Book Description

It is the purpose of this paper to investigate in terms of existing, observable pressures, the loyalty of an individual member of Congress to his political party. In doing so, two questions will be kept consciously in mind: first, to what degree does the Congressman demonstrate a sense of party loyalty to the leadership of his party in Congress; and, second, what is the probability that this loyalty could be increased by changing party processes so as to achieve greater party responsibility? A contention of this study will be that there is inherent in the United States a particularly strong sense of 'multi-responsibility' in the Congressman to many segments of the nation beyond the political party itself. It is this very fact which seems to preclude any actual possibility of a more greatly responsible political party. The appreciation of these multi-responsibilities was an important result of this study. ... The study will turn for most of its primary investigation to a member of Congress who has been selected to serve as an illustration in point. ... The study will show how on two major issues of 1956 the Congressman could be influenced to vote against the majority of his party and presidential leadership because of many complex (and in the final analysis perhaps undefinable) interactions of these forces and pressures which were active upon him. ... The Congressman who is being used as the basis for this study is Representative James B. Utt, of the 20th Congressional District of the State of California.