The Speaker From Texas

You You The speaker from Texas is made possible in part by grants from Radio Shack, a division

of On January 6, 1987, a new era began in U.S. politics, the era of Jim Wright, speaker of the House of Representatives, second in succession to the presidency,

successor to Thomas Tipo Nio as the highest-ranking elected Democrat in the United States. I'm Bob Ray Sanders. Despite his 32 years in Congress, until he became speaker, most Americans knew little about Jim Wright. What they've discovered is an ambitious, quick-tempered politician who deplores budget deficits, but adores public works programs, supported the Vietnam War, but opposes A to Rebels in Nicaragua. He began by challenging the establishment, but has become the ultimate insider. He's the silver tongue speaker from Texas. The sun shines bright on our Jim Wright, but deep in the heart of Texas. Welcome to Washington, Mr. Wright. Thank you. Gentlemen from Texas is recognized.

Politics is not a spectator sport. It isn't something you just said to bleachers and watch other people do. He has that old, down-home way of talking real slow that makes you listen to him. The government of the United States is probably the apex of man's long, long efforts to govern himself. Let us call Jim Speaker Uncle Sam's sweet heart. The power of the speaker is actually the power of recognition. You look out on the floor and three or four people stand. You have the power recognizing naturally whoever you want, and you would, by nature, you would recognize a friend over a foe. But the greatest power that the speaker has is the power of scheduling.

The speaker has the power to say what's going to go on the floor, what's going to be acted upon. Jim Wright received a lot of attention in 1976 when he was elected House Majority Leader by one boat. But for the next decade, he was nearly unseen in the giant shadow of Speaker Tip O'Neill. The program is announced by Jim Wright for today and the balance of the week. There are no recorded supports and suspicions. We will bring up the only bus dragon forceman education control light. For 10 years O'Neill dictated the agenda. Majority Leader Wright set to the side. And at Wright's side, Majority Whip, Thomas Foley. Wright is not the darling of the news media. In contrast to O'Neill, he never really loosens up. He's always aware of appearances and he chooses his words very carefully. What are the politics of this drug legislation, especially for all members who are going home,

who clean yourself face in re-election? I don't know. We tried to separate it from partisan politics. And we were assiduously careful to avoid putting it into the partisan arena. After a long-winded lecture at a news conference, a reporter commented, someone's going to have to be appointed to say thank you, Mr. Wright. That's enough. Wright's demeanor in Washington belies his small town, Texas Roots. That's it. You remember me? I sure do. In Texas, it's hard to play politics without barbecue sauce and country music. Just a tender, you don't have to cut it, man.

This fall apart is you try to slice them. This barbecue and weather for Texas honors a candidate for county judge. But Jim Wright is the main attraction. Thank you. Nice to be home. Nice to see so many Democrats. And I want to enjoy visiting with you and shake hands with all of you before we get away from here tonight. Thank you. Here he's among old friends, some have known him since childhood. Oh, dear. Hello, beautiful. How are you, honey? Just fine. Oh, gosh, I'm glad to see you. Carlos, good evening, pal. Well, I'm glad to see two of us. Had sense enough to come at tired and way of everything. You're fine. Yes, sir. Betty, look who's here. I used to visit out there. I'd sometimes go out to Pooleville and I would always wind up having lunch with your grandfather and grandmother out there. Small Texas towns have produced a special breed of politician.

President Lyndon Johnson, House Speaker's John Nance Garner, Sam Rayburn, and now Jim Wright. And I guess there was a kind of an ambience about small town Texas that made you earn your own way. You couldn't get by on what your dad was or your mother was. They had certain expectations of you to live up to certain standards, but you had to develop what you were and you had to prove what you were. And you borrowed money on your face and on your work. Hey, pal. You okay? Let's see. I'm Jim Wright. You're a travestite. Jim Wright was born in Fort Worth, Texas on December 22, 1922. As he grew up, his family moved to several small towns in Texas and Oklahoma, but they settled in Weatherford, Texas, a community of about 12,000, 30 miles west of Fort Worth. When a knee injury made him give up football, he joined his high school debate team.

He studied speeches by Churchill and Woodrow Wilson. He concluded that great leaders must be great orators. I'm a student, I guess, of inspiration and of auditory. But auditory isn't only a well-turned phrase. It isn't just a rotund voice, the rolling, sonorous tones. It isn't just a studied gesture. Those things aren't auditory. You know what auditory is? It's communicating with your listener. It's making sense to the person who's listening. You can call that by any name. You can call it salesmanship. You can call it auditory. You can call it communication. You can call it persuasion. Whatever it is, that's where it's at. Not in the studied phrase so much. As in the thought behind it.

