. Boggs knew that he needed Representative Wilbur Daigh Mills of Arkansas, chair of the Ways and Means Committee and his longtime friend, on his side since the issue dealt with tax and antitrust issues. Mills backed the bill and shortly after it passed, the NFL awarded a team to New Orleans, Louisiana—the home town of Hymel’s boss, Representative Boggs. “And the Saints were born,” Hymel chuckled. Hymel goes on to describe the way Boggs climbed the leadership ladder in the House, rising to the post of Democratic Whip and Democratic Leader by cultivating genuine friendships with other Members.Hymel was also impressed by the fact that even after gaining power Tip O’Neill remained accessible to lawmakers who had trusted him with the responsibility of being Speaker of the House. Once, when a Member inquired with Hymel about making an appointment with the Speaker, Hymel responded, “‘You just walk up to the rostrum and talk to him.’ And he said, ‘You can do that? Back in my state legislature you had to make an appointment.’ Not with Tip. You know, everything was informal.”Hartzler, Lowey, and Hymel all attest to the importance of teamwork and trust in the legislative process. Only by working together could legislators from distant regions address food allergies and farm bills and enact legislation that enabled the sport of football to flourish. As Lowey poignantly noted: “I will always be grateful not just for the work but for the friendships with other extraordinary women and men with whom I served. These are people who are committed. They care, and working together, we are an effective team.”This is the first of an ongoing series on recently published oral histories designed to highlight new additions to the House oral history collection.