The Eighty-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1955 to January 3, 1957, during the third and fourth years of Dwight Eisenhower's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Seventeenth Census of the United States in 1950. Both chambers had a Democratic majority. It is the earliest Congress with a surviving member, former Michigan Representative John Dingell. Members of the first eighty-three Congresses are all deceased.
January 28, 1955: Congress authorized the President to use force to protect Taiwan from the People's Republic of China
February 10, 1955: The United States Navy helped the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
February 12, 1955: President Eisenhower sent the first U.S. advisers to South Vietnam.
September 24, 1955: President Eisenhower suffered a coronary thrombosis.
November 5, 1955: Racial segregation was forbidden on trains and buses in U.S. interstate commerce.
December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person.
December 5, 1955: The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to become the AFL-CIO.
March 12, 1956: 96 Congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education) desegregating public education.
November 6, 1956: United States elections, 1956:
United States presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier.
United States Senate elections, 1956: The party balance of the chamber remained unchanged as Republican and Democratic gains cancelled each other.
United States House of Representatives elections, 1956: Republicans lost a net of two seats to the majority Democrats.
January 29, 1955: Formosa Resolution
March 31, 1955: Career Incentive Act
June 28, 1955: Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act, Pub.L. 84–99, 69 Stat. 194
July 11, 1955: To provide that all United States currency shall bear the inscription "In God We Trust", Pub.L. 84–140, 69 Stat. 290, 31 U.S.C. § 5114(b)
July 14, 1955: Air Pollution Control Act, Pub.L. 84–159, ch. 360, 69 Stat. 322
July 23, 1955: Multiple Surface Use Mining Act, Pub.L. 94–167, ch. 730, 68 Stat. 708
August 9, 1955: Reserve Forces Act, Pub.L. 84–305, 69 Stat. 598
August 11, 1955: National Housing Act ("Capehart Act"), Pub.L. 84–345, 69 Stat. 646
August 12, 1955: Poliomyelitis Vaccination Assistance Act, Pub.L. 84–377, ch. 863, 69 Stat. 704
June 29, 1956: Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, (National Interstate and Defense Highways Act), Pub.L. 84–627
July 30, 1956: Health Research Facilities Act, Pub.L. 84–835, ch. 779, 70 Stat. 717
August 8, 1956: Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, ch. 1036, 70 Stat. 1119, 16 U.S.C. § 742a
The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.
Democratic: 232 (majority)
Republican: 203
TOTAL: 435
President of the Senate: Richard Nixon (R)
President pro tempore: Walter F. George (D)
Majority Leader and Democratic Conference chairman: Lyndon B. Johnson
Majority Whip: Earle C. Clements
Caucus Secretary: Thomas C. Hennings Jr.
Minority Leader: William F. Knowland
Minority Whip: Leverett Saltonstall
Republican Conference chairman: Eugene Millikin
Republican Conference Secretary: Milton Young
National Senatorial Committee Chair: Barry Goldwater
Policy Committee Chairman: Styles Bridges
Speaker: Sam Rayburn (D)
Majority Leader: John William McCormack
Majority Whip: Carl Albert
Democratic Caucus chairman: John J. Rooney
Caucus Secretary: Edna F. Kelly
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Michael J. Kirwan
Minority Leader: Joseph William Martin, Jr.
Minority Whip: Leslie C. Arends
Republican Conference chairman: Clifford R. Hope
House Democratic Caucus
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state.
Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1958; Class 2 meant their term began with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1960; and Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1956.
The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of this Congress.
Replacements: 3
Democratic: 1 net loss
Independent Democratic: 1 net loss
Republican: 2 net gain
Deaths: 2
Resignations: 1
Interim appointments: 3
Total seats with changes: 3
Replacements: 5
Democratic: no net change
Republican: no net change
Deaths: 9
Resignations: 3
Total seats with changes: 12
Lists of committees and their party leaders.
Agriculture and Forestry
Appropriations
Banking and Currency
Contribution Investigation (Select)
District of Columbia
Finance
Foreign Relations
Foreign Aid Program (Special)
Government Operations
Interior and Insular Affairs
Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Judiciary
Labor and Public Welfare
Political Activities, Lobbying and Campaign Contributions (Special)
Post Office and Civil Service
Public Works
Senate Reception Room (Special)
Small Business (Select)
Subcommittee on Internal Security
Whole
Agriculture
Appropriations
Banking and Currency
Benefits for Dependents of Armed Services Veterans (Select)
Defense Production
District of Columbia
Education and Labor
Foreign Affairs
House Administration
Government Operations
Interior and Insular Affairs
Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Post Office and Civil Service
Public Works
Rules
Small Business (Select)
Standards of Official Conduct
Un-American Activities
Veterans' Affairs
Ways and Means
Whole
Atomic Energy
Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
Construction of a Building for a Museum of History and Technology for the Smithsonian
Defense Production
Disposition of Executive Papers
Economic
Immigration and Nationality Policy
Legislative Budget
The Library
Navajo-Hopi Indian Administration
Printing
Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures
Taxation
Architect of the Capitol: J. George Stewart, appointed October 1, 1954
Attending Physician of the United States Congress: George Calver
Comptroller General of the United States: Joseph Campbell
Librarian of Congress: Lawrence Quincy Mumford
Public Printer of the United States: Raymond Blattenberger
Chaplain: Frederick Brown Harris, Methodist
Parliamentarian: Charles Watkins
Secretary: Felton McLellan Johnston
Sergeant at Arms: Joseph C. Duke
Clerk: Ralph R. Roberts of Indiana
Sergeant at Arms: Zeake W. Johnson, Jr. of Tennessee, elected January 5, 1955
Doorkeeper: William M. Miller of Mississippi, elected January 5, 1955
Postmaster: H. H. Morris of Kentucky, elected January 5, 1955
Messenger to the Speaker: Lewis Deschler
Chaplain: Bernard Braskamp (Presbyterian)