Wright describes his father, James Sr., as one of the best educated men he's known. Though he was self-taught. As a young man, he'd been a professional boxer. In Weatherford, James Sr. worked with the Chamber of Commerce and later opened his own business. He taught Jim to love books, to sell, and to box. Jim won a regional title and later coached amateur boxing in Weatherford. Larry Hagman was one of his students. Well, he was great. He taught you how to do it properly, but properly doesn't always win fight. I guess he's learned that after Washington now. This was the Wright's home during their more prosperous days. But Jim Wright remembers when the Depression hit Weatherford in the early 30s. His family moved in with his father's parents in Fort Worth. That was an economic necessity. My grandfather, who had worked for one national company for 22 years, was dismissed.

The idea was that after 25 years, the company contract provided them a retirement plan. But he didn't have anything if he was discharged before the 25th year. All of them were that year in 1931. And there wasn't any social security in those days, you know. There wasn't any unemployment compensation. I remember seeing him every morning as he would go out and get Fort Worth's store telegram and look for all of the health-wanted ads, light out on foot, open his eyes, trying to find a place that would give him an opportunity. There weren't any jobs in 1931 and 32 for a man 63 years of age. And so I guess a lot of my political philosophy was born at that time. Right in listed in the Army Air Corps the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was two weeks short of 19. He married his college sweetheart, Ma'am Lemons,

just before his bomber squadron shipped out to the Pacific. He returned to hero, wearing the distinguished flying cross and the legion of merit. After the war, Wright helped raise funds to buy this hall for the Weatherford Veterans of Foreign Wars. It became a base of political support. Wright also became an organizer for the young Democrats of Texas, a group considered radically liberal at the time. Among other things, they supported federal aid to education, subsidize medical care for the elderly, and end to the poll tax and reducing the voting age to 18. At age 22, he took that agenda to Austin as the youngest person ever elected to the Texas legislature. When he lost his bid for re-election, he turned to local politics, serving as mayor of Weatherford for four years. In 1954, Wright ran for Congress. His opponent was an incumbent, backed by Fort Worth Kingmaker, Amon Carter.

Among other things, Carter owned the Fort Worth Star Telegram, then the state's largest newspaper. Amon Carter was the papacito. He was the kingpin of Tarant County politics. He had done a lot of very good things for the community, but he had grown very powerful. And it had reached a point where if you were going to run for public office, you almost had to go buy and get Mr. Carter's permission to do so. Well, that offended me. I didn't think I needed to do that. And moreover, Mr. Carter hadn't invited me to come by. Carter's paper ignored Wright's candidacy until the week of the election. Then published a front page editorial accusing Wright of hiding his political views. Wright replied with a fiery open letter to Amon Carter in Carter's own newspaper. Why don't you read a couple of those paragraphs for them? The $974.40 for this ad is coming out of my own pocket and it's going to be worth it to me, even if it overdraws my account.

For you have the last metaman, Mr. Carter, who is not afraid of you, who will not bow his knee to you and come running like a centering pup at your back and call. You see, I felt it very strongly. Wright defeated Amon Carter's candidate by 15,000 votes. When he got to Washington, a film crew from Carter's television station followed the young congressman and his family around as they toured some of the sites. This is Lillard Hill with a few questions for Texas congressman elect Jim Wright. Welcome to Washington, Mr. Wright. How long have you been here and what have you been doing? Well, I've been here for exactly one week today, Lellard. And of course, the first order of business was to get the family situated, moved in the home, and the children enrolled in school.

That done, I've been going down to Capitol Hill every day, and an effort to have conferences with the members who are going to comprise my staff, beginning the first of the year, and answer such correspondences I could. Oh, you mean they folks back home have already been writing you about their problem? Lellard there are times, and I think there are more problems than there are folks. Hi, this is Elwanda in Congressman Wright's office in Washington. Wright understood that favors bring votes. His congressional office is still placed top priority on cutting red tape and helping constituents who have problems. Here's a family who is thanking Mr. Wright for something he did. We get a lot of thanking notes. This got a losty job for no really good reason. And Mr. Wright went to bat form and all that. And got his job back. And Wright has never forgotten his more powerful constituents. He's seen to it that major defense contractors in his district, such as Bell Helicopter, get their share and more of defense contracts.

