Budget Counsel Reference Directory
Chaplain of the U.S. Senate
Chaplain: Senate
Office of the Senate Chaplain
When the Senate first convened in New York City on April 6, 1789, one of its first orders of business was to appoint a committee to recommend a candidate for chaplain. On April 25, the Senate elected the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, Episcopal Bishop of New York, as its first chaplain. Since that time, the Senate has been served by chaplains of various religious denominations, including Episcopalians (19), Methodists (17), Presbyterians (14), Baptists (6), Unitarians (2), Congregationalists (1), Lutherans (1), Roman Catholic (1), and Seventh-day Adventist (1). The Senate has also appointed guest chaplains representative of all the world’s major religious faiths. In addition to opening the Senate each day in prayer, the current Senate chaplain’s duties include spiritual care and counseling for senators, their families, and their staffs — a combined constituency of over 6,000 people — and discussion sessions, prayer meetings, and a weekly Senators’ Prayer Breakfast.
For more information, see “Senate Chaplain” by Senator Robert C. Byrd, from The Senate, 1789-1989: Addresses on the History of the United States Senate (pdf).
Senate Chaplains
The Senate Chaplains
Samuel Provoost, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: April 25, 1789
Note: First Bishop of New York
——————————————————————————–
William White, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 9, 1790
Note: First Bishop of Pennsylvania
——————————————————————————–
Thomas John Claggett, S.T.D., D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: November 27, 1800
Note: First Bishop of Maryland
——————————————————————————–
Edward Gantt, M.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 9, 1801
——————————————————————————–
Alexander Thomas McCormick
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: November 7, 1804
——————————————————————————–
Edward Gantt, M.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 4, 1805
——————————————————————————–
John Johnson Sayrs
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 3, 1806
——————————————————————————–
A.T. McCormick
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: November 10, 1807
Note: On October 29, 1807, Edward Gantt was elected but declined to serve.
——————————————————————————–
Robert Elliott
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: November 10, 1808
——————————————————————————–
James Jones Wilmer
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: May 24, 1809
——————————————————————————–
Obadiah Bruen Brown
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: December 5, 1809
——————————————————————————–
Walter Dulaney Addison
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 12, 1810
——————————————————————————–
John Brackenridge, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: November 13, 1811
——————————————————————————–
Jesse Lee
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: September 27, 1814
——————————————————————————–
John Glendy
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: December 8, 1815
Note: On December 6, 1816, John Glendie was elected but declined to serve.
——————————————————————————–
Sereno Edward Dwight, D.D.
Denomination: Congregationalist
Date of Appointment: December 16, 1816
——————————————————————————–
William Dickinson Hawley
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 9, 1817
——————————————————————————–
John Clark
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: November 19, 1818
——————————————————————————–
Reuben Post, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: December 9, 1819
——————————————————————————–
William Ryland
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: November 17, 1820
——————————————————————————–
Charles Petit McIlvaine, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 9, 1822
——————————————————————————–
William Staughton, D.D.
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: December 10, 1823
——————————————————————————–
Charles Petit McIlvaine, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 14, 1824
——————————————————————————–
William Staughton, D.D.
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: December 12, 1825
——————————————————————————–
William Ryland
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 8, 1826
——————————————————————————–
Henry Van Dyke Johns, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 14, 1829
——————————————————————————–
John Price Durbin, D.D., LL.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 19, 1831
——————————————————————————–
Charles Constantine Pise, D.D.
Denomination: Roman Catholic
Date of Appointment: December 11, 1832
——————————————————————————–
Frederick Winslow Hatch, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 10, 1833
——————————————————————————–
Edward Young Higbee, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 23, 1835
——————————————————————————–
John Reinhard Goodman
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 28, 1836
——————————————————————————–
Henry Slicer
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: September 11, 1837
——————————————————————————–
George Grimston Cookman
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 31, 1839
——————————————————————————–
Septimus Tustin, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: June 12, 1841
——————————————————————————–
Henry Slicer
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 16, 1846
——————————————————————————–
Clement Moore Butler, D.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: January 9, 1850
Note: There being a tie vote (30 for Henry Slicer and 30 for C.M. Butler), Vice President Millard Fillmore voted for C.M. Butler and broke the tie.
——————————————————————————–
Henry Slicer
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 7, 1853
——————————————————————————–
Henry Clay Dean
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 4, 1855
——————————————————————————–
Stephen P. Hill, D.D.
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: December 8, 1856
——————————————————————————–
Phineas Densmore Gurley, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: December 15, 1859
——————————————————————————–
Byron Sunderland, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: July 10, 1861
——————————————————————————–
Thomas Bowman, LL.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: May 11, 1864
——————————————————————————–
Edgar Harkness Gray, D.D.
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: March 9, 1865
——————————————————————————–
John Philip Newman, D.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: March 8, 1869
——————————————————————————–
Byron Sunderland, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: December 8, 1873
——————————————————————————–
Joseph J. Bullock, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: March 24, 1879
——————————————————————————–
Elias DeWitt Huntley, D.D., LL.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: December 18, 1883
——————————————————————————–
John George Butler, D.D., LL.D.
Denomination: Lutheran
Date of Appointment: March 15, 1886
——————————————————————————–
William Henry Milburn, D.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: April 6, 1893
Note: W.H. Milburn resigned, because of ill health, on December 2, 1902, his resignation to take effect when the Senate elected a new chaplain. His letter stated that a friend would take his place until that time and from the records it would appear that F. J. Prettyman was the “friend.” W.H. Milburn is listed as the official Senate chaplain until the election of F.J. Prettyman on November 23, 1903.
