The 1976 House Majority Leadership Contest

"The outstanding expertise and unusually high levels of access allowed the authors to analyze the 1976 race in impressive detail."—Choice

“The 1976 race for House majority leader was one of the most compelling and consequential in the history of Congress. Oppenheimer and Peabody’s study—the best ever written about that race—is, at long last, in print.”—Matthew Green, author of Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur, The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership, and Underdog Politics: The Minority Party in the U.S. House of Representatives

“There is no better account of a party leadership contest in Congress. Few leadership contests were more consequential than the battle for House majority leader in 1976. Written by brilliant political scientists Bruce Oppenheimer and Bob Peabody, this monograph is both an unmatched insider account and an insightful theoretical application. What makes this story so truly exceptional is the way Oppenheimer rounds out the story with the perspective he has gained from nearly a half century as one of the keenest observers of congressional politics.”—Steven S. Smith, coauthor of Politics over Process: Partisan Conflict and Post-Passage Processes in the U.S. Congress and author of The Senate Syndrome: The Evolution of Procedural Warfare in the Modern U.S. Senate

“The 1976 House Majority Leadership Contest is a scholarly collaboration four and a half decades in the making, and is well worth the wait! Congressional experts Bruce Oppenheimer and the late Robert Peabody combine insider access to a pivotal House leadership race with decades of informed perspective to track the emergence of conditional party government. Highly recommended, especially for anyone interested in history, Congress, or House leadership.”—Jeffrey Crouch, author of The Presidential Pardon Power and coauthor of The Unitary Executive Theory: A Danger to Constitutional Government and Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur

“The 1976 House Majority Leadership Contest offers a gripping political narrative and astute analysis of a critical episode in congressional history. Bruce Oppenheimer has done a great service in sharing and contextualizing his important but previously unpublished 1977 research with the late Robert Peabody. The book offers a window onto historical continuities—including the diverse and contingent factors shaping any competitive congressional leadership contest—as well as insight into the emergence of the media-savvy, fundraising dynamos that lead today’s House of Representatives.”—Frances E. Lee, coauthor of The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era

“This well-written book is a superb and much-needed addition to scholarship about congressional leadership and the rise of partisan polarization in America. By focusing in almost microscopic detail on one pivotal leadership contest from the past, Oppenheimer and Peabody manage to clarify why the modern US House has become so mired in partisan gamesmanship and gridlock, and along the way highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the major theories of lawmaking. A must-read for serious scholars of American national institutions.”—C. Lawrence Evans, author of The Whips: Building Party Coalitions in Congress

“Bruce Oppenheimer and the late Robert Peabody offer us the most beautifully written and detailed analysis of a congressional leadership race ever produced, capturing a pivotal moment in the emergence of strong party power in the US Congress. Based on the duo’s extraordinary access to Capitol Hill in the 1970s, this work is a masterclass in both narrative and detail. This study has long been known to congressional scholars. Now finally available in published form, The 1976 House Majority Leadership Contest is enhanced by a new addendum from Oppenheimer that sharpens our understanding of how this era shaped conditional party government. The insights here are profound. This is essential reading for every student of Congress.”—James M. Curry, coauthor of The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era