His efforts on behalf of the General Dynamics of City Area in his district earned him the nickname Congressman from Conveyor. This film produced in 1979 to mark his 25th anniversary in office is testament to his ability to bring home the bacon. Today, the General Dynamics plant provides jobs for more than 14,000 men and women in our part of section. And today, Air Force leaders are taking a new look at a General Dynamics plant that Jim Wright has been championing for years, the F-111. Almost single-handedly, Jim Wright persuaded the Committees of Congress on four different occasions to maintain production of the F-111. In the development of the new-dollars Fort Worth Air Force, one result of Jim Wright's advocacy is that the federal government has contributed more than $65 million to make this local dream come true. I want to thank Jim Wright for his work with handicapped children.

I want to thank Jim Wright for saving our homes from floods, from big fossil creeps. Thank you, Mr. Atmer. There's a chemical service that saves my life. Wright brought one quality with him to Congress that people viewing the public Jim Wright seldom see, a quick temper. Writer and journalist Larry King was Wright's congressional aide in the early 60s. You know, in a few years ago here, he took his coat off on the floor of the house and challenged two Republicans to come outside. One every time, or together, he didn't care. And I think they thought that he's being theatrical, but truth is, you know, Jim fights you if you mess with him. He does get angry easy. Craig Ropp was Wright's aide for more than 20 years. The House's representatives is a tough, tough place to serve, and he served there 32 years and risen steadily through the ranks, methodically, one step at a time, all the way to the pinnacle. And it's a tough thing. So you've got to be tough.

That doesn't mean you've got to be vengeful or vindictive or angry all the time. And he rarely is angry. The fact is, the fact is, Jim's a very kind, decent calm man. But if he gets mad, then he's allowed to rip somebody up. I've seen him do it. He's usually sorry right away, though. And I think his faith, I think Jim's religious faith plays a lot of large role in that. Wright once considered entering the ministry. Indeed, his elaborate musings on self-control read like a religious tract. On this weekend, he incorporates them into a Sunday school lesson at the First Methodist Church of Fort Worth. Every morning when I arrive at the end, and every morning when I'm thinking, I just consciously, consciously try to go over this, and I'm not trying to tell you I haven't had periods of recidivism, oh, I have. I was getting to where I would fly off the hill, you know, get angry. If things didn't go the way I wanted them to go, and I would interpret it as rejection, you know. So here's what I am. Here's what I am.

I rule. And here's what I say to myself. And I say in the morning, this is the day of the Lord is made. I shall rejoice and be glad in it. This day is too precious to waste any of it, an anger, frustration, or a negative thoughts toward others to do that would be to cheat myself. I shall enjoy this day, for I deserve to do so. The Lord has filled it with things for my enjoyment, and to miss them would be sinful. I shall surely not let others upset me, nor rob me of my sorvenity. No person can take from me my inner peace, or as my gift of God. And with it I can do anything. I shall patiently, quietly, persistently, pleasantly hold on to it. Despite his efforts, some, including former Speaker Tipo Neal, say that Wright's temper is still a problem.

In the conservative 50s, Wright was a liberal on social issues. He was one of just three Southern congressmen to refuse to sign the segregation in Southern Manifesto, yet he voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, saying it violated property rights. His stand on the national debt was ahead of its time. Just a little over a month ago, I introduced a bill which would commit the Congress and the administration. To a definite problem of systematic, orderly retirement of the national debt. The national debt has become so big that so many people have become almost bewildered and an attempt to do anything about it. It would have been easy for a hot tempered young Maverick like Wright to be left on the sidelines on Capitol Hill. But Ophelo Texan, Sam Rayburn, was Speaker of the House. Rayburn was a master of the political trade-off.

He taught that sometimes one has to go along to get along. Wright adopted him as a role model. Mr. Rayburn loved to take young members under his wings if they let him. Particularly Texans, he was always on the lookout for Texas members who he thought would be team players. People whose judgment he thought could be honed and wetted and to some acceptable semblance of good sense. And above all people whose loyalty and word he trusted, he could be very helpful and was almost fathered. Mr. Rayburn was maybe five or six years my father's senior. But in other respects, he reminded me a lot of my dad, the way they talk, the way they thought, the way they valued life. Wright was a willing and loyal student in Rayburn's School of Politics. Today Wright sits at the head table of a weekly Texas Democratic delegation luncheon

