into it. one of the things they the star chamber event if they weren't allowed to watch it. and so they snaulted the first television cameras in the chamber in 1974. president nixon resigned and they kept the cameras there and they turned them on just once. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> watergate was 1974 and '74. then in the late '70s, you have

senator frank church who is investigating irregular layerties in the cia and fbi. this is in 1975 and 1976. there are major hearings held here for that. parts vrt executive branch are operating without congressional oversight and that you need to have regular committee investigations. we don't see it as dramatically as what the church committee was doing at that time. after that, in 1983, the hard building opens up. because the staff is happening at a very rapid pace. as late as the mid 1960s, there were less than a thousand employees. they were paid in cash. they stood in line to get an

envelope full of cash. the legislative branch didn't feel it could trust the executive branch as much. before that, they would be relying on executive agencies and now they needed their own staff to evaluate what was happening. and so they increased the size of the senate house staff considerably and the senate staff went about a thousand to close to 7,000. and so eventually they built the heart building, which is designed for modern operations, about half the senators operate over there. and there is a and everything had to be done, brought in temporarily for investigations

here. so since then, most of the investigations have switched over to the parts in the central hearing room. a few of the senior senators like ted kennedy, they remembered this. this is where the -- iran contra hearings were held in the 1980s opinion so he liked this room as opposed to the heart central room. >> i never advised the white house how to deal with the white house special transportation force. >> very controversial nomination.

congress was narrowly approved. the hearings were very important for both of those nominations and this room added to the setting. >> it is certainly filled with the echos. this sunday night on q&a, institute for policy studies fellow and anti-war activist on u.s. foreign policy since 9/11, the recent negotiations with iran and the war on terrorism. >> who is isis? what are their origins, what do they believe, why are they so violent? all of those questions are so important and i address them all in the book. but i think what's more

important in some ways because it's something we can do something about is what is the u.s. policy regarding isis? why isn't it working? can we go to war against terrorism? is it wrong to say there should be a war against terrorism at all? >> here is part of what was said while speaking about the obama administration's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

>> it could impact new mexico, utah, the 1/2 voe nation and southern ute, as well. it is a tragic and very unfortunate incident and epa is taking responsibility to ensure that that spip spill is cleaned up. and the most important effort that we are ensuring right away & health and safety of the residents and the visitors near that river. now, we are committed to helping people throughout the four corners region who rely on the rivers for their drinking water, irrigation water and recreation and we know how important it is to them. there are thousands of abandon mines throughout the west and epa routinely works with states to clean up these spills. the spill occurred when one of our contracting teams was using heavy equipment to enter the gold king mine. and it's an intich mine. and to in response to the

incident, we've development a full depth of the agency to respond with other partner agencies assisting, as well. i understand people's frustration, but we have our researchers and scientists working around the clock. our commitment is to get this right and to make sure that we're protecting public health. thankfully, there have been no reported cases of anyone's health being compromised. additionally from sampling results, as the plume has advanced, we're siegel excavated levels and as it moves on, we're seeing a downward trajectory towards preevent conditions. so epa has taken steps to capture and treat the discharge at the mine itself. and we have constructed four ponds at the site where we're actually diverting water and lowering the acidity levels and

to remove the dissolved metals. as well as many operation centers at headquarters in d.c. to ensure a seamless and coordinated response in conjunction with all of our local, state and federal partners. epa is providing alternative water supplies for domestic drinking water wells along the river. we have been in touch with state leadership as well as congressional dellcations and we have kept the white house fully informed. >> up next on american history tv, congressional history. first a look at artifacts and photographs related to women in the u.s. house starting with the election of jeanette rankin in 1916. don richie described several hearings that have happened inside the the russell building.

>> each week, american history's tv american artifacts visits museums and historic places. up next, we take you inside the u.s. capital's house wing where matthew wesnewski and elliott use photographs to trace the history of women in congress. this is the first of a two-part program. >> the story of women in congress begins with jeanette rankin who is elected to the house in 18916 from montana, she's elected to the house four years before women have the right to vote nationally. and in a way, she's a bridge from the suffrage movement to women astaining full political rights. she was active in a national women suffrage organization. she helped women get the right to vote, not only in montana, but a couple of states we tell west of the mississippi.

