The interviewees include Jane Bartley, Speaker Rayburn’s great niece; Congressman Jack Brooks; Congressman John Dingell; Congressman Ralph Hall; Senator Daniel Inouye; President Lyndon Johnson’s daughters Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson; former Congressman and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird; Congressman Robert Michel; and journalist Cokie Roberts. 

These oral histories were done for a documentary on Speaker Rayburn which is fiscally sponsored by the Friends of Sam Rayburn, a non-profit organization working to support the Sam Rayburn House Museum and the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum. These oral histories were also made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Reed Penney, who is producing the documentary made the donation to the Sam Rayburn Papers, part of the Congressional and Political History Collections of the Briscoe Center.

Sam Rayburn held elective office for 55 consecutive years, beginning in 1906 with his election to the Texas House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House from 1911–1913. In 1912, Rayburn was elected to represent the Fourth Congressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rayburn won 24 consecutive elections, serving 48 years in Congress.

The interviews have been added to the Sam Rayburn Papers, part of the Congressional and Political History Collections of the Briscoe Center. The collections focus on significant elected officials from Texas, including the Texas Congressional delegation, Texas governors, and House Speakers. The collection is one of the most extensive and significant in the United States, containing papers relating to the careers of more than 50 former and present members of Congress, including U.S. Senators Lloyd Bentsen and Ralph Yarborough, and Congressmen Jack Brooks, Henry B. Gonzalez, Bill Archer, Bob Eckhardt, Jake Pickle and Bob Krueger.

For more information contact:

Patrick Cox, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the University of Texas at Austin, 512-495-4533, pcox@austin.utexas.edu

Heather Trent, the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum, 903-583-2455, h.trent@mail.utexas.edu

Reed Penney of One Cent Productions LLC, 917-376-8014, onecentproductions@yahoo.com

Related Sites

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History (www.cah.utexas.edu)

Sam Rayburn Library and Museum

Sam Rayburn House Museum

Friends of Sam Rayburn