that Sam Rayburn began. Rayburn once said he'd served with, not under eight presidents. But Wright faces a president who did not attend Rayburn's School of Compromised Politics. Now today we got a message from the OMB threatening us. The president will not sign any short continuing resolution. It goes beyond Friday. We said Friday this week, he said Friday this week. Well, what good is that going to do? And he said, well, it'll put heat on the Congress. Put pressure on the Congress to resolve the issue. We said, we're ready to resolve the issue. He said, well, we want him to resolve in a way that there are no restrictions of any kind on the president. In other words, OMB, and a point of day, he wants to write the law. And we said, well, you know, you can't do that. Well, the president on his way to the helicopter will make a comment about the inability of the Congress to finish on time. All right. I just think it's a very bad situation. Can you be a strong democratically? You don't have a real nice relationship with the president

who seems to be a little different than your ideals for what there is. Mr. Reagan is a very strong, well-demand. He is in one sense a very positive thinker. He doesn't broke this agreement very easily. His idea of a compromise, frankly, is something that he already has written out on a piece of paper and gets you to sign off on. In 1961, White set his sights on the U.S. Senate seat, vacated by Vice President Lyndon Johnson. He knew that if he stayed in the house, it would take years to gain any real power. Well, I was the first candidate to announce. I thought I'd be so formidable. I'd scare everybody outside of the race. 71 others followed my example. Everybody in his brother. 72 candidates, probably a record for any state, surely for Texas. But I said, well, I thought I would get up earlier

and go to bed later and shake more hands and walk more miles and wear out more shoes and make more speeches than anybody else in the race. I think I did that. But I might as well have been trying to siphon off the go from Mexico with an eyedropper. You know, you don't cover the state of Texas just by sheer prodigious physical effort. So I came in third. Third in a field of 72, not bad. But it isn't like a horse race where they pay on place and show. Where are you down? Here comes the president. Despite his frustration, Wright fondly remembers the Kennedy Johnson years. His domestic and foreign policies were closely aligned with both. John Kennedy paid tribute to Wright at a breakfast on November 22nd, 1963. I'm glad to be here in Jim Wright City. He speaks for Fort Worth.

He speaks for the country. And I don't know any city that's better represented in the Congress of the United States than Fort Worth. Just a few hours later, John Kennedy was dead. Well, it was both the proudest and then the saddest day that I'd had. It was probably as traumatic an experience as anybody could ever expect to endure. The Kennedy era and the Johnson era raised us to want to be better than we were. And dared us to believe that the country could challenge us all to be better than we were. To ask not what our country could do for us, but to ask what we could do for our country. And I'm glad I had a part in all those grand ideals and that time of hope when we believed in ourselves. And I want to see that general spirit of hope

renewed again in the United States. Wright maintained a friendship with Lyndon Johnson. To the end, he supported the Johnson, then Nixon Policy in Vietnam. He was proud when his son James enlisted in the Navy and angered by Congressman who spoke out against the war. In 49 different instances in 24 sessions, the North Vietnamese and Vietnam delegates have quoted directly from statements of members of the United States Congress to support their point of view. And to defend their conclusion that the American people do not support our president or our federal position and that therefore there is no point in there trying to make any concessions at all. In 1966, Wright was still unhappy with his lack of power in the House, but his efforts to raise funds for another statewide campaign failed. Let me make it clear that I am not at this time a candidate

for the United States Senate. Instead, he set his sights on the speakership of the House. He had made himself an orator. He wanted to become a leader. He began raising funds and crisscrossing the country, campaigning for Democrats. This 1986 campaign swing takes right to Cape Gerardo, Missouri. Here Wayne Crites, a populist farmer, is trying to unseat Republican Bill Emerson. We're getting a tremendous amount of support and that grassroots support is moving. We just hit the news media with our campaign commercials. It looks really good. I think I've found you a little more money up there and I'll hold it. Maybe two or three. That'll help you. You bet it well. How are you fixed for money? Wayne, are you able to do the media things you need to do? We are going to have a pretty decent media campaign.

We're hoping to raise another 100,000 dollars. If we do that, we're at right now. At State Rat right now, we're not going to be able to hit the sandless media which covers an art and part of our district yet. That's terribly expensive. It's a very, very difficult district to do with media. This Cape television is the only industry media that we have. Wright's visit is a major event in Cape Gerardo. As soon as he arrives at the hotel, the local television station puts him on the six o'clock news. Missouri Congressional candidate Wayne Crites holding a fundraiser tonight in Cape Gerardo. And to help out, he's brought in House Majority Leader Jim Wright. Congressman Wright is joining us now live. He's fresh in from the airport. Thank you very much for talking with us, Congressman. Thank you. It's nice to be with you. Glad to be in the boot here again. With 435 Democratic candidates running for election to the House this November, why are you in Cape Gerardo campaigning for Wayne Crites? Wayne Crites has impressed me mightily.