she runs in 1916. part of her platform is that she's a pass fist. well, she's sworn into the house on april 2nd, 1917, and the house has come into special session, extraordinary session because the president, that night, woodrow wilson, delivers a message to congress asking for a declaration of war against germany. rankin is one of a group of about 50 members who votes against u.s. intervention in world war i. she is on the women's suffrage committee. she was on the public lands committee which was an important assignment for a woman from montana with so much of the land being held by the federal

government. so it was an important position. she tries to run for senate. it's an uphill battle. she gets about a fifth of the votes and then she go the goes back to private rights. she's a driving force behind the infancy act which the house eventually passes in 19 the 21 and then she's involved in international peace organizations. fast forward to 1940. she runs for congress again and she runs on a platform to keep the u.s. out of the war in europe. and she's faced on december 8th, 1941, with a tremendous vote.

this is the day after pearl harbor. >> yes, december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. >> the senate goes back to its chamber and very quickly unanimously passes a war resolution and the house begins debating and the house members know that jeanette rankin is a pass fist and she is going to vote her conscious. so we have some histories of people who are in the chamber who recall members going up to rankin and asking her just to vote present, don't vote no. but she votes her conscious. she's the lone vote against the the entry into world war ii with the declaration of war against

japan. that effectively ended her political career. she's a force in the decade. >> in 2004, we commissioned a new portrait for ms. rankin. so when we commissioned it, we wanted to show what it was like to come into congress as the first woman when women don't have the right to vote nationally. because it's the 20th century when she's elected and enters congress, there's a lot of newspaper coverage of it. there's a lot of coverage of what she's wearing. so we know exactly what she was wearing. and so the portrait itself shows her in that navy blue dress and we know when she wearing a big hat and we know exactly what the washington post said that morning.

and so the portrait has her in those clothes holding "the washington post." one of the things that is most interesting is that she is wearing that hat and she is placed in that portrait just outside the chamber doors. if we were to enter into that space with her, she would just be about to turn to her right and enter the chamber, at which point she would take off her hat because hats were not worn in the chamber, even though there was much discussion of as a woman, she wear a hat because that is formal attire or is she not a woman but a member of congress. indeed, it turns out they decide she's a member of congress more than she is her gender so she takes it off.

it was a somewhat lonely spot to be in to be the only one and to be taking these stands of congress. >> she comes from an activist background. but if you look at the first two decades of women who were elected and there's roughly about 20 or more women elected to congress in the mid 1930s, a good number of these people don't have a political background. they haven't held elected office. instead, a large number of them are widows who succeed their late husbands in congress. later, this is described as the route for political congress into the 19 6/0s and into the

1970s. there was a real familial connection. that wasn't rankin's experience. it was for this woman here who we're looking at in this picture on the rostrum, this wonderful picture of edith norris rogers. now, rogers was a widow from northern massachusetts and she de succeeded her husband, john roge rogers, who was a high ranking member of the foreign affairs committee. the ranking republican. and she had a lot of experience with helping him administering the committee and administering his personal office. so she knew what his legislative agenda was.

she knew the rhythms and contours of life here on capitol hill. the house has to have special election. no one can be appointed to the house. and depending on state laws, that election has to happen in a fairley short amount of time. so what would happen is local party leaders will often turn to the widow and say will you run for the partial term because you have name recognition. rogers is going to be on the ballot. and the expectation was that the wife would serve out this term and then she would retire and the party leaders would fooit find a suitable male candidate to succeed her. but rogers had different ideas. she actually ends up staying in the house for 35 years. she is still the longest serving woman in the house. and she was for a very long time the longest serving woman in congress. she was recently surpassed by barbara mcculsky of maryland who

has both house and senate service. but she not only had longevity, she was very influential in terms of veterans affairs. prior to her experience in the house, she also had volunteered for the red cross. she had been an advocate for service men returning from world war i and when republicans in the the 1940s briefly regained the majority in the 80th congress, she becomes one of the very first women to chair a major congressional committee. she chairs the veterans affairs committee in the 80th congress and then again in the 83rd congress when control was brought back and forth between democrats and republicans. she's a republican. her experience -- and you see a couple of pictures here with her. in this one, she's having a radio debate with mary norton of

new jersey. these two really become, in many respects, the deans of women in congress for several decades. mary norton is a democrat. she came up through politics in jersey city, new jersey. her mentor was frank "i am the law" hague, who was a machine politician. and he promoted her career and she comes into the house in 1975, the same year as edith norris rogers. the interesting thing about her that she she, like rogers and other women, pursue a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. they didn't push women's issues, per se. they really tried to minimize gender differences and norton was extremely success frl moving up the committee leadership ladder. she chaired four congressional