——————————————————————————–
F.J. Prettyman, D.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: November 23, 1903
——————————————————————————–
Edward Everett Hale, D.D., LL.D.
Denomination: Unitarian
Date of Appointment: December 14, 1903
Note: Died in office on June 10, 1909.
——————————————————————————–
Ulysses Grant Baker Pierce, D.D., Ph.D.
Denomination: Unitarian
Date of Appointment: June 18, 1909
——————————————————————————–
F.J. Prettyman, D.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: March 13, 1913
——————————————————————————–
Joseph Johnstone Muir, D.D.
Denomination: Baptist
Date of Appointment: January 21, 1921
——————————————————————————–
ZeBarney Thorne Phillips, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D.
Denomination: Episcopalian
Date of Appointment: December 5, 1927
Note: Died in office on May 10, 1942.
——————————————————————————–
Frederick Brown Harris, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: October 10, 1942
——————————————————————————–
Peter Marshall, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: January 4, 1947
Note: Died in office on January 24, 1949.
——————————————————————————–
Frederick Brown Harris, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D.
Denomination: Methodist
Date of Appointment: February 3, 1949
——————————————————————————–
Edward L.R. Elson, D.D., S.T.D., Litt.D., LL.D., L.H.D., D.Hum., D.Min.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: January 9, 1969
——————————————————————————–
Richard C. Halverson, D.D., LL.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: February 2, 1981
——————————————————————————–
Lloyd John Ogilvie, D.D.
Denomination: Presbyterian
Date of Appointment: March 11, 1995
——————————————————————————–
Barry C. Black, Ph.D., D. Min., D.D.
Denomination: Seventh-day Adventist
Date of Appointment: July 7, 2003
——————————————————————————–
Note: The 35th Congress (1857-1859) discontinued the custom of electing a Senate chaplain, and extended an invitation to the clergy of the District of Columbia to alternate in opening the daily sessions with prayer. The 36th Congress returned to the former practice.
——————————————————————————–
Denomination Totals:
Episcopalian = 19
Methodist = 17
Presbyterian = 14
Baptist = 6
Unitarian = 2
Congregationalist = 1
Lutheran = 1
Roman Catholic = 1
Seventh-day Adventist = 1
Total: 62
Filibuster and Cloture
Using the filibuster to delay or block legislative action has a long history. The term filibuster — from a Dutch word meaning “pirate” — became popular in the 1850s, when it was applied to efforts to hold the Senate floor in order to prevent a vote on a bill.
In the early years of Congress, representatives as well as senators could filibuster. As the House of Representatives grew in numbers, however, revisions to the House rules limited debate. In the smaller Senate, unlimited debate continued on the grounds that any senator should have the right to speak as long as necessary on any issue.
In 1841, when the Democratic minority hoped to block a bank bill promoted by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, he threatened to change Senate rules to allow the majority to close debate. Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton rebuked Clay for trying to stifle the Senate’s right to unlimited debate.
Three quarters of a century later, in 1917, senators adopted a rule (Rule 22), at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, that allowed the Senate to end a debate with a two-thirds majority vote, a device known as “cloture.” The new Senate rule was first put to the test in 1919, when the Senate invoked cloture to end a filibuster against the Treaty of Versailles. Even with the new cloture rule, filibusters remained an effective means to block legislation, since a two-thirds vote is difficult to obtain. Over the next five decades, the Senate occasionally tried to invoke cloture, but usually failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote. Filibusters were particularly useful to Southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching legislation, until cloture was invoked after a 60 day filibuster against the Civil Right Act of 1964. In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds to three-fifths, or 60 of the current one hundred senators.
Many Americans are familiar with the filibuster conducted by Jimmy Stewart, playing Senator Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra’s film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but there have been some famous filibusters in the real-life Senate as well. During the 1930s, Senator Huey P. Long effectively used the filibuster against bills that he thought favored the rich over the poor. The Louisiana senator frustrated his colleagues while entertaining spectators with his recitations of Shakespeare and his reading of recipes for “pot-likkers.” Long once held the Senate floor for 15 hours. The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina’s J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
[1] Floyd M. Riddick (Senate Parliamentarian): While researching his doctoral dissertation on congressional procedure in 1935, Floyd Riddick spent a year observing the workings of the House of Representatives. Most of the rest of his career he spent on the Senate side of the Capitol, as the first editor of the “Daily Digest” in the Congressional Record and as Parliamentarian of the Senate. As Parliamentarian, he sat immediately below the presiding officer in the Senate chamber, providing information on precedents and advising other senators on parliamentary procedure. In his interviews he talks about Senate filibusters and the efforts to change the rules of cloture. He also discusses the censures of Joseph McCarthy and Thomas Dodd , the contested election between John Durkin and Louis Wyman , and the preparations for a planned impeachment trial of Richard Nixon .
[2] S. Doc. 101-28 – Riddick’s Senate Procedure: Precedents and Practices: Named after Senate Parliamentarian Emeritus Floyd M. Riddick, this Senate document contains the contemporary precedents and practices of the Senate. An appendix contains suggested forms for various procedures, e.g., offering motions or filing conference reports. It is updated periodically by the Senate Parliamentarian. More than ten thousand precedents have been researched, analyzed, and incorporated into the 1992 edition. The 1992 edition contains all current precedents, and related Standing Rules and statutory provisions, through the end of the 101st Congress (1989-1990). See also http://www.riddick.gpo.gov/.
Previous:§080. Scorekeeping |
Next:§082. Sequestration |
Budget Counsel 