I have known him for some time, talked with him on a number of occasions. He's an knowledgeable man. He's a man of conviction, a man of vision, a man of ability. I am very much impressed by him, and I think he will be a marvelous addition to the Congress. Hey, what a crowd. You got a good gang here. Wayne Crites' support is among independent farmers in Central and South Eastern Missouri, but his opponent is a three-term incumbent who is well entrenched. Well, thank you. I don't know how I could improve on that. I think after that kind of an introduction, I'd be well advised just to rest my case. He expected fellow president to say something nice about you. You know what a president is? It's a dry, clean, bad taste. That's what it is. I am not exactly like my colleague who once was asked if he didn't believe in the separation of church and state. And he said, yes, he not only believed in it, he practiced it since he'd been in Congress.

He hadn't been to church. Well, that's not the kind of representation you're going to have from Wayne Crites. He's going to stay close to God and close to the people, and that's why I'm going to stay close to him. APPLAUSE Well, I say the right thing. Sure it is. My theory is, if somebody doesn't have the right question to your answer, just give your answer and don't embarrass them by pretending that they gave the wrong question. LAUGHTER That's not a bad route. Tell you the truth. When that camera is on your life, bear in mind what you want to say. And if they've asked you a question that is inconsistent with what you want to say, say what you want to say anyway. The next day, because of bad weather, Wright arrives in our late in Ardmo, Oklahoma. He is the keynote speaker for a televised rally

supporting Democratic candidates for Congress, the U.S. Senate, and other statewide offices. At age 64, Wright is in good physical condition and a tireless campaigner. Good to be among you. You know, I go home with you. You run some clouds with fads and weather. With little to worry about in his own district, his weekend campaign swings often take him to several states. There will be no time for Wright to go to his hotel before his first appearance. So Wright uses Congressman Wes Watkins and a few campaignings as cover while he puts on a fresh shirt. That's what I mean, he is nice. Oh, very nice. And you beautifully. This is what you do, and necessity becomes the mother of invention. Got in your shirt on, rumpled, and sweaty, rowdy, lucky.

Does that work? That looks pretty good. The evening's event is called the Stamp the Rooster Rally. A rooster sits atop the Democratic side of the ballot in Oklahoma. Democrats stamp the rooster to vote a straight ticket. But a crowd. But a night. But a welcome. But a victory this foretell for November. Wright's message to this conservative audience echoes a stand he took more than three decades earlier. And these short years of this administration, we have doubled the national debt. We've added more in these last six years. Now all of our predecessors added in the entire previous history of the United States. Do you think that's important? Do you want to send a message? Let's send that message. In Ardmore Wright shared the days with Carl Albert, the former speaker who brought Wright into the House leadership

back in 1973. Wright's drive for the House leadership took its toll. In 1970, he separated from Mab, his wife of 28 years, and the mother of his four children. With all the time that you spent in Congress, did the family suffer? Did the children miss out on things that they probably should be? If I have one regret. It is that I didn't spend more time. I wasn't able to spend more time with the kids as they were growing up. I tried to find time, and I solished myself in the feeling that it isn't how much time it's the quality of the time together. You'll find these little self-soothing afferisms. But I lived in constant dread, I guess, that someday I'd awaken and my children would be grown

and strangers to me. If a person is in political life, the family does suffer to some degree. The family suffers from the priorities that a person must give to the nation. And the family suffers, I think, also in the thoughtless or cruel things that are said about a public official. Wright's ambition has not relented. In September 1986, Ronald Reagan calls congressional leaders to the White House to discuss anti-drug legislation. It is a showdown. Reagan wants a drug bill costing less than $300 million. On Capitol Hill, Wright is pushing legislation which would cost nearly $2 billion. Mr. Later, after an hour with the president, Wright is clearly not ready to compromise or share the credit. Are you satisfied with the administration plan as it was outlined in the program?