committees by the time she retired from the house in the early 1950s. one of them was the labor committee during the new deal which was a major committee and her signal piece of legislation was the fair labor standards act of 1938 which set a 40 hour workweek, outlawed child labor, set a minimum wage. she later said this is the crowning moment of my career. but she was a no nonsense legislator. very early on in her career, maybe even the year that this picture was snapped. she was on the house floor and a bill was being debated and a male member turned to her and said i yield to the gentle lady from new jersey. she cut him off and said i'm no lady, i'm a member of congress and i'm going to proceed on that basis. and she did. her career was a marvelous

example of moving up through the ranks of seniority. >> one of my favorite things about eva norris rogers is how she used her public persona. she begins right from the get-go, this is early 1926 when she debates mary florton and it's a radio debate. clearly, they know they're going to be frafred and it's going to be a big deal. so mary norton is wearing her fantastic fur santa claus coat. edith norris rogers is in widow's weave. she's still officially mourning her husband. it's politically very savvy on her part. this is a leaf let from her first general election. in here, she says over and over again, things like always on the job. re-elect rogers on her own records of achievement.

inside it says some wonderful stuff. knows the ropes, gives prompt, efficient service. and she talks a lot about what she's done for veterans. she's not above all the things, she's still mrs. john jacobs rogers. she's very wise in the ways of doing this. and a little later after she's been re-elected a few times, she often is photographed doing things that will be visually interesting and very much related to the issues that are important to her. here she and other members of congress are testing out a really weird riding lawn mower looking tank. right outside the capitol. she often would do that. she also was photographed -- she was called the most arrow minded female member of congress. she often would fly back and forth to places in open airplanes.

she said she found them very convenient and she enjoyed it. so there are photographs with her with aviator caps and goggles headed off into the sky. so she did some wonderful, wonderful things. but as matt said, she also was very much an assimilationist in the way of that first generation of women in congress. here is is a photo of some of the women in congress at the start 71st congress. they have very bus like in their atti attire. it looks like edith norris roj rogers has some flowers with her. this represents not all the women who were in congress, but you can see that they are, nonetheless, being photographed and treated by the press as an entity and how that's going to get played out would change over the next couple of decades as people tried to figure out what

do we talk about when we talk about women in congress? >> this is an interesting photo because it points out -- you can go through this and look at the way the women were elected to congress. on the front row far left is pearl oldfield who had succeeded her husband who was a senior member who passed away. then edith norris rogers and then norris pratt who was elected within her own right. she represented the silk stocking district in new york city. and then on the far side here is ruth hannah mccormick of illinois. her father was the republican kingmaker in the early part of the 20th century. and constantly butted heads with william jennings brian which is interesting because william jennings brian, his daughter, ruth brian owen is on this side

of the picture. we actually have a press account when these two were sworn into the house in 1929 that they dame down the central aisle together arm in arm and wowed the members of the press because here are two daughters of a vowed political enemies. if we go back into the picture to finish out, this is mary morton of new jersey. this woman here is one of the interesting characters of the time period. florence kahn of california who represented a large portion of san francisco. she's another widow who followed her husband to congress. her husband, jewelace, was the chairman of the military affairs committee. and like edith norris rogers, she was another woman who was very involved in her husband's political career. so when he passed away, she was asked to run for the seat in the special election examine she decided that she was going to

stay on. she stayed on for more than a decade. she's also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious appropriations committee. and she's responsible for steering a lot of funds into the bay area to develop things like the bay bridge connecting san francisco and oakland and also the alameda naval air station. she sat on the military affairs committee, too, and we have a portrait of her in the collection, as well. >> we do want we have a wonderful portrait of her. she's standing in her district and right near where she lives in what is now parkland. and behind her, the view that you would see is the golden gate headland. and there's a little bitty -- in the painting -- but enormous in real life ship coming through there that was part of the naval air station that was there. so there is a lot in there, but

one of the things that's most interesting about her is i haven't mentioned anything about her figure there. it's all about what is around her. her figure is dark, it's black, but it's very accurate. that is exactly how she dressed and presented herself. >> she had kind of this grandmotherly mate ronly look, but she was so good with the press. she had one like clips, there was no one who was better. a reporter once asked her, how have you had so much legislative success getting on to these committees, getting legislation past? and without missing one beat, she said sex appeal. when she first came into the house, leadership didn't want to put her on the committees that her husband was on. she did not get the military affairs committee assignment right away. instead, she was put on to the indian affairs committee. she represented san francisco, urban district. so she went out and told the press, she said, the only indians i have in my district are in