Seventy-third Congress
| 73rd United States Congress | |
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72nd ←
→ 74th
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United States Capitol (1956)
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| March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935 | |
| Senate President | John N. Garner (D) |
| Senate Pres. pro tem | Key Pittman (D) |
| House Speaker | Henry T. Rainey (D) |
| Members | 96 Senators 435 Representatives 5 Non-voting members |
| Senate Majority | Democratic |
| House Majority | Democratic |
| Sessions | |
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Special: March 4, 1933 – March 6, 1933 1st: March 9, 1933 – June 15, 1933 2nd: January 3, 1934 – June 18, 1934 |
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The seventy-third 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 March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1935, during the first two years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. Because of the newly ratified 20th Amendment, the duration of this Congress, along with the term of office of those elected to it, was shortened by the interval between January 3 and March 4, 1935 (61 days). The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the Fifteenth Census of the United States in 1930. Both chambers had a Democratic majority.
The first session of Congress, known as the "Hundred Days", took place before the regular seating and was called by President Roosevelt specifically to pass two acts:
The session also passed several other major pieces of legislation:
The Senate Munitions Committee came into existence solely for the purpose of this hearing. Although World War I had been over for sixteen years, there were revived reports that America's leading munition companies had effectively influenced the United States into that conflict, which killed 53,000 Americans, hence the companies' nickname "Merchants of Death."
The Democratic Party, controlling the Senate for the first time since the first world war, used the hype of these reports to organize the hearing in hopes of nationalizing America's munitions industry. The Democrats chose a Republican renowned for his ardent isolationist policies, Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, to head the hearing. Nye was typical of western agrarian progressives, and adamantly opposed America's involvement in any foreign war. Nye declared at the opening of the hearing "when the Senate investigation is over, we shall see that war and preparation for war is not a matter of national honor and national defense, but a matter of profit for the few."
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