We're not even here talking about an administration plan. We are happy that the administration is willing now to give a higher priority to this terrible minister than has been given in the past. We welcome the cooperation and the enthusiasm of the administration. But it still is the responsibility of the Congress under our Constitution to make the laws and to distribute the funds. And that's what we're doing. And this is a bipartisan bill. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Let me fill you in a little bit. Most of the things that were mentioned by Ed Mies and Secretary Baker are things that we've already got in the bill. Did they respond to our bill? They began by pretending. Pretending that they didn't know it. But of course they know we've got the bill. And we had a thick document that Ed Mies had prepared in the center

over the last night in the speaker. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Many see Wright's handling of the bill as a preview of his style of speaker. He members of both parties drafted portions of the bill and helped guide them through a dozen committees. And he has cultivated a powerful Republican ally in House Minority Leader Robert Michael. And that was one that we thought maybe... They jointly asked the rules committee to limit the length of the floor debate. And the number of amendments members are allowed to offer. Otherwise, the session will end before the bill comes to a vote. We have made and are continuing to make a diligent effort to try to see that the main body of responsible thought is represented, and that members with constructive amendments are not denied a privilege to present those amendments to membership. Some members resent the last minute rush

to pass high visibility laws right before the elections. I'd suggest to you, it's not a question of what's ideal, it's a question of what's necessary and proper. If there are two more important domestic issues before this Congress, then illegal immigration and drugs. I don't know of them. And for us to be told that we're going to have two days at most on drugs and an illegal immigration bill with perhaps just a couple of amendments being allowed to be offered is incomprehensible to me. Committee members grill right for half an hour before giving him everything he wants. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of the members of the Committee for your never failing courtesy and your well-timed sermonizing. The Rules Committee is loathed to buck the leadership on a Pat Project. The reason is obvious. Speaker of the House personally names the Rules Committee. That's the only committee that the Speaker can name other than ad hoc committees.

And the people that he names the Rules Committee are loyal to him. And he can pretty well write what the rules are going to be when they come to the floor. Despite the favorable ground rules, Wright still has to do a lot of politicking to make sure the drug bill will not be gutted on the House floor. He and New York Congressman Charles Rangel stroll over to a reception right as holding for big-city mayors and VIPs concerned with the drug problem. He will count on them to lobby their congressmen. It seems to me that they couldn't afford to do any less than we did. Can you see them doing anything like cutting out the level of funding already? No, I think they can't do less. Which means that the President has served the House. The House agenda is crowded and right schedule puts him at the reception just five minutes after it was scheduled to start. Being on time for a reception is practically unheard of

in Washington. That's just like the room itself. Christine and unsullied. Well, you give a very unusual pause. It wasn't exactly planned this way. This is the President of Oberlin University. Oh, it's just a star. Fifteen minutes later, enough of a crowd gathered to permit a short pep talk. We don't pretend that you can solve the problem just by throwing money at it. But even so, we're not gaining on the problem. We're just standing still. And so this bill for the first time may make it possible with an adequate level of funding to do the job for us to begin to make progress. And if I were to suggest to you just thoughtfully

what you might encourage your members to do, it would be to talk with their members of Congress tomorrow. While Wright is shepherding his drug legislation, a dozen other issues demand his attention. Good, John. John Mack is Wright's chief legislative aide. Long day, huh? It has been. His job is to know what is happening to each piece of legislation going through the system. First thing, drug bill, followed by superfund, followed by an extension of their continuing. What does that mean, John? Well, that takes us through tomorrow if we have the superfund and the drug bill and the short continuing. What are those Thursdays? Did they give a rule on immigration? Not yet. We're working on that. What tomorrow? Yeah. What's your feel for it?

Have you heard anybody comment about it? Do you think so? Oh, why are it looks like? Yeah, it's going to go through. Okay. Well, maybe that's best for you. You have something down. So that's Thursday. Now, what's your personal opinion about to send it on the drug bill? Do you think they will be able to... I think they're going to have a full investor and they may amend it. It's going to come down to, again, to defense spending. We went back to the House language. It says all of this comes out of existing DOD funds. Yeah. They don't want that. What was that? What the objective? They want to know the $300 million for the Pentagon. Yeah. Okay. We'll regroup tomorrow and try again. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. While Congress is in session, Wright seldom arrives home in McLean, Virginia before dark. A portrait of his wife Betty, a 10th anniversary gift, dominates one room of the two-story colonial house. They were married in 1972.

