Congress & History Conference Program
Thursday, May 16
CHECK-IN AND LUNCH | 11:00 – 11:45 am
WELCOME | 11:45 – 1:00 pm
Session 1: Lawmaking | 1:00 – 2:30 pm
Discussant | Sarah Binder (George Washington University, Brookings Institute)
Chair | Frances Lee (Princeton University)
David Mayhew (Yale University) – The Politics of Repeal
James Curry (University of Utah), Rob Oldham (Princeton University), Sam Simon (Princeton University) – Causes and Consequences of Conservative Support for Climate Change Legislation in Congress
Leah Rosenstiel (Vanderbilt University) – Electoral Geography and the Distribution of Resources
BREAK | 2:30 – 2:45 pm
Session 2: Presidential-Congressional Relations | 2:45 – 4:15 pm
Discussant | Josh Chafetz (Georgetown University)
Chair | Nolan McCarty (Princeton University)
Jack Greenberg (Yale University), John Dearborn (Vanderbilt University) – Congressional Expectations of Presidential Self-Restraint
Ben Noble (UCSD), Ian Turner (Yale University) – Presidential Leadership and Strategic Legislative Polarization
Ayse Eldes (Princeton University), Christian Fong (University of Michigan), Kenneth Lowande (University of Michigan – Does Ambition Counteract Ambition?
BREAK | 4:15– 4:30 pm
Session 3: Congressional Leadership | 4:30 – 6:00 pm
Discussant | Wendy Schiller (Brown University)
Chair | Julian Zelizer (Princeton University)
Ruth Bloch Rubin (University of Chicago) – How John Boehner Lost His Party and Then His Job
Nancy Beck Young (University of Houston) – John Nance Garner
Matt Green (Catholic University of America) – We’re Ungovernable”: The Historical Origins of Republican Disunity in the House of Representatives
DRINKS AND DINNER | 6 pm
Covering Congress Roundtable | 8:00 – 9:00 pm
Gabriel Debenedetti (New York Magazine), Andrew Prokop (Vox), Nolan McCaskill (The Messenger), Olivia Beavers (CNN)
Friday, May 17
ARRIVALS AND BREAKFAST | 8:00 – 9:00 am
Session 4: Rules & Procedures | 9:00 – 10:00 am
Discussant | Tim Nokken (Texas Tech University)
Chair | Julian Zelizer (Princeton University)
Gisela Sin (University of Illinois), Daniel Magleby (Binghampton University, SUNY) – The Myth of Inevitability: Southern Control of Congressional Committees in the Civil Rights Era
Lauren Cohen Bell (Randolph-Macon College) – To Extricate the House’: Transatlantic Influences on Obstruction and Sanctions in the U.S. Congress, 1880-1890
Session 5: Congress & Technology | 10:00 – 11:00 am
Discussant | Hye Young You (Princeton University)
Chair | Nolan McCarty (Princeton University)
Annelise Russell (University of Kentucky) – Investing in Communication Capacity
Jacob Bruggeman (Johns Hopkins University) – Securing the System: Computer Hackers and Political Order, 1963-2003
BREAK | 11:00 – 11:15 pm
Session 6: Congress & Race | 11:15 – 12:45 pm
Discussant | Charles Stewart (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Chair | Frances Lee (Princeton University)
Jeff Jenkins (University of Southern California), Nicholas Napolio (UC-Riverside) – Arming the Enslaved? Different Paths taken by the U.S. and Confederate Congresses during the American Civil War
David Bateman (Cornell University) – The (Late 19th Century) Origins of the Voting Wars: Entrenching Fragmentation and Inviting Litigation
Julian Zelizer (Princeton University) – Taking on the Kings of the Hill: The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's Congressional Challenge in 1965
LUNCH | 12:45 – 1:40 pm
NATIONAL ARCHIVES TOUR | Legislative Vault | 2:00 pm