National Affairs: Rickety Roller

When he was elected Speaker last month, Joseph Wellington ("Call Me Uncle") Byrns was widely regarded as a legislative weakling incapable of running the top-heavy House with discipline and dispatch. With a 3-to-1 advantage over the Republicans, he could not possibly lose a fight but he was not expected to win many with flash and finesse. Last week brought the first major test of his capabilities as a Speaker and he prepared to make it a great demonstration, to show doubters once & for all that the Democratic majority in the House could and...

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