The year Wright's divorce from his first wife became final. Let's start with that. Let's pick out the ones with Kevin. He often introduces Betty in public as his greatest asset. Why do you say the house? Look, let's pick four of the house. Look at here. Here's spring. And here's a winter. Winter. We've got some good pictures of them, but I don't know where they are. Betty understood the congressional lifestyle going into the marriage. She had served on Wright's staff and later on the House Public Works Committee. I think that's a great picture of you there. We used to do a lot more things together. Betty and I wrote bicycles together. We played tennis together. We played tennis. We played a lot of it. We played tennis. We went to the theater by ourselves. Now we go to the theater now with groups and movies and things like that. So there was a big change from being a congressman, which we thought it was very busy then. But he got much busier.

So I don't know about this change from just being in the leadership say that he becomes speaker. Yeah. Would you say, you know, how bill your ball feels? Yeah. About through them. One card that is. But, you know, I like them playing about that. If I had not liked that kind of thing, I... No, I think we both enjoy the live. Wright never finished college. World War II in politics got in the way. But he is a student of American history. And his longest most fervent love affair is with the nation's capital. There are two seasons here that are just absolutely gorgeous. Springtime when everything is blossoming and the autumn when the trees are alive with color. Washington belongs to the whole nation. It is a magnificent place. I sometimes in the spring

will drive in through these stately trees. Come into that beautiful turning basin drive down Independence Avenue beside the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Look over to the right of me and see that Jefferson Memorial. And I think what a magnificent place our founding fathers chose. You go into this Jefferson Memorial sometimes. You see that heroic statue of Thomas Jefferson who said so many great things that embedded themselves in our whole history. Receiving engraved on that wall I have sworn eternal hostility against every farm of tyranny over the mind of a man.

You know what Jefferson meant then when he believed in free speech? You know a little bit about foundations of what we're trying to do here. I just think it's wonderful. Wright has a habit of inviting people he meets during his travels to come visit when they get to Washington. Every day, some of them show up. And we knew Jim Wright in Fort Worth and we'd like to see him, please. Okay, Mr. Wright's not here right now. He's upstairs on the floor but he'll be back in a few minutes. If you can just have a CD with you in a few minutes. Thank you. House will come to order. When the drug bill hits the floor, its passage is assured. Jim Wright presents the bill in the style that won him the title as

most effective orator in the house. Gentlemen from Texas is recognized. America is being invaded. The borders of our country and the streets of our cities are being overrun by a rising tide of dangerous dogs that sap the economic vitality of our country. And leaving their wake, a trail of broken lives, corruption, crime, and death. It's time to declare an all-out war upon this minis, which is draining our economy from $230 billion this year, slowly rotting away the fabric of our society, seducing and killing our young. That it will take money is hardly debatable. We can't fight artillery with spitballs. But what it will cost. The drug bill passes easily. As the session ends,

Wright's attention turns to getting reelected. Back in Fort Worth, Wright goes to the north side of town to work the crowd at a festival celebrating Mexico's independent state. Even when he has an opponent, Wright makes fuel appearances that look like campaign events. But year round, he speaks to civic groups and works crowds. Tonight, he will crown a beauty queen. This is so fucking good. How was Wayne Elias? Well, you made me proud. The grand Congratulations. Let's have aope. On next week, spray sweaters will star up on any ramp, where no one will stay in anyway. Hmm? Oh, sorry. Where has the dose been there? Both groups have been loyal to right,

and he, through urban development grants and other federal programs, has been very good to them. See? Oh no. What? Hello. Hello. Hello. Oh, okay. Ah, I get that. Hey, I'm a winner. Thank you. Right took night courses in Washington to learn Spanish and has addressed South American legislatures in their own language. Here is just good politics. The contest drags on well past 10 p.m. but his own long campaign for power has taught him that it pays to be patient. During his 1986 campaign, Wright made just one joint appearance

with his Republican challenger, Don Magniel. He was clearly not worried. You're saying that Mr. Wright is soft on crime, and what would you do? Soft on crime and drugs. Mr. Wright knows that, as soon as I started campaigning against the fact that we needed a drug bill, Mr. Wright got a drug bill out, and I'm sure you can find other members of the town. He's getting a kick out of this. He does. He gets a kick out of a lot of these things, but it causes a lot of misery on us back here. I'm sorry. Well, here is my declaration on that particular bill. It was May of 1985, and that was a long time before you announced Don. But I'll give you credit for being for it. It was a bitter irony that within hours of disappearance, his 27-year-old daughter, Alicia Carnes, and her husband were arrested. The police say they found amphibians and epistol in their car. His hurt was private.

The arrest did not become a campaign issue. And on November 4, Jim Wright, his family, and 3,000 friends celebrated victory in Fort Worth's Caltown, Coliseum. The outcome was never endowed. The first reason showing was a 2-to-1 victory margin in 1980. In 1986, he took nearly 70% of the vote. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for the years of support that you had given to me and my effort to serve this community. And thank you for the undying spirit of cooperation which has allowed us together, all of us, to build the very best community in the United States right here. Jim Wright's re-election clears the way for him to become

the 51st speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. I heard about that. I don't know. I can't believe it. Tipo Neum uses that for the first time in 50 years. His name was not on any election ballot. After 10 years of speaker, he is ready to dispense wisdom, then step aside. People want to come in and talk to you about legislation, or about the fact that it's out there. Listen to them. You know, it's interesting you'll come in and you'll have an idea, and I'll say, gee, that's fine, Jim. You're fine. You know, you'll be able to say, you've been here 30 years. You've been here 30 years. And there isn't many things that haven't taken place before, and history isn't repeating itself. And your recollection will say, well, I remember what we did at that particular time, and that was the right thing to do, or that was the wrong thing to do. And there's an affection and a love for you that's already built out there, and it will, well, you wouldn't even be the speaker. And that'll grow, and that'll grow,

and that'll grow. You're going to be a great one. Well, I just hope I can do that half as well as you do. You're going to be a great one, Jim. Thank you. You love your thought. Thank you, Pat. I love you. Every two years, congressional Democrats meet to select their leaders. When they are the majority party, their nominee will become Speaker of the House. In 1986, the caucus takes place on December 8. In 1973, Carl Albert used the occasion to bring Jim right into the leadership. Now, right, and majority whipped Thomas Foley, have the same opportunity to cultivate new leaders. Tell you what, let's get Foley and have him sit down by me on the floor. Okay. Before, let me meet the Tom Foley. During the time Dick get parts being nominated. Okay, then I want to discuss with them the appointments of Chief Deputy. We have some soonest everybody signs off on that. And that's it, right? The Chief Deputy and the other Deputy is a deputy. Yeah, I've got it.

But I do want Tom Foley to be happy. All right, enters the closed door session on the House floor at 10.15 a.m. And hour and a half later, he is selected as Speaker nominee by acclamation. It's the end of a 20-year quest. Congressman Thomas Foley of Washington moves up one notch, from majority whip to majority leader. I propose a toast to the majority leader. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're here. I'm going to respond with a toast to what I believe will be a great speakership. And a certain one, by the way, we have a vote on January 6th. I think you're right, it's going to win. I predict that, I predict that. Thank you. We're working on a few from the other side. The 100th Congress will see Jim Wright's legislative program presented alongside President Reagan's.

There are two or three things that I'd like very much to see Congress achieve. High on the list is to begin to make some turn around and this terrible, terrible habit we've had of just building bigger and bigger and ever bigger deficits and mounting national debt so that we're putting on the backs of another generation and the responsibility of paying for things that we would have used up and worn out long before they ever reached tax paying age. That's just fundamentally wrong. And if it means that we have to have more revenues to do that, if it means that we have to stretch out certain military expenditures over a slightly long, period of time to do that, I think it's the act of wisdom and the act of strength to do it and to pay as we go, rather than putting it all on a credit card. The second thing I want to see us do is to begin to turn around this terrible trade deficit. As recently as 1982, we, with the world's biggest, credit generation. More countries owed more money to us than anybody else. Now, today, we're the world's biggest debtor nation in such a short period of time.

Of course, there are several other things. I'd like to make some contribution to the farm problem and I don't have a clear vision of how you get there. But I think it has to be found and there are a lot of other things that need to be done as well. But those refuse. The U.S. House of Representatives selected a speaker for the 112th time in his history on January 6, 1987. It was the birthday of Jim Rice Mentor, Sam Rayburn. Right as a tough fighter at a time when there were tough partisan battles to be fought. And doubts about the ability of Congress to deal with the difficult issues of deficits, taxation, defense, and welfare. To stand here in this place at this time, by your choice is a treasure more precious than any material possession. And I'm not going to say that I am a big fan of the law. I'm going to say that I am a big fan of the law. More precious than any material possession.

And an honor more sublime than royalty. To be speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the highest responsibility that can come to a lawmaker anywhere in the world. Let us renew our values. Let us with gratitude for the privilege that is ours. Ask Almighty God that He shall grant to each of us a portion of the vision to see the right and the courage to stand for the right, the honesty to admit human error, and the love that binds our nation and our people together. I'm prepared to take the oath of office. Applause. Applause.

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