Second Session of the Seventy-second Congress, December 5, 1932, to March 4, 19331

The great game of politics was played throughout this session. The players, holding poor hands and distracted by thoughts of the new deal that was to come, faced a difficult situation. The presence of 158 members retired by the voters in the November elections gave a cast of uncertainty and unreality to the assembly. Deducting the six vacancies in the House, 219 Democrats confronted 209 Republicans, and in the Senate the count stood 48 Republicans to 47 Democrats. The Farmer-Laborites had one spokesman in each chamber. Here was a Congress, divided in control, weakened by the presence of repudiated representatives, and under the discredited leadership of a defeated president, but nevertheless faced with perplexing problems of national and world import arising in a highly critical period. The necessities of the time called for cooperative planning and swift, united action, but the exigencies of politics suggested procrastination and obstruction. And the latter considerations prevailed.