The 81st 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 January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1951, during the fifth and sixth years of Harry S. Truman's presidency.
| 81st United States Congress | |
|---|---|
80th ← → 82nd | |
United States Capitol (1956)
| |
January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951 | |
| Members | 96 senators 435 representatives 3 non-voting delegates |
| Senate majority | Democratic |
| Senate President | Vacant (until January 20, 1949) Alben W. Barkley (D) (from January 20, 1949) |
| House majority | Democratic |
| House Speaker | Sam Rayburn (D) |
| Sessions | |
| 1st: January 3, 1949 – October 19, 1949 2nd: January 3, 1950 – January 2, 1951 | |
The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1940 United States census.
The Democrats won back the majority in both chambers, and with the election of President Harry S. Truman to his own full term in office, this gave the Democrats an overall federal government trifecta.
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (D) |
Republican (R) | |||
| End of previous congress | 45 | 51 | 96 | 0 |
| Begin | 54 | 42 | 96 | 0 |
| End | 53 | 43 | ||
| Final voting share | 55.2% | 44.8% | ||
| Beginning of next congress | 49 | 47 | 96 | 0 |
| House seats by party holding plurality in state | |
|---|---|
80+ to 100% Democratic
|
80+ to 100% Republican
|
60+ to 80% Democratic
|
60+ to 80% Republican
|
Up to 60% Democratic
|
Up to 60% Republican
|
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Labor (AL) |
Democratic (D) | Liberal (Lib) | Republican (R) | Independent (I) |
|||
| End of previous congress | 2 | 186 | 0 | 242 | 0 | 430 | 5 |
| Begin | 1 | 262 | 0 | 171 | 0 | 434 | 1 |
| End | 259 | 1 | 168 | 429 | 6 | ||
| Final voting share | 0.2% | 60.4% | 0.2% | 39.2% | 0.0% | ||
| Beginning of next congress | 0 | 235 | 0 | 199 | 1 | 435 | 0 |
Senators are popularly elected statewide every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Senators are ordered first by state, and then by seniority. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election, In this Congress, Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring reelection in 1950; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1952; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1954.
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of this Congress.
| State (class) |
Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky (3) |
Alben W. Barkley (D) | Incumbent resigned January 19, 1949, to become U.S. Vice President. Successor appointed January 20, 1949, to finish the term. |
Garrett Withers (D) | January 20, 1949 |
| North Carolina (2) |
J. Melville Broughton (D) | Incumbent died March 6, 1949. Successor appointed March 29, 1949, to continue the term. |
Frank Porter Graham (D) | March 29, 1949 |
| New York (3) |
Robert F. Wagner (D) | Incumbent resigned June 28, 1949, due to ill health. Successor appointed July 7, 1949, to continue the term. |
John Foster Dulles (R) | July 7, 1949 |
| Rhode Island (1) |
J. Howard McGrath (D) | Incumbent resigned August 23, 1949, to become U.S. Attorney General. Successor appointed to continue the term. |
Edward L. Leahy (D) | August 24, 1949 |
| Idaho (2) |
Bert H. Miller (D) | Incumbent died October 8, 1949. Successor appointed to continue the term. Successor later elected November 7, 1950. |
Henry Dworshak (R) | October 14, 1949 |
| Kansas (3) |
Clyde M. Reed (R) | Incumbent died November 8, 1949. Successor appointed to continue the term. |
Harry Darby (R) | December 2, 1949 |
| New York (3) |
John Foster Dulles (R) | Interim appointee lost November 8, 1949, election to finish the term. Successor elected November 8, 1949. |
Herbert H. Lehman (D) | November 9, 1949 |
| Connecticut (1) |
Raymond E. Baldwin (R) | Incumbent resigned December 16, 1949. Successor appointed to continue the term. Successor later elected November 7, 1950. |
William Benton (D) | December 17, 1949 |
| Kentucky (3) |
Garrett Withers (D) | Interim appointee resigned November 26, 1950, to trigger special election. Successor elected November 7, 1950. |
Earle Clements (D) | November 27, 1950 |
| North Carolina (2) |
Frank Porter Graham (D) | Interim appointee lost November 7, 1950, election to finish the term. Successor elected November 7, 1950. |
Willis Smith (D) | November 27, 1950 |
| Kansas (3) |
Harry Darby (R) | Interim appointee retired November 28, 1950, when successor elected. Successor elected November 29, 1950. |
Frank Carlson (R) | November 29, 1950 |
| California (3) |
Sheridan Downey (D) | Incumbent resigned November 30, 1950, due to ill health. Successor appointed to finish term, having already been elected to the next term. |
Richard Nixon (R) | December 1, 1950 |
| Rhode Island (1) |
Edward L. Leahy (D) | Interim appointee retired December 18, 1950, when successor elected. Successor elected December 19, 1950. |
John Pastore (D) | December 19, 1950 |
| District | Vacated by | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's formal installation[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York 7th | Vacant | Rep. John J. Delaney died during previous congress | Louis B. Heller (D) | February 15, 1949 |
| New York 20th | Sol Bloom (D) | Died March 7, 1949. | Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (Lib) | May 17, 1949 |
| New York 10th | Andrew Lawrence Somers (D) | Died April 6, 1949. | Edna F. Kelly (D) | November 8, 1949 |
| Pennsylvania 26th | Robert L. Coffey (D) | Died April 20, 1949. | John P. Saylor (R) | September 13, 1949 |
| California 5th | Richard J. Welch (R) | Died September 10, 1949. | John F. Shelley (D) | November 8, 1949 |
| Massachusetts 6th | George J. Bates (R) | Died November 1, 1949. | William H. Bates (R) | February 14, 1950 |
| Illinois 5th | Martin Gorski (D) | Died December 4, 1949. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
| New Jersey 7th | J. Parnell Thomas (R) | Resigned January 2, 1950, following conviction on charges of salary fraud. | William B. Widnall (R) | February 6, 1950 |
| Virginia 1st | S. Otis Bland (D) | Died February 16, 1950. | Edward J. Robeson Jr. (D) | May 2, 1950 |
| Illinois 13th | Ralph E. Church (R) | Died March 21, 1950. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
| Texas 18th | Eugene Worley (D) | Resigned April 3, 1950, to become associate judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. | Ben H. Guill (R) | May 6, 1950 |
| Michigan 16th | John Lesinski Sr. (D) | Died May 27, 1950. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
| North Dakota at-large | William Lemke (R) | Died May 30, 1950. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
| North Carolina 11th | Alfred L. Bulwinkle (D) | Died August 31, 1950. | Woodrow W. Jones (D) | November 7, 1950 |
| Kansas 3rd | Herbert Alton Meyer (R) | Died October 2, 1950. | Myron V. George (R) | November 7, 1950 |
| California 12th | Richard Nixon (R) | Resigned November 30, 1950, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate having already been elected. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
| Wyoming at-large | Frank A. Barrett (R) | Resigned December 31, 1950, after being elected Governor of Wyoming. | Vacant | Not filled for the remainder of this term |
Lists of committees and their party leaders for members of the House and Senate committees can be found through the Official Congressional Directory at the bottom of this article. The directory after the pages of terms of service lists committees of the Senate, House (Standing with Subcommittees, Select and Special) and Joint and, after that, House/Senate committee assignments. On the committees section of the House and Senate in the Official Congressional Directory, the committee's members on the first row on the left side shows the chairman of the committee and on the right side shows the ranking member of